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Published: April 26th 2013
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Hiya All. Keep those comments coming please.
Well these last few days have been lazy days - partly due to the fact that I was going to hike a trail up at McClure Pass but it turned out that I was above the snow line when I got there and I needed skis not hiking boots... so I had a leisurely drive down the pass - found a babbling brook , a field with horses surrounded by mountain peaks and thought it was a good picnic spot. I passed up on the hiking.
It is quite lovely driving around these mountain valleys with very little traffic - Carbondale is a quaint town - with neat stores and houses - nothing brash or garish about it. And the folks here seem very friendly and polite - they will introduce themselves with a handshake ....something we don't do anymore in England. So on my drive along by the Crystal River - I stopped at the cutest little place called Redstone - complete with General Store kitted out with old counters and candy jars etc....and a wooden verandah to sit on a drink my coffee. A walk along Main Street and I
was OOhing and AAhing at the sweet little houses - and taking my pick of course - which one woulkd I buy? The pink one or the green one. Then away from the houses and round the bend in the river I had to sit awhile on some rocks and marvel at the view...truly a Rockies scene. What is amazing is that this area was heavily industrialised with coal mining,( fantastic coke ovens at Redstone where they made coke for the steel industry) gold, uranium and still they are mining marble at a town called ........ Marble- you guessed it. The marble from here was used in building some of the fab buildings in Washington - White House - and a massive block which is the tomb of the unknown soldier. But now this is all industrial heritage and very few scars on the landscape to be seen.
Yesterday my plan was to have another lazy day - and I found there were some hot springs at Avalanche Ranch - so off I went ... you can stay in rustic old cabins, shepherds wagons and be surrounded by rock faces and mountains as you wallow in the 3 hot
springs pools whch tumble down one above the other. Bliss... would you believe I sat in those pools for 2 hours. Well I did meet some very nice ladies and the time passed away chatting. One of them works in a resto/ bar in the town so I said I would go for dinner tonight ( Friday) - and her mom who was there said she would meet me so isn't that nice...its a dinner date. One of the guys in the pool was a survivor of an avalanche here last week -he talked about what happened and it sounded terrifying and he was so lucky not to be killed - 5 others were.
It is interesting travelling alone as most of the time people chat to you and you find out about all sorts of local things that you would not know if you were an ordinary tourist staying in hotels on a package. It was FULL MOON night in Carbondale last night and lots of folk get on their bikes and ride around the streets some dressed up - having a good time..I was told there are sometimes 200-300 folk riding round. In summer they have lots
Shepherds wagon
wouldn't mind staying there. of music and things going on outside in the streets - maybe I have to come back then.
So more photos of the local area where I am staying - oh yes - wildlife spotting - lots of deer, chipmunks and a bald eagle so far. No mountain lions fortunately.
Bye for now. xx
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Patricia
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Do you have a map function when you write up your posts? I read your blog with my big foldout USA map close by so I know where you are but it is still too small to see some places you've mentioned. A map with flags on your page would really help! I'm not complaining though as I love looking at the map - just keep writing x