A Day Out

Today we drove Stagecoach Rd. to Gold Camp Rd. up to Cripple Creek.  It was the perfect day to get out and see brilliant gold Aspen trees as they turn.

Both of these roads are dirt with wash boards in areas.   Couple of sections will really rattle your teeth. Gold Camp has narrow sections and narrow blind curves making passing oncoming traffic challenging.  Considerable traffic kicking up dust, as soon as we got home I rinsed off the truck as it was covered.

Along the way we stopped at Saint Peters Dome trail.  It’s an out and back trail with a distance of 1.6 miles, a 620 feet elevation gain and is rated easy.   You get an awesome view of downtown Colorado Springs and beyond in addition to the surrounding peaks.

Further on down we stopped off along a small stream to take some pictures.  We stacked a few rocks and enjoyed the sound of the rushing water.  We came across several nice campsites and boy I really got the bug.   I just don’t know that it will happen anytime soon.   I have a lot going on with work and some travel coming up in the next week.

We found our way into Cripple Creek and parked.  Walked the street past several of the casinos and found a burger shop.   We were both hungry as it was now a little after 4PM.  With our stops it took us about 5 hours to get there.   We did stop into one casino and we put a $20.00 into a slot machine.  Cashed it out five minutes later for $25.60. 

The Aspen trees were in full color, from brilliant gold and fiery orange and reds.  This was the perfect time to be out if you wanted to see this spectacular display of color before the leaves fall.

I have been working hard to get my miles in.  Doing pretty good this month, as of today I am up to 73 miles and still have a couple days left.  I have a bunch of vacation time that I need to take or I am going to lose it.   So yesterday I took advantage of that and scheduled a day off.   I would say more of a morning off.  

We headed out of the house just a little after 7AM and headed to the trail head.  We did a 5 mile hike up over the mountain and back.  The first part of this hike is a 960 ft incline in the first 1 mile, it’s a real breath taker.  Once you get to the top, you follow the ridge so you have some decent views of the city.   Mable went with us and she walked the entire way.   For most of the hike she was off leash, there was about a mile of road that she needed it.  This was great hike and a decent work out me. 

39.42

On Saturday Candy had a hair appointment, so I decided to go hiking and then work over at the shop.   I loaded up my pack with the shop keys and the keys to the cars.  Started walking, I hiked over to the shop through BCP and then through Red Rock Canyon.   Managed to get 5.81/miles in.

Once at the shop I mowed the yard and got the water going.  On the inside I spent most of my time sweeping, cleaning and putting everything back in order.  Now that it is all clean I am ready to make another mess.  Took the Model A for a spin around the block and drove the vette over and got me a coffee.

When I got home from the shop, I showered up and we headed out to eat.   Went downtown as we have tickets to see the Colorado Spring Philharmonic play Led Zeppelin.  Had a nice dinner and then headed to the Pikes Peak Center.   The lobby was abuzz with people both young and old.   We found our seats and they were great, we were in a box just to the right of the stage and it sat 4.  The singer did a great job and sounded like Robert Plant.  Even tried to pull of the look, with long curly hair.

This morning we took a drive up Old Stage Road.  The first seven miles or so are washboard and will bounce you all over.   If you go, make your friend drive and take his/her car.   Parked at the St. Peters Dome parking area and headed up the trail.  This isn't a long hike at all, 2/Miles round trip, but you get a great view of the city once you make it up to the top.

With yesterday and today that get's me up to 39.42/Miles for this month.

Happy Hiking

Happy Anniversary

Well not sure where to start as I have so much to catch up on. I guess let’s start with our wedding anniversary. On August 1st 2010 we celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary and had a blast!

Our fun began on Saturday July 31st. We loaded up in the truck and headed up Old Stage to GCR and to the St. Peters Dome area. We had done this same hike the year before and thought we should do it again. I had cheese & crackers in the backpack and we even had a bottle of Champaign but decided to leave it behind as we didn’t want to stumble down the side or slip on the rope. This isn’t a long hike but does have some challenging areas.

