Cool Colorado Springs

At the end of July, Ken and Lisa took us on a tour of the McAlister House in Colorado Springs.  This historical house was the very first home built in Colorado Springs, at a time when landscape was devoid of trees and the wind was fierce.  Now this street is lined with trees and surrounded by lush plants thanks to the owner and builder of this house.

 Major McAllister traveled to this area at the request of his friend, General Palmer, to create and develop the city.  Both of them fought together in the Civil War and Henry McAlister obtained the rank of Major.

This special house was almost destined to be demolished and become a parking lot (the horror of it😟) but was saved, refurbished and became a museum in 1961.  Thank goodness for people who wanted to preserve it.

Although the furniture in the house came from other places, it was still indicative of the time period when the McAlister family occupied it.

The walls of the house are at least 18 inches thick, enabling the house to stay cool during the summer and warm during the winter.

The beautiful fireplace in the living room was made from Italian marble.

The stove in the upstairs bedroom kept the occupants warm, but it sure wasn't as pretty as the living room fireplace.

Below are a few pictures of the kitchen, which was probably state of the art when it was built.

Notice the irons sitting on the stove, waiting to be used.  I grew up having to iron all of my clothes and even having to iron sheets and pillowcases!  I guess I can be thankful that now almost nothing has to be pressed.  Makes me wonder if any of my grandchildren even know what an iron is for. 😕

As I sauntered through the kitchen area, I noticed a recipe on the dresser. This must have been good since it was in the Quaker Women's Cookbook.  All church cookbooks that I own contain favorite recipes from all the contributors.  I offered to make it for my daughter Heidi and her husband Glen when we got together, but the offer was politely declined.  Guess I won't be trying this out on them.  I surely couldn't even taste it since both the milk and the butter would work disaster on my lactose intolerant digestive system.  

After you read this post, maybe you will be gutsy enough to try the Milk Toast recipe.  Let me know. 😉

 

Last Hurrah

 Our last ride with Doris in Colorado was between Ft. Collins and LaPorte.  We've had a wonderful time showing her almost all of our favorite trails near Windsor.  A portion of our ride was on the Pleasant Valley Trail as we got closer to LaPorte. but the majority was on another section of the Poudre trail.

We started out at the Whitewater Park, situated close to New Belgium Brewery.  It was way too early to stop in for a beer 🍺🍺sample, even after we finished the ride!

Our 11-mile round trip ride took us west and north, encompassing large, wooded areas and open farmland after skirting around the northwest side of Ft. Collins.

The morning weather was in the 60's, with plenty of sun and no wind.  Perfect riding weather!  Back home in Arizona, they are breaking records for heat and even early morning rides are way too hot. 

One of the neatest parts of this trail is the long bridge that zig zags over the Poudre River.  We stopped on the bridge not only for a photo op, but also to look at the mother deer and her fawn who were enjoying the water in the river.

The deer and fawn were visible as we headed to LaPorte and we were pleasantly surprised to see they were still there on our return.  The mom was keeping close attention as the fawn frolicked around in the shallow water.

We're Jolly on the Trolley

 Sunday is a day of rest and relaxation for us.  We did give our legs a needed rest and made the decision to take a ride on the Ft. Collins Trolley.  It runs only from May through September on weekends and National Holidays.  So, if you want to ride it, you definitely must plan ahead.  The first trip was scheduled for noon, and we got there at 11:45, just in time to see it pull away, fully loaded.

This is one of the best values around!  As Seniors, we got 50% off the regular fare, a whole $1.00.  The ride left from City Park and went to downtown Ft. Collins, a half hour round trip.  

We rode on the No. 25 Trolley, a completely restored Birney.  Ft. Collins now has two Birneys.  The tracks at this point were installed way back in 1907.  Number 25 was brought in from Cheyenne and put into service in 1924.

We traded our three dollars in for 3 tokens to be used on the trolley. 

 The children that entered were a bit surprised at having to put coins into the glass container. It was watched over by the conductor and they heard it clunk as the tokens went it.  

