A Sign From Above Must Have Brought Us to Sheridan, Wyoming

Well, that's a bit dramatic, but it fits this picture of a very unusual eastern sky (a reverse sunset - the sun was setting on the opposite horizon) over the RV Park where we stayed while in Sheridan: Peter D's. That's their sign for the park.

It's a place I'd recommend highly, run by the nicest owners we've ever met. Peter and Barbara demonstrate the kind of integrity and people skills you hope to find at every RV park, but rarely do. Their place is spotless, well run, homey, convenient, and they are always available to make something right if it isn't.  

The park is on the edge of town, surrounded by quiet, pastoral green hillsides. I hope these pictures and our highest praise will bring lots of people to their happy little spot in Wyoming.

Sheridan is a smallish city of about 18,000. It's close enough to the Big Horn Mountains, and Big Horn Canyon for outdoor adventures. It has many interesting and historical points of interest, plus all the practical and fun shopping you might want to do in a thriving downtown.  A few deserve special mention: Sackett's Market - a real old fashioned, quality butcher shop; two great shoe stores - Foot of the Big Horns and Brian's Boot & Shoe Company; and the daddy of them all, King's Saddlery.

OMG, hold on to your wallet. Not only does this place have an incredible selection of western wear and accessories, but it also has the very best fancy rodeo gear anywhere.  This is the kind of stuff you don't see very often, even out here in cowboy/girl country. Seriously, look at those spurs and chaps.

And for those who are more practically minded, there is a huge selection of fine riding tackle including saddles, (new and used),  blankets, bridles, bits and who knows what else...

...plus ROPES.  This is the home of King's Ropes. Who knew there were so many kinds of ropes! I thought places like the Big R and Tractor Supply had a lot of rope. Nope.  

Now if you aren't overwhelmed with all that, even if you're broke from buying too much rope, head on back to the museum, one of the very best we've been to, and I don't mean just the best saddle museum, I mean best museum period. (Right up there with the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.) It really helped that we had just watched an episode of How It's Made TV about saddles. Layers upon layers of shaped leather go on top of wood and even metal form layers, topped off with carved detail finish work and cushioned shearling underneath, even on the basic saddles. So just imagine the work that goes into the Championship Saddles that are the rodeo trophies, some of which were on display here. We were duly impressed.

It's called the Don King Museum, after Don King, a master saddle maker and leather artist who lived here in Sheridan. He and his wife collected the saddles and other cowboy related artifacts displayed here. This is not an art museum per se, but it is chock-a-block full of some of the finest artwork you'll see. In fact, you may be lucky enough to meet one of the artists, James F. Jackson, whose workshop is in the museum.

We had no real idea of how leather was carved. The artistry that goes into this kind of fine leather working is so elegant and amazingly detailed. These are examples of Mr. Jackson's belt patterns. (Special order only.)  I think Rick may be getting one for Christmas, but don't tell.

These are leather carving tools made by Don King. Mr. Jackson says Don King was the master at making leather tools, which were and still are in very high demand.

Leather tools made by Don King

On display are examples of sketches made by Don King and other leather master craftsmen and women such as Al and Ann Stohlman. 

This is the workbench of Al Stohlman, a master leather artist who was a formative contributor to the Tandy Leather line of tools and leather patterns. He made all the wooden pictures on the workbench in patterns that he also made in leather.  His wife Ann was a leather artist as well, and some of her unique saddles are on display.

So even if you aren't a horse person of any sort, I think you'll be amazed at the quality of this collection of saddles and leather art (as well as some pretty interesting taxidermy).

We aren't horse people either of course, or even history buffs necessarily, but we enjoyed a couple of other historical points of interest in Sheridan. The first is The Historic Sheridan Inn. The dancing couple out front caught our eyes.

The Sheridan Inn just reopened after being non-functional for about 50 years. We felt really fortunate to be able to see it inside and out. It has 69 gables!  

Anyone can go in and look around the bottom floor, where you'll find the stunning Buffalo Bill's Bar, named after Buffalo Bill (aka William F. Cody) who actually lived here and managed the hotel for awhile. 

The smaller dining room....

The required buffalo head... Perhaps one of the hundreds that good ol' Buffalo Bill shot.

The Inn is a fully functioning hotel, restaurant, bar and special event location in addition to being a very impressive restoration and historical landmark.  

Spring is in full bloom here in Sheridan, and the peonies are popping in everyone's yards. Sheridan has received plenty of rain (and a few floods) this season, so everything is lush and green.  These beautiful peonies were in Trail End's yard, another historical location in town.

Trail End, or the "Kendrick Mansion" was built by John Kendrick, former governor, U.S. and state senator of Wyoming. 