On our way up the trail in the distance we could hear sound of fire trucks and police. As we climbed we could tell the sirens were getting closer. Once we had reach the top of the dome is when the Flight for Life helicopter came into view and flew around the mountain and soon after followed by another. Hearing the sirens and then seeing the helicopters you know that cant’ be good!

It was a great morning to be out, a little overcast and cool. Once at the top we found a flat rock, had a seat and a little snack while we enjoyed the views and talked about what we had accomplished over these 23 years. We have worked hard and been very blessed and together we have accomplished quite a bit. I know I couldn’t have done it alone. Love you baby and looking forward to many more.

I guess we had been at the top for about 30 minutes when here came the Flight for Life helicopters flying back around the mountain and headed to the Springs. We then heard voices of others coming up the trail. From above we could see that it was a group of two. We started our decent back down and headed to the truck.

We headed down GCR on our way to Cripple Creek. About 4 miles into the drive we found what the helicopters and sirens were all about? Someone had rolled their truck. From what it looked like they came around a corner to fast and fished tailed, then drove into the mountain, up and over they went. (Take it easy folks!)

We got into Cripple Creek just at noon and headed to our Hotel. Oh MAN! We had made reservations at the Carr Manor and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It is an old High School built in 1897 that has been converted into a B&B. This place was awesome! It has 13 rooms and each one of them is decorated very uniquely and has its own name. We splurged and reserved the Governor Ralph Carr Suite. From what I read, one time Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr went to this school, hence where the name came from.

Our room was so spacious and the furnishings were all very cool. Yes, the fact that it had a hot tub in the room was pretty sweet. We unloaded our bag and then they took us for a tour of the rest of the hotel. We were able to see every room but one. They have done a very nice job with this place and if you are looking to spend an evening in Cripple Creek this is where I would stay. Candy and I are already talking about going back up and spending the night in the room name the principles office. You can visit the Carr Manor website here: http://www.carrmanor.com/

After the tour we ran out for a light lunch and then headed back to the hotel. We had massages scheduled for 2:30 and 3:30. I don’t know why I don’t get massages more often. This is my second time and afterwards both Candy and I were just so relaxed. We kicked back and then headed out for dinner and then we followed that up with seeing a melodrama of “Gunslinger, The Legend of Billy the Kid”. We had a blast booing and hissing the bad guy while cheering on the good guy. Not sure if you have ever been to a melodrama but the more the crowd gets into it the more fun you will have.

We strolled down the street of Cripple Creek and then made our way into one of the casinos. We sat a three card poker table and each made about 100 bucks. We pocketed our money and made a run for it back to the hotel.

We were down in the kitchen by 8am where they had, fruit, cinnamon rolls, egg and sausage quiche ready for all the guests. The breakfast was great and you had a chance to speak to other guests as everyone sat around a big table, different but fun.

Once we checked out we drove over to Victor, CO. to see what little finds might be had. We stopped into two antique shops. The first one we got an old miners lunch box made of tin. We also found an old carbide lamp still in the box. In the other shop we picked up an old DuPont Blasting box. All nice little finds that will go with our already growing antique mining collection.

From their, we made our way home. All in all this was one of the best weekends I have had in a while and you couldn’t have asked for any better company to spend it with. We need not wait a full year before we do another little weekend trip like this one.

Happy Anniversary and St. Peters Dome

Well today the wife and I are celebrating out 22nd wedding anniversary. What better way to celebrate then to go climb a mountain! We did get a late start, but drove up Old Stage Road to Saint Peters Dome Trail. We had a blast and did some serious climbing today.

We found were ladybugs come from, who new they came from the top of the mountain. There were thousands of them, they covered the rocks and were buzzing around. It was very cool to see. When we finished we headed to Cripple Creek and had lunch and walk around the casino’s and looked in a couple of gift shops.

Made our way back home on Hwy 67 through Divide and Woodland Park. They were having an Art and Crafts show so we stopped and looked around. Didn’t see anything we needed.