Today, I got to meet up, in Idaho Springs, CO, with my former neighbor and good friend, Giselle, her husband, Mike, her two sons, daughter-in-law and adorable grandbaby.  Hopefully, we will get together again in a couple of days before I leave the area.  It was a coincidence that we were here at the same time.  It was just meant to happen I think.  We had many fun times in Houston when we both lived there.  They now live in Singapore but are building a vacation home in the mountains in CO. 

     

On the way back to the park, I stopped to watch the rafters.  Another thing I would like to do while here.  It looks like so much fun.

To kill time in CO, before moving on to WY, I decided to take a 3 day trip up to Estes Park, CO which is in the Rocky Mountain National Forest Area.  More beautiful mountains and streams. 

 

 

 

 

On the way to Estes Park, I stopped in Nederland, CO for lunch at Dot's Diner where I had the best spinach salad.  All the guys in there were dudes with long hair.  Colorado mountain men everywhere. 

 

 

This is a street musician in Estes Park singing outside a restaurant.  He was very talented and entertaining and another mountain man.   

 

 

Estes Park had lots of tourists vacationing and probably there for July 4th.  I ended up walking about 3 miles into town as the shuttles were way off schedule.  When I got there, I decided I deserved a homemade ice cream cone.  I just sat and people watched on the main street of town which is always fun.   

 

 
On the way to downtown, I saw this trout fishing pond where one could fish for free and only pay for the fish that they caught.  I put that on my list to do the next day but got a late start so missed out.  I still want to fish for trout but would like to fly fish in a stream if possible.

There was a Scandinavian Festival taking place in the park downtown.

I decided to tour the Stanley Hotel, where Steven King spent the night and got his inspiration for "The Shining."  Supposedly the ghost of Mrs. Wilson is there along with other ghosts.  Mrs. Wilson was a housekeeper in the hotel and it is believed that when guests stay in Room 217, strange things happen such as their clothes beings picked up and neatly folded and beds being unexpectantly turned
down. 

Bruno Mars has stayed in this room as has Jim Carey while making the movie, "Dumb and Dumber."  Carey bolted from the hotel and stayed somewhere else when he supposedly had a weird experience in that room.

This is the notorious haunted room 217 with our very hyper tour guide....another dude.  His long hair is swept up into a ponytail.

And this is the seemingly endless hallway where the twins were standing at the end.

Interestingly, there was a wedding about to be taking place on the grounds and I could not take my eyes off of these two little cuties.

The weird thing about this tour is I turned my head for a minute and my whole tour group was gone.....they just disappeared.  I looked all over for them and never found them.  Do you suppose they ever existed?  Were they ghosts?  Very strange.

Leaving Estes Park, I took the time to walk around Lake Estes.  The water was so blue and the weather perfect.

On the way back to Central City, I passed this Catholic Church out in the middle of nowhere.   I  thought it was very pretty and fit beautifully into the mountainous landscape.

 

 

I am now back in Central City for a couple more days to visit with a friend and her family who will

be here vacationing in the mountains and also to hopefully see another friend who is moving to Denver the first of July.  Then I plan to move on to Wyoming.  I'm ready.  This is another pretty old Methodist church in downtown Central City.

 

 

Central City, CO, in the Rocky Mountains,  is an old historic mining settlement founded in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush.  Many of it's original buildings still make up Main St.  When gold mining was no longer a lucrative endeavor, gambling came to be in the 1990s so there are now more than a half dozen casinos in the downtown area. 

A sleepy little town, it comes alive at night.  I took this while waiting for the shuttle to come pick me up and take me back to the campground.  I had fun gambling and even won a little

I will be leaving this campground and Central City tomorrow.  It's been a nice stay with great views of the mountains all around me. 

I just noticed this sign yesterday so opted not to walk anywhere wooded.

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It rained off and on most of today and now the temperature has dropped to a cool 54 degrees, sweatshirt weather...love it.  The rain left a beautiful rainbow over the mountains and again another great sunset.

 

 

 

Cookout on Sunday with my former neighbors and good friends was great and the next day it was now time to leave Denver.

Driving to Central City in the mountains, I decided to stop at Lookout Mountain.  Lots of snow was still on the peaks.  Supposedly, you can see 4 states from this spot.

This is also where William "Buffalo Bill" Cody is buried.  I got a history lesson after visiting the museum which depicted his life and his adventures with the Wild West Shows and his relationship with Sitting Bull and Annie Oakley.

 

Cute....

Sitting Bull's headdress.

 

Wyoming and Kansas both fought to have Buffalo Bill buried in their states but after visiting Lookout Mountain, he told a friend that this was where he wanted to be buried.  Visitors throw buffalo nickels on his grave.   I didn't  have one so he got a dime from me.

 

 

Our group left Chatfield State Park yesterday.  One of the members of the group and I decided to stop and hike at Roxborough State Park, another picturesque area, on our way to our next destinations.  We weren't disappointed.  The huge red rocks were beautiful. 

The wildflowers were pretty too!

 

 

 

There are mountain lions in this park but fortunately we only met up with a stuffed one. 

 

 

Today I'm in a private park in Englewood, CO.  The temperature is 86 degrees but the sun feels like 110 degrees.  I don't remember it ever feeling this hot when we lived here about 35 years ago.  Tomorrow I will be attending a cookout with some former neighbors, which I look forward to.

This is our last day at Chatfield State Park in Littleton, CO.  It has been a nice stay.  The scenery has been great and I have made some very nice new friends with the Denver Chapter of the Lows RV group.

 

One new friend, Ginger, has introduced me to "birdwatching" and it is pretty interesting to hear about the different birds and their habits.  It could be a good thing for me to do while walking as it would make my walks a lot more interesting.   Here is one little bird we came across and I've already forgotten its name. 

Along our path, we came across Slocum Cabin which was built in 1852 to keep trappers warm.  It later was sold to an Englishman who lived in this small structure with his wife and 4 children.  It measures 10' x 12' and is one of the oldest structures in Colorado.  Can you imagine 6 people living in such a small space?

 There was some interesting things growing out of the roof of this structure, mainly flowering cacti.

Orange Poppies growing wild on the plains here.

 

The sunset after the rain last night was amazing.  The sky looked like it was on fire.  We had some strong winds come through but they didn't last long, thank goodness. 

 

This is part of the group I am camping with....very nice people.  The campground turned off the water today because of the rising water flooding the area and the possibility of more rain so we have to conserve what we have and not run the risk of filling our tanks because they closed the dump station too.   My big concern is finding another park after leaving here on Friday.  All the parks are filled or flooded so I am thinking I may have to leave the Denver area earlier than I thought.    

 

 

Today, I am settled in for five days at Chatfield State Park in Littleton, CO with the CO Chapter of LOWS.  Yesterday, we spent the day getting acquainted and sharing RV stories.  Today, some of us took a hike to the marina to see how high the water was.  This park has some serious flooding but it doesn't affect the campsites other than we can get to the stables to ride horses like we had planned.  And there is only one entrance into the park.  The other is completely under water.  Regardless, it is a beautiful park and the weather is perfect.

This is the view outside my window.

This gives you an idea of how high the lake has risen.  Notice the stop sign to the right.

 

This is supposed to be dry land.

 

 

 

The kids at the campground were enjoying it.