I apologize for being gone so long, but sometimes life happens. I was in Colorado for 5 days for my son’s wedding and it was a wonderful trip – even with 2 feet of snow on the ground, in late April! Here they are, Geoffrey and Lauren-ashley Oliver, newly married and obviously really, really happy! I love you guys!
I didn’t get a chance to see if there were any stationery stores in the vicinity, but I did find a box of Hallmark stationery at the local Kroger, of all places. Who knows how long it’s been there, I thought Hallmark quit making it years ago. Fortunately, stationery doesn’t have a sell by date, so it was perfectly fresh.
We went to Georgetown to do a little shopping and have lunch and I found some postcards – at last! Apparently hummingbirds flock to Colorado by the thousands and will even light on your finger if you are very still. Who knew? The postcard states that they pass through Colorado in July and August, but Geoffrey said they are already there.
This is the Georgetown Loop Railroad. 9178 feet above sea level, this is the original Silver Plume Depot building that was constructed in 1884. The railroad still operates today and takes you between Georgetown and Silver Plume, over 2 miles apart. The tracks scale an elevation of 640 feet over mountainous terrain, requiring trestles, cuts, fills, loops, and curves totaling 3.1 miles of narrow gauge track.
The once-thriving mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume lie two miles apart in a steep, narrow mountain canyon. To connect the two, the railroad’s builders designed a “corkscrew” route that traveled twice the distance, slowly gaining more than 600 feet in elevation. The route included horseshoe curves, grades of up to 4%, and four bridges across Clear Creek, including the massive Devil’s Gate High Bridge.
The Colorado & Southern Railway operated the line for passengers and freight from 1899 to 1938, when it was abandoned. It only operates May through October, so I didn’t get to take the trip this time, but I hope take a ride on it someday.
Lots more info here:
These postcards are pretty hard to come by, but the curator of the Silver Plume Museum was kind enough to get these fore me, even though the museum was closed for the season. I’m not sure I will actually send any of these rare treasures :-)
There is more information about the town of Silver Plume here. It has quite a history!
That’s it for today, but I do have lots more to show you soon, so please don’t give up on me yet.
She clearly, unashamedly, proudly loves him. :))) he is so lucky to have this proof to show their son some day. And surely, surely he must be some kind of wonderful for her to love him so openly.
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