We don't visit history museums that often, but we do like to visit historical homes. They give you a perspective of history that is grounded in every day life rather than facts and dates.  Trail End is in it's original state, as it was well taken care of by the Kendricks family even though they lived here for only a short time.  Almost all the furnishings and decor are original, with only a few replacements matching the originals.

All three floors are accessible to visitors.

The master bedroom, as it might have looked with the family living there.

The staircase to the third floor, doubling as library and family gallery.

The entire third floor was a ballroom with exquisite wooden floors and a little balcony for the musicians. What a cool (well, maybe hot) place to have a contra dance, or more likely a square dance or fancy dress ball. 

The stairs looking down three stories. 

We really liked Sheridan Wyoming a lot. It even had a big dog park with shade, water, picnic tables and grass, that Honey liked a lot too. 

Weathering Boyd Lake and Rocky Mt. National Park

This is the most "winter" weather we've had to cope with since we left Illinois four years ago. We're coming up to about a month of cloudy, cold, wet days in New Mexico and now in Colorado. Call us spoiled, but we sure appreciate the sunshine and mild temperatures that this kind of traveling offers us. Well, "into each life..." and all that, and now I'll gripe no more, because you know what you sometimes get with rain?

For a week at Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland, CO we had a beautiful spot overlooking the lake...

...and were treated to some exciting skies. 

Boyd Lake is a really nice park, with lots of open space, miles of trails to walk and bike, and well cared for facilities. It has electric only hooks-ups, with two water spigots per loop for filling up, and one large, well-placed dump station. It's not close to the highway, so it's quiet, but it is close to Loveland and Fort Collins - two thriving communities where all your polymorphous fantasies of consumables  can be fulfilled.  (By the way I want to recommend JAX, a super-duper store for anything outdoorsy, plus clothes, pet supplies, hardware, etc.  I want to move here so I can go there once a week.)

Boyd Lake State Park only has one significant drawback as far as I'm concerned (if you don't mind paying for showers): the curved pull-through sites are kind of tight for a big rig. It's hard not to drive over the grass while trying to position yourself, and in our circumstances, that made a big muddy mess.  Oh, and another occasional issue: when the wind is blowing from the northeast, the park can get strong unpleasant odors from the cattle feed lots across the lake.

Loveland is a perfect location from which to explore Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), and we did so a couple of times.  We didn't intend to do it twice, but we woke up one morning to blue skies and sun on the Rockies, so we had to go again.

The road from Loveland to RMNP is Rt. 34, or Big Thompson Rd., which goes through Big Thompson Canyon. In 2013 there was major flooding here, and evidence of how the Big Thompson River scoured the canyon is still visible throughout its length.  Here's a shot of a landslide at one bend in the river. 

 In several locations small cabins are still barely holding on even two years later. I'm sure a clean-up job this big takes a long time.

Despite the damage, the canyon is still beautiful in most places.

After about 30 miles Rt. 34 takes you right into Estes Park, the gateway to RMNP. 

The historic (and "haunted") Stanley Hotel is the visual linchpin of the town.

There are several routes to take out of Estes Park to explore RMNP, but the one that goes west over the highest mountains was still closed with snow. We headed southish on Bear Lake Rd. and ended up at Bear Lake, which was still pretty snowbound.

Then we drove as far as we could on Trail Ridge Rd. to Rainbow Curve where there are great views on clear days. The day we were there is was kind of hazy.  The altitude really zonked me out. I begged out of getting out of the car with, "Just let me take a little nap."

The second time we went to the mountains, on the sunny day, we drove south on Rt. 7. Our first stop was Lily Lake.

The road passes along the base of Longs Peak (the bare one in the center I believe), which is one of the most visible peaks from Loveland and after which the town of Longmont is named.

After Rt. 7 skirts around Longs Peak it then gives you a great view of Mount Meeker behind the quaint Chapel on the Rock, or Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel.  The surrounding land is still recovering from the 2013 flooding. Thank goodness the Chapel is on that rock, or it would have been washed away.

In the tiny town of Allenspark we stopped so I could get a cup of coffee at the also tiny Meadow Mountain Cafe, and I couldn't resist what was probably one of the best cinnamon rolls ever. Their breakfasts looked great too.

We ended our drive on that singular sunny day passing through popular Boulder Canyon where we saw lots of rock climbers and hikers among the rocks, and making one final stop at the Foothills Community Dog Park just north of Boulder. What a great park, with uninterrupted views of the Front Range! (Thanks to my Bring Fido app for helping us find dog parks where ever we go.)

Over the Royal Gorge

Despite very wet, cold and windy weather, we tried to do some sight seeing while in Colorado Springs. One of the "must do" places in the area is Royal Gorge, and the Royal Gorge Bridge that crosses the Arkansas River, near Canon City.

The bridge is part of a privately owned and operated park that offers many ways to see the Gorge, including zip-lining and the Sky Coaster, neither of which we opted to experience. 

