October 23, 2013

Left Denver early for a long day on the road.  It took at least 2 hours to clear Colorado.  Most of the state from Denver to the east border is above 5000 feet.  Once we got into Kansas, the elevation dropped steadily until we arrived in Salina, KS at under 1300 feet.  There were many oil well pumps visible from the road but they all but disappeared when we got around Hays, KS where the rolling hills started and windmills showed up by the hundreds.

Yes, the state of Kansas is still flat.  About 97% of the land is used for agricultural purposes.

 There were windmills by the hundreds once we got into the rolling hills of Kansas.

 Alice found a yarn hotspot.    Yarns Sold and Told

 One of the Proprietors just spent 2 weeks in Maine in September.

 Pumpkin coloring seemed to be the norm here instead of carving Jack-O-Lanterns.

 On many street corners in the downtown area were sculptures.  This one was called Hugs and Kitten.

 This one is called First Kiss

 Is there anyone out there who knows this experience better than Tom?

 Now for your eye test for the day.  Believe it.

Thursday a busy day.  25 miles ahead is the Eisenhower Library, Museum and Home.  After that the Kansas State Capitol and then a few more miles down the road.

Have a great day everyone.

October 22, 2013

Another day in Denver to visit the State Capitol Building, the Denver Art Museum...at least part of it anyway and the Margaret (Molly) Brown home.

The Dome of the Capitol building will be resurfaced with gold leaf after the dome is rebuilt.  The infrastructure has deteriorated in the last 100 years. During the time it takes, it will be covered from the elements.

The walls are Rose Onyx which is claimed to be more valuable than Gold.  It is also claimed that there is no more available worldwide.

A wall hanging in the Capitol about 6x12 feet in size depicting many events in the state's history.

There are several stained glass windows in the building depicting some of the more prominent people in the state.

The inside of the building is very spacious.

The Capitol is a mile high, however, over the years, the location of the mile marker has been changed depending which measurement data was used.  The latest and final decision is the bottom marker.  The original measurement was the one with the words One Mile Above Sea Level, but is now not the official one.

 There are 2 state capitals that are a mile high.  The other is New Mexico which is the highest.

 The home of the Denver Post newspaper, just a short walk from the Capitol.

A short distance away is the Denver Art Museum.  Inside, they had a nice area to keep children happy.

A nice upstairs viewing area of the hills.

 Grammie spent some time doing her thing.

 

 Art comes in all sorts of materials.  This sure looks like fabric but is really Aluminum twist off caps connected with tine Copper wire.

 

Kind of a neat rendition of the state's history.

We visited the Margaret (Molly) Brown Home.  The name Molly wasn't attributed to her until after many years after her death when a movie was made.

 

 Advertising humor

We went down to the 16th Street Mall for Dinner at the Rocky Bottom Brewery and then walked around and did some people watching.

The lights are going out in John Denver country.

Tomorrow we will be filling our tank at $3.29 and heading down over the big hill to the East.  Have a great day everybody.

October 21, 2013

Welcome back everyone.  Today, after a nice visit with Doug and Robin and her parents, we left Cheyenne and headed for Golden CO. and then to Denver.  The drive down is roughly 100 miles depending where in Denver you want to end up.

On the way down we made a planned stop to make a surprise visit with Alice's nephew.  Tod was pleasantly surprised to see family.

We next headed to downtown Golden where there is a quilt museum.

On the way to Denver, the Rocky Mountains lie to the west.

 

 Anyone need one of these in your back yard.

 

 Getting closer to Golden.

 

 

 What a nice city.  A nice sunny day in the high 50's.

 Everyone needs a hug.

 

 Here's Grammie.  Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

 

 6,293 individual pieces went into this quilt.

 

A material witness challenge.  A story behind this one.

Triangle Shirtwaist fire 

 

 

After leaving the quilt museum, we headed to Lookout Mountain where the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum and Grave are located.  The elevation is over 7200 feet and a great view.  There were many bike riders pedaling the 1300 foot elevation.

 To the west, more Rocky Mountains. A spectacular view.

 

 

 Can you read the word on the face of the building in the upper right hand side?

 A wonderful view of Denver.

 The North Flat top west of Golden.

The contents of the museum are mostly articles that were given to Johnny Baker, the foster son of William Cody, or replicas of things that Bill Cody may have used.  When Buffalo Bill died, some of his possessions went to the Museum in Cody Wyoming while some were sold, while other artifacts went to other museums.  

 Bill is buried on Lookout Mountain with his wife Louisa.

 This is the driver.

Tomorrow is another day and another Capitol Tour.  Have a nice day all.

October 18, 2013

We woke up to a little bit of snow and to make matters a little worse, the freeway to Cheyenne was closed due to accidents.  About 11 am we finally got on the road and made it to Cheyenne withour incident. 
The mountain passes were snow covered and one as high as 8500 feet.

Our home away from home, covered with snow.

The state has a very informative website for motorists and truckers traveling through the state.

 We did take a few pictures of snow covered mountains.

 Elk Mountain with the pass nearby is a location of accidents during bad conditions.

 Tree Rock.  The story goes back a hundred years when the railroad was being built.

Tree Rock

Tonight we are spending time with Doug and Robin and Bev and Bob so I got the blog updated a little earlier.  Have a good evening all.