May 5th, 2013 Stuck in Colorado Springs!

Well, let's see ... we got back from Hawaii on Friday morning (May 3rd). 

Dessert at Mama's Fish House

We had a really great time there with Lonnie & Sandy … saw some cool stuff … did some great drives … and enjoyed the beaches immensely.  It was sad leaving but we celebrated the last night with a fantastic (words can’t even describe) meal at a local legend – Mama’s Fish House.  This place is right on a beach and is so funky and eclectic you don’t realize it’s a Five-star restaurant.  The menu is – of course – heavy on fresh fish and local beef and pork.  We had some amazing meals (EXTREMELY pricey – but hey!  We were celebrating!) and drinks to celebrate Lonnie & Sandy’s anniversary (again!).  Then off to the airport (what a way to go!)

Took the ‘red-eye’ out of Kahului and into Denver via San Francisco.  Arrived terribly jet-lagged plus we went from sea level to over 6,000 ft. in a day.  Needless to say we went almost directly to bed when we got  home.  Slept for 12 hours straight and still felt like crap!

But we got some stuff done like grocery shopping etc. and took another walk around G. of the G. as the weather was actually sunny and warm(ish) for a change.  Had an early supper and early to bed again – ready to head out in the morning.  We’d decided to head west and south – to Sedona, Arizona where the temperatures were warmer. 

However … the best laid plans ….

When trying to hook up our auxiliary breaking system in the morning … it crashed on us!  Can’t drive with no breaking in the towed car so we opted to stay in the Springs a couple more days to try and get it fixed.  We have called the manufacturer and they’re shipping out the part so should get it by Tuesday (with any luck at all). 

We decided to make the most of our extended stay in the area to drive up to Cripple Creek.  It’s a gold-mining town about 1 hour from here – west and about 4,000 ft. higher!

Downtown Cripple Creek

Old Sign in Cripple Creek

What a neat place (if you can overlook the 10,000 casino’s which seem to have taken over much of the town!)  It’s an old town … most buildings are dated 1896 … which seems late until you find out that there was a town fire that demolished all of the old wooden buildings the year before.  But some great architecture and quite a beautiful town.  We had some lunch and wandered for   Apparently Victor has had more gold taken out than California and Alaska combined!  There are mines and remnants of mines everywhere.  The older mines are quite interesting and have some beautiful scenery around.  The ‘new’ mines are completely ‘raping’ the mountainsides and look like a moonscape after the apocolypse.  Very nasty business – gold mining!
a bit, then took the back way into Victor which is only a few miles away.

Mines near Victor

But the drive was nice and photo opps were everywhere!  So the day was certainly not wasted! 

Bruce is off for a bike ride and I think I’ll head to the liquor store as we’re getting dangerously low on wine!

May 6th,
We took a drive out to the Florissant Fossil Beds which is near Cripple Creek.  This is where they've found 1,000's of perfectly preserved fossils and there's also a bunch of petrified redwoods.  They're HUGE ... some 14' - 15' across.  These were widely vandalized in the early part of the 20th century by tourists who were encouraged to come out and take home fossils. It's amazing to think that this whole area ... now home to rolling grasslands and ponderosa pine ... was once covered with giant redwood trees!  A very cool place to see!