Doris was able to snatch a seat at the very front of the trolley. Score!

Before leaving the conductor and his assistant gave specific instructions to the riders.  No standing (even though they did have handle straps hanging from the ceiling) and no hands or any other part of your body out the window.

The trolley had it's own traffic light, which is quite different from the regular stoplight.  Once the trolley is okay to enter the intersection, the conductor rings the bell.

Once we got to the end, most of the passengers disembarked and the rest of us turned the seats around to face the other direction.  This enabled the passengers to always face forward.

Don turned his seat around and sat down, leaving the conductor's seat behind him.  It had turned into the back of the trolley.  Out his window you can barely see St. Joseph Catholic church.  The joke was that people in the 1900's took the trolley after church, instituting the first "Mass" transit system! 😅

I got a nice picture of Doris standing in front after we got back to City Park.  Quite an interesting ride even though it was very slow and bumpy at times.  The trolleys can be rented by individuals or groups for special occasions.  I thought it would be a fun idea for a children's birthday party as long as you had children that listened and were well behaved.

After that "strenuous" bout of exercise, it was time to head to Walrus Ice Cream.  We did that at least 15 or so years ago with our grandchildren.  The place is still thriving and selling wonderful homemade ice cream and gelato.

So many flavors to choose from!

Don wound up with peanut butter, Doris had vanilla with Reese's pieces and Oreo cookie bits and I treated myself to a triple berry gelato.

Our relaxing day was topped off by dinner at the Windsor Mill Tavern.  More memories made with Doris.💖💖😊

Being "Boulder"

 Last Friday we decided to do something much "Boulder" than our ordinary biking routine.  Off we drove to Celestial Seasonings in Boulder, Colorado.  Since we are all early birds, we were there for the first tour of the day.  I found out after the fact that the company had been closed for 3 years after COVID hit.

The company was started way back in 1969 and this is the only place the teas are produced.

Mm, there was time to taste many of their different teas, most of which are herbal.  The company imports tea leaves and herbs from 35 different countries and exports to 40 countries.  Most customers reside in the good old U.S.A, with Canada following in number 2 spot.  

Doris checked out the information boards before we headed in for the tour.  We found out that no pictures would be allowed to be taken during the tour, so I concealed my camera in the sweater I was carrying.  There was no time to go back to the car and leave it with Don.😏

The guide kept spouting off all types of numbers....how many boxes of tea, how many bags, years here, places sent to, etc.  Both Doris and I wanted a fact sheet, but none was available.  At our age, almost all those statistics went straight out of our heads the minute the tour was over!  The only thing that stuck in my mind was that during busy times the plant puts out 500,000 boxes a week, equal to 10 million individual bags of tea!  If you want more information, I guess you'll have to go on a tour. LOL

Both Doris and I loved the Peppermint room in the plant.  All the peppermint leaves are kept in a separate room, and the door is only open during the time each tour passes by.  The smell does open up your sinuses!  We did find out that they import 3 types of mint: peppermint, spearmint and catnip.  The catnip is used only in Tension Tamer tea.  I guess it makes cat crazy and calms humans.  

If you are wondering, this picture was taken in the shop portion of the plant, not the tour.  I didn't break the rules.

On the way back to Windsor, we checked out the new Buc-ees travel center located right off I-25 in Johnstown, Colorado.  Currently, it is the only one in the state. Talk about a huge place to stop for gas and food, this place has 116 fuel pumps and it looked like almost all of them were full when we drove in.  There were trucks, cars and RVs absolutely everywhere.  Going through the roundabout by this place took courage and determination.  The incoming traffic hardly let up, so you had to be quick to get into the circle to finally get to your exit!

Indeed, this is like a Circle K or Quick Trip high on drugs!  People everywhere in the 74,000 square foot store that had tons of choices for lunch/dinner/breakfast or snacks.  We grabbed 3 BBQ sandwiches off the tray and some homemade potato chips and headed for the door.  And on our way out, Doris just happened to find a plastic cup of cotton candy.  She couldn't resist.  That came home with us too, and it lasted longer than I thought it would.  She does love her cotton candy and Peeps.

