Chugging

Chugging. For those of a certain age and a certain disposition the term chugging has one connotation. For me, it may be somewhat different when I think of chugging. It brings to mind the smell of wood smoke along with the huff, huff, huff of big wheels turning and clouds of steam escaping into a cool mountain morning.

That’s why, every so often, I get the hankering to seek out transportation powered by the outdated, but still mesmerizing, hissing, grinding, and clanking of a steam locomotive. Living in the modern metropolis that is Denver, Colorado you might wonder where I could get my rail fix. Yeah, Denver’s got Light Rail and a sometime working Train to the Plane, but they can’t compare to the chug, chug, chug that you can feel in your bones when a steam engine gets slowly up to speed. Fortunately, just 40 minutes or so west of the crowded city lies a little town from a bygone age called Georgetown which still harkens proudly to its 1800’s mining roots when picks and shovels and gold and silver were all the rage. And to get all that rich ore down from the mines there were little engines that could winding their way up through forests of Aspen and Pine (at least until they cut all the trees down for building the mines). Today the Georgetown Loop Railroad hauls a treasure of a different kind - tourists who come from all over and can only vaguely imagine what Colorado in the mid-1800’s must have been like. Of course, the guides do their best to share stories of yesteryear about the men and boys who toiled in the many mines that beckoned those seeking their wealth into the bowels of Mother Earth. Most came away with little more than mining-induced lung diseases and a grudging admiration for how hard it is to earn a living doing hard-rock mining.

The railroad must have been a godsend, far better than relying on horse and burro power to haul the tons of ore required to yield ounces of precious metal. Completed in 1884, the Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville Railroad, as it was first known, was considered an engineering marvel of its day. Conditions between Georgetown and Silverplume at the top of the hill were tough enough that the tracks stretched twice as far as the straight line distance between the two mining camps. Built as narrow gauge (the rails are 3 feet apart compared to 4’ 8 1/2” standard gauge) the route features up to 4% grades, horseshoe turns, and four bridges with the Devils Gate High Bridge as the crowning achievement. The line was dismantled in 1939 but was rebuilt in the 1980’s in partnership with History Colorado and today transports tourists along the three miles of operating track and back 129 years.

There is also an optional mine tour into the Lebanon Silver Mine shaft. Don a hard hat and crouch (they were a tad shorter in the old days) as you walk 500 feet underground. The shaft takes you into Republican Mountain. Above you the present day traffic of I-70 flies by with nary a thought of what lies below. We visited in October and the Mine was decked out in its Halloween finery which only detracted a. little from being able to appreciate the real history of the place. The scary skeletons and monsters don’t quite do justice to the more than $3 1/2 billion (in today’s dollars) worth of silver and gold the Lebanon yielded.

Still, if you’re in need of a rail fix, the Georgetown Loop Railroad is not bad and will likely leave you yearning for more. Here’s a short video of what you can expect...

Fall... where did you go?

Fall. I don't know where it went. The calendar may not agree but this year it feels  like what there was to Fall came and went before you could blink. Not that Winter has arrived - Denver and the mountains have barely seen a flurry - so I'm not quite sure what's going on.

I've been busy up in Twin Lakes doing basement work on our cabin. First it was putting up walls, then drywall, and now primer and paint before we put down the floor. Fortunately it's the last major project and we'll be glad when it's finally done. On the bright side it did give me an excuse to be in the High Country during what brief Fall there was and I played hooky enough to get out and capture some of the season in the video below.

Driving up to the mountains last week the Eisenhower Tunnel was closed westbound due to a major accident  on the downhill to Dillon so all westbound traffic was sent up and over 11,990 ft. Loveland Pass. It was an amazing sight to see as Thousands of tail lights snaked up the Pass in slow motion. In recent years I've probably biked Loveland Pass more than I've driven it but it's still a beautiful trip. Except at night creeping along at 5-10 mph.  It did bring back memories from my childhood when there were no tunnels and you had no choice but to head over the high, winding road that is Loveland Pass. I'm dating myself when I say that was when ski lift ticket prices were in single digits and the busiest travel days couldn't cast a shadow to the midweek traffic forced to detour last Wednesday.

Oh well. The Trip was still worth it as I think you'll see in the video. Now if I can only finish the basement before the snow flies.

Transitions and Twofers...

I seem to not have enough time now that I'm retired to do all the things I want to do. I've always had more interests than time and resources allow but I suppose that's better than being bored.

Recently I had the chance to help two dear friends, Tim and Melody, undertake a major life transition consisting of a move from Denver to Seattle, Washington so that they could be closer to their daughter pending the birth of their first grandchild. On a Wednesday afternoon, after the moving truck had departed, we hit the road out of town driving two cars. Of course, the first major challenge was simply getting out of Denver during rush hour, but Tim assured me that all would be well as Denver traffic was nothing compared to what we would experience in Seattle. Sure, I thought to myself, how could anything be worse than Denver at the height of rush (maybe they need to rename it to slow) hour. Three days later I'd be acknowledging that Tim was right - Seattle traffic, if it's possible, is worse than Denver's.

Heading north on I-25 we eventually made it to Fort Collins where we took the shortcut to Laramie, Wyoming. Thankfully, not everyone in Colorado was headed to the Cowboy State so traffic finally lightened enough to start enjoying the ride. From Laramie we then turned west on I-80 and headed towards Rawlins, home to about 9,000 brave souls and named after General John Rawlins who, in 1867, was in command of troops protecting the crew surveying the route for the first trans-continental railroad. Seems he was thirsty and found a spring in the area where he claimed he had the most refreshing drink he had ever tasted. Naturally they immediately named the place Rawlins Springs.

There are some really big trees, and big leaves

in the Pacific Northwest!

Next morning we were up not too early and set off towards Boise, Idaho with the road taking us through Wyoming and into Utah where we saw the Great Salt Lake before entering the Spud State (Idaho is the top contributor to the U.S. potato harvest contributing almost a third of all potatoes grown in the U.S.). From Boise, it was one more day's drive to Seattle before I got the chance to experience what REAL traffic is like.

Tim and Melody were gracious enough to make sure it wasn't all work and no play so we stopped at beautiful Snoqualmie Falls on the way into town and then the next day they took me on a whirlwind tour of some of Seattle's major sights. Here's the video of some of what we saw:

Oh, and as the title of this blogs mentions, it's twofers! I finally had enough time to finish the video from our summer trip to Michigan and this one features our jaunt to Mackinac Island and then to Sault Ste. Marie for a tour of the Soo Locks. Here's that video:

I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Melody and Tim for letting me tag along on their excursion and I wish them happiness as they settle in to their new Seattle digs!