The Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River

Currently In: Woodland Park, CO
Up Next: South Fork, CO

Let me start with this: the heat the rest of the country has been experiencing has caught up to us.  Once we got out of the cold last February, we have had great weather.  Most days in the mid 70's and only a few days of rain.  Last week in Loveland it was in the 80's.
We've been in Woodland Park at 8500 feet above sea level so the weather has been rather moderate.  But once we head into the valleys it's been in the high 90's.  We haven't experienced those temps since we were in Vermont last fall!

Of course that didn't keep us from checking out some stuff in Central Colorado.

On our way to see the Royal Gorge (previously known as the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas), we saw a couple of llama or alpaca farms. Lots of animals! But there was no good place to pull over for a photo.  It was just really unusual.
Once we arrived, Johnny, of course, immediately saw the locomotive. You can ride a railroad along the bottom of the Gorge.

The Gorge was formed by the Arkansas River.  It took 6 months to build the Bridge in 1929.

We took the tram across the Gorge.

And walked across the Bridge (the tallest in the United States) to get back to our car.

We were looking for the railroad tracks when we saw rafts along the Arkansas.

Here are a couple of other views from the Bridge.

There was a wildfire in the area of the Gorge in June 2013.  49 of the 50 structures burned down but the Bridge only sustained minor damage.  It reopened opened to tourists in August of 2014.  There is one wall at the Visitor Center that memorializes the fire.  The timbers on the wall were came from scorched planks on the Bridge.

Another picnic lunch in Nature.

After we left the Gorge, we stopped in the town of Cripple Creek.

The town grew up after gold was discovered in the mountains.  Gold is still being minded there today on the mountain at the top of this photo of the historic town.

We saw several historic buildings, among them the town hall and the Gold Mining Stock Exchange building from the late 1800s.

I liked this antique safe, next to an old piano, in one building.

Again there was an historic railroad used to transport the gold.  It was a narrow gauge railroad since it had to go up into the mountains.

Today, most of the town is dedicated to casinos.  Hey, you gotta keep the tourists coming!