No, that's neither Rick or Lenore up there on the zip-line

We chose the gondola, which while not death defying, did offer some great views.

One of the most interesting things about this park is that it was completely destroyed by a wildfire in 2013. The fire actually jumped the gorge and burned everything on both sides, yet left the bridge intact. Only some of the wooden boards that form the road over the bridge were burned. 

Since the fire, the company has rebuilt the Visitor's Center and a few other buildings, the gondola, the zip-line and the Sky Coaster.  The Grand Re-Opening was May 8, 2015.  We were there just a few days before and there was lots of activity getting everything ready.

Teeny tiny gondolas near the top of the gorge

Looking back at the Visitor's Center from the gondola

The price of admission is about as steep as the walls of the gorge, but includes as many walks across the bridge and rides on the gondola as you want. There is a film about the fire and a small museum of related artifacts.  

Royal Gorge Bridge cable

 The Visitor's Center has a really lovely cafe with great views from its balcony. There's even cozy seating around a fireplace on the deck if the wind chills you too much.

Visitor's Center

It is a truly dramatic gorge and worth a visit. Canon City is an interesting historic and tourist town as well. It's also a very scenic drive from Colorado Springs. We even got a little sunshine along the way.

View across the bridge from the Visitor's Center

Colorado Springs and Roots Report

It's been almost a week since we arrived at Cheyenne Mountain State Park outside of Colorado Springs, and it's been a whopper of a weather week. Fellow full timers and bloggers Hans and Lisa, of Metamorphosis Road are here too and they just did a great job of summarizing and describing, so I'll refer readers to their post, appropriately entitled Wet and Wild and Beautiful.

Rick, Lenore, Lisa and Hans at Bristol Brewery

We've had lots of rain, thunder and lightning, wind, hail, snow and clouds for our week here. 

The trails have been a little too muddy to hike much. The mud here is clay-like - thick and sticky. Within minutes you've got an extra pair of heavy clay boots. Some of the higher trails are not too bad.

We never know what we're going to wake up to next. 

Some mornings we even see Cheyenne Mountain above us.  (Yes, it's the location of the fictional Cheyenne Mountain as in Stargate and the actual Cheyenne Mountain as in NORAD.)

We try not to let weather change our plans too much, so we put on our Alaska gear and did some sightseeing. One stop was the Garden of the Gods, just outside of Colorado Springs.

The park is free, dog friendly, and heavily visited. We had a hard time finding any parking even with the volatile weather.

Rain and hail started just as we were leaving. 

The Western Roots Report

My great aunt Lula and great uncle Roy Davis (on my mother's side) lived in Colorado Springs for many years, so it was one of those places we visited on our family summer road trips out west. I knew that they lived on Tejon St. but had only a general recollection of what their home looked like. I remembered it as a three story Victorian home, with a porch, some typical architectural detail and a side driveway. I recalled the back yard distinctly, having played in it a lot, but wouldn't be able to see that from the road.  We drove up and down Tejon St. one day, but I couldn't identify the house.

After doing some research online I found a website about the Old North End Neighborhood with a list of historic homes. The Roy A. Davis Home was one of them, and it gave the exact address! So on our next trip down Tejon St. we found the house.

It was just as I remembered it, once I saw it.  The Old North End Neighborhood has been preserved beautifully. The inside of this house was what I remembered most vividly though. It had been dark, and decorated in typical Victorian style with velvet upholstery; heavy, carved wood furniture; Oriental rugs; and fringes on the lamps. The most remarkable room in the house was Uncle Roy's library. He was a hunter, forged in the image of Teddy Roosevelt.  His library was filled from floor to ceiling with animals that he had shot. I believe there was every mammal and large bird in North America somewhere in that house, and most were crammed into that spooky library. There was even a bald eagle soaring frighteningly over the main staircase.

Roy A Davis

My Aunt Lula was a social worker, and did disaster relief work for the Red Cross.  I believe these pictures of her might have been from somewhere in the South after a flood. 

"On a wrecked beach where all kinds of wreckage washed up" - Lula Hall

Lula Bob Hall, circa 1914

Lula Bob Hall, circa 1914

I also found an article online from the Colorado Springs Gazette, 1967, that announced a civic citizenship award presented to Roy A. Davis for his contribution to the community over the years. He apparently was a member of the Colorado legislature, belonged to all the local clubs (Rotary, Elks, Old Fellows, etc.) and was a great promoter of social welfare programs. I imagine Lula and Roy may have met through their community welfare work. 

But this is how I remembered Aunt Lula and Uncle Roy from our visits to Colorado Springs.

Lula and Roy Davis, circa 1960, Colorado

Next I'll report just one more sightseeing visit here before we move to the Denver area, if it hasn't been washed away in the rain and flooding they've been having.

For now I'll close with this nice picture that Metamorphosis Lisa took of us after dinner.  Thanks Lisa!