Last week we took a trip to Marble, Co. On the way we saw very dry areas, but many beautiful, green areas that are being irrigated. We passed several active coal mines. There is still snow visable on the higher mountains, but in one of the pictures part of the white you see is marble. The town of Marble's elevation is about 8000 feet. There are several beautiful lakes and waterfalls. Crystal River runs through the town. The marble in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. came from here. There was a road side gallery displaying marble sculptures. We started up the rocky, one-lane, four-wheel drive road to Crystal. It was extremely rough and we were concerned that we would not have enough clearance for the trip so we turned back. We decided to travel on the quarry road which was gravel and one lane but in much better condition. The road hung on the side of the mountain and there were only a few places that you could pass another car. Lucky the quarry trucks were not running that day. We managed with the other occasional cars. The scenery was beautiful. We drove almost to the top where they were mining the marble. One the way down I got a picture of a truck that had been driven too far into the river and was stuck. A tractor had come to its rescue.
On our drive up we met a man with two dogs on a leash strapped to him. I think he was getting them in shape for pulling a sled in the winter.
I have included a picture of Allan at the top of a ladder doing gutter work along with fighting the wasps. He did not get stung. The project is to take down the old gutters and put up new ones. Last years ice on the roof damaged the gutters beyond repair.
The other night we decided to take a drive near the mesa as we had heard there was a fire and we wanted to see how close it was. It apparently was closer to Grand Junction as we did not see any fire, but it did look like a smog or smoke in the valley in the distance. While on this drive we came upon three turkeys walking down the road. We also saw approximately 30 deer and a few fawn. To our surprise looking out in a field as we rounded a corner we saw several elk, many with a full rack. This turned out to be an elk ranch. The road was paved for many miles, but later turned into a gravel road. We didn't know where we were, but figured we would find our way back home eventually. The GPS thought we were driving in a field, but later decided we were nearing Cedaredge on the south side and directed us back to town. While in town we got a few pictures of a yard of hollyhocks and other flowers.
On numerous occasions we have driven down a road just to see where it led. This has been one of the best parts of our stay here in Colorado.
Update on the kitties. They are growing and are hungry little guys. Mama Cat who has been know as a dumpster diver has surprised all of us by bringing them a squirrel and a bird. So far they have survived the kids at camp, coyotes, bears, hawks and who knows what else.
We have the first part of the week off from the kitchen as no campers are here. There will be a weekend retreat from Friday to Sunday and then two weeks of band camp.
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