Happy Trails to You

 So many trails.  So little time.  Between last week and this week, we have ridden 4 different sections of the Poudre trail, two sections of the Spring Creek trail, and portions of the Boyd Lake, Great Western and Windsor Lake trails.  At this point, I think our legs may possibly be the strongest parts of our bodies.  At any rate, they are getting an almost daily workout.

Don acquiesced and took a picture of Doris and me.  We were on our matching bikes and wearing our matching Crown shirts.  That way, if one of us got lost, we knew what the other one looked like!😅

There have been a few obstacles along the way.  Today a family of geese crossed the path right in front of Don.  The other day, a huge fat prairie dog ran between Don and Doris, almost tripping a jogger that was running next to us.   There is always the "dodge the goose poop" on most days.  Below was the day we had to come to a complete stop and go through the branches of a Cottonwood tree.

Attached is the portion of the Poudre trail between Windsor and Greeley.  Doris spotted a mother deer and her fawn in one of the forested areas.  We heard the sounds of Western Meadowlarks, robins, red winged blackbirds, killdeer and the screeching of hawks, plus the occasional sound of other bike riders that stated "On your left" as they approached us.  For the most part it is very quiet and peaceful.

On the 4th of July we headed west from Eastman park, again on a portion of the Poudre trail.  There are small hills, tunnels and bridges to cross on this part.  The tunnel below was not originally here when we biked this approximately 15 years ago.  A new golf course in this area has changed many different parts.

This was one long gradual hill after we turned around to head back to the truck.  At the top, I was winded.

Signs along the way indicated where we were at.  YOU ARE HERE shows up pretty well.  I don't even need my glasses to read the map.

The Great Western trail was mostly gravel and took us north and west towards Severance.  This was probably the least favorite of ours since it wasn't a paved trail.  On the plus side, there were no other riders and only one dog walker.

We enjoyed the much cooler mornings.  Many mornings it was in the 60's when we started out between 7:30 and 8:00 am, even cool enough for long sleeves at times.  At home, we would have to be out by 5:30 am with temps in the 90's.  And those would definitely not be long sleeve days!😟

And as Roy Rogers would sing "Happy Trails to you until we meet again".  

Take a Hike

 Someone, somewhere, told Doris to take a hike....and that is exactly what she did!  And she did it without Don and I tagging along.  Secretly, I think she was a bit thankful that she could do the hike with Ken and Lisa and we would stay behind.  She, Lisa and Ken are fast walkers, or should I say hikers?  We might be labeled as "lollygaggers".  We met up in Rocky Mountain Park's Wild Basin area and pulled up right next to Ken and Lisa in one of the parking areas at the same time!

The three of them hiked to Calypso Falls.  Doris had even brought her hiking stick along from Tucson.  She was prepared and ready to go.

Below is Copeland Lake that is situated right next to the parking area and about a mile from the trailhead.

"It will be fine Doris. Trust me."

Actually, I have no idea of what they were talking about, but we knew Doris would be fine with Ken and Lisa since they have hiked the Rockies many different times. Both Lisa and Doris were smiling as we left them.  Good sign!

Off they went and did a 6-mile round trip.

Below is a picture of Calypso Falls that Doris took.  Don and I had done that same hike many years ago and were content to go to Lyons for breakfast.  We consumed calories and they worked them off.

And here is another view of the falls.

Actually, we did manage to get some exercise after our breakfast as we walked around the Bohn Park in St. Vrain. I was tempted to leave out this part of the blog.  However, in 5-10 years both Don and I would be wondering what we did during the time the other 3 went hiking! 😟 Our memory sure isn't what it used to be and it won't be improving.  At least we still know who we are, LOL!

The park is right next to the St. Vrain River.  In 2013 there was a 500 year flood in this area, and many areas were completely flooded.  One life was lost.

This beautiful park has bike trails, lots of picnic tables with BBQs, huge ramadas for large groups and wonderful play areas for children.  This was all built out after the 2013 flood.