Frisco, CO

We drove around Dillon Reservoir this AM, then had lunch at the Frisco marina.

Lots of kayaks and canoes are stored outside at the marina.

Dillon Reservoir

The pix below were taken at the Frisco Historic Park and Museum.  Several authentic log cabins and other structures were moved here from various locations and stocked with period goodies.  Nice.

Oh boy: young, tender Indian lad for lunch!

Breckenridge, CO

Originally a gold mining town, now an upscale recreation/vacation area, Breck is cool.  Literally.  43 degrees this AM, but that's to be expected at 9600' elevation.  But daily highs are in the low 70s and afternoons are quite pleasant.  It's a nice change from having the A/C on every day for the last 2 months.  Also a nice change: no smoke from wildfires as there was in OR, ID, and UT.

Many downtown buildings date from the mid 1800s and are on the historical register, including the one below where we had a nice lunch.

Although the population is only 5K, there are thousands of condos and other lodgings and hundreds more under construction.

The Blue River runs through downtown and continues northward, through our RV park.  The downtown River Walk area is nicely done, with lots of flowers and sculptures, including this guy.  The pix below were all taken along the the River Walk.

During WW ll, the 10th Mountain Division trained in the Aspen/Vail areas, also Mt Ranier in WA and other areas.  After the war, vets from the 10th are credited with launching the skiing industry, and were involved in the development and management of 62 different ski areas in the US.  Read more about these tough soldiers at: https://snowbrains.com/10th-mountain-division-history-fire-mountain/

Once a gold dredge, now a restaurant.  Saw some of these in Fairbanks and Nome, Alaska, but none this pretty.  None had cute dogs in front, either.

The Blue River in Breck.

Tiger Run Resort

Tiger Run Resort is a gated community of RV lots and 300-900 SF park models about 4 miles north of Breckenridge, CO - aka 'Breck'.  We're spending a week here, our first time in one of the popular CO ski areas.

Folks who aren't RVers are scratching their heads now, wondering what the devil is a park model?  It's a factory-built, mini-house that can be transported via road to its permanent location.  The size is limited by highway width/height/length regs so the basic shape is a boxcar.  Older units have all the architectural appeal of, well ........ a boxcar.  In recent years, they've become much more attractive.

Once on site, covered decks are usually added, sometimes a lean-to addition also.  Decks are typically covered with sharply-peaked roofs, side additions with nearly flat roofs.  End result: 3 different roof lines which, in my humble opinion, look like crap.

Popular ski-area dwellings aren't cheap.  Breck is only 90 minutes from Denver, area population 3.2 million, so it's a handy getaway, especially if you're into outdoor sports, winter and/or summer.  A 878 SF park model costs a mere $795K here.  Such a deal!  Or, you can buy an RV lot for just $550 K.   But - it does includesa nice picnic table.  And, as the proud owner of either a dwelling or a lot, you get to pay $350/month HOA dues.  So what's not to like? 

On the plus side, this is the nicest RV park in the area, well managed and maintained.  And, quite attractive.  If you don't mind architectural nightmares.

Fruita, CO

Dinosaurs and bicycles are Fruita's twin themes.  

Lots of dinosaur remains were found in the area in the early 1900s.

There is no evidence whatsoever that dinosaurs actually rode bikes.

The bike shop owner said these high tech mountain bikes go for $2-6K.  $6000 for bike?  Holy crap!

Big bike.  Little dog.

Here's a well done tribute to Vietnam vets, with names of western Colorado KIAs.  The bronze figures: a soldier being greeted by his parents, titled Welcome Home.  Welcome home, Bro!  That's what Nam vets say to each other these days.  And it feels damn good, both to say it and to hear it.

I, like thousands of other returning vets didn't get a 'welcome home' back in the day.  No ticker tape parade.  No brass band.  No acknowledgement of our sacrifice, of putting our lives on the line.  Instead, we were spat upon, called 'baby killers.' bad-mouthed and villianized by the masses and the media, unfit to associate with the public.  It hurt.

The Huey helicopter was the workhorse of the war, and I logged lots of hours.  I love the sound of choppers to this day.  Hearing one approach over the jungle was always good: resupply, medevacs, gun ships, reinforcements, getting hauled back to base.

Canyonlands National Park

The Green River joins the Colorado River here and both rivers have carved out fantastic cliffs, arches, canyons and hoodoos.  The lookout points are at an elevation of 6000'.

The 3 pix below were taken at Mesa Arch.  

The rest of these were taken at several different overlooks.

The first one is the Green River area.

These are Colorado River sculpted.  The canyon bottom is about 2000' below the lookout points.

Dead Horse Point State Park, UT

Dead Horse Point is a finger of land that pokes into Canyonlands National Park.  In the 1800s, cowboys herded horses to the end of the finger and built a brush corral to keep them there.  The unwanted horses were left behind and died there.  NSPCA was not around at the time.

View of potash ponds and part of the visitor center.

That's the Colorado River down there, in my opinion the best sculptor in the world.

Salt Lake City 2018

We've been in the SLC area several times but this is the first time we hit these points of interest.

Bridal Veil Falls

Utah Olympic Oval

Several Olympic events were held here in 2002.

Huge building has 2 hockey rinks, surrounded by a speed skating track, surrounded by a running track.  Olympic trials are held here, saw one female olympian on the speed track, nearly horizontal on the turns.  Awesome!

One of the hockey rinks.

Dozens of  old gas station signs and pumps near our campground.

Golden Spike Historical Site

Promontory, UT is where the last spike was hammered in the trans-continental railroad - not Promontory Point which is several miles to the south.  The Point was mistakenly named as the last spike location by period newspapers and the misconception continues to this day.

A visit here had been on Trish's bucket list for some time so she's a happy camper. 

The eastern portion of the RR, the Union Pacific, started in Omaha; the western leg, the Central Pacific, started in Sacramento.  The construction of both legs was challenging due to severe weather, mountains, deserts; the eastern part had hostile Indians in addition. 

The Historic Site is a 'gotta wanna' kind of place in a remote location about 40 miles from the nearest freeway.  After touring it, gotta say it's well worth the drive.

Exact replicas of the 2 engines that met at the Spike were built in 1979.  Below, they meet as their ancestors did back in the day, with the last spike location centered between them.

The Jupiter, a wood burning steam engine, came from the west.

The 119, a coal burning steamer, came from the east.

The Golden Spike was hammered in on May 10, 1869.  It now resides at Stanford U in CA.

To be continued.

Idaho Murals

We're in Mountain Home, ID, which has lots of murals in downtown alleyways.  There's an air force base here so the fighter plane is appropriate.

This is the penny wall, thousands of pennies make up the image in the upper left corner of the building.  Lots of people have glued pennies to the lower wall, along with their names or whatever.

The mural below was made with millions of wallet-sized pictures of people.  Amazing!  Can't imagine the amount of effort it took to design and install.  And, it's huge, about 20' high and 30' wide.

Below the girl's butt, on the railing, there's a sign: Where's Waldo?  Yup, he's in there.  Somewhere.  We didn't find him.  If he's in the top 3/4 of the mural we'd never find him anyway; the individual pix are too small.