LEANIN' TREE, BOULDER, CO 7-26-09

Ed Trumble founded Leanin' Tree, a fine art greeting card company in 1949. The popularity of Leanin' Tree cards has enabled him to pursue his vision and build an important collection of fine art of the American West.

Although you are not allowed to take pictures inside the museum that houses 250 paintings and 150 bronze sculptures, you can photograph the statues in the garden,

Everything is life size and the detail of the bronze statues in just incredible.

This on is titled "Checkmate".

Here's Bill with a buffalo.

This was my absolute favorite. It's titled "Waiting for the Mail".

This was definitely the most interesting. It is created completely of tools and other metal items found around the farm. If you click on the photo you can get a closer view. It was amazing.

This bull elk is titled "Sound of Autumn" by Gerald Balciar.

The burro, who made prospecting a lot easier for the miners.

White tailed deer.

"The Intruder" by Ken Bunn.

This is a view of the front range and the Rockies in the background taken between Boulder and Golden, Colorado. I never tire of this beautiful scenery.

We found this small herd of buffalo on the way back to Castle Rock on Tomah Road.

CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS 7-20-09

CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS

Monday, July 20, found us on our way to Cheyenne Frontier Days. We stopped at this rest area in northern Colorado and just had to get a picture of this colorful horse.

After a 2 hour drive we arrived in the city of Cheyenne, just inside the Wyoming border.

This bronze monument is for Lane Frost, a bull rider who lost his life here in Cheyenne after being gored by the bull he had just ridden. Lane was only 26 years old when he died. There is a movie entitled "8 Seconds" that tells his story. The statue was created by Chris Navarro.

Step into the past as you stroll along "Wild Horse Gulch", encountering western artisans, craftspeople, and characters such as Buffalo Bill Cody.

The Indian Village immerses you the colorful atmosphere of the American Indians.

I caught this picture of a young Indian girl dressed in her native attire.

In their colorful attire, the Indians demonstrated several different dances to the rhythm of the ceremonial drums.

On to the RODEO! Since 1897, Cheyenne Frontier Days has been at the heart of the cowboy way of life. Through recessions, depressions, wars, natural disasters and every conceivable kind of weather, the Daddy of 'em All has been recognized as the greatest celebration of western spirit that the world has ever known.

In the frontier west of a young United States, cowboys roamed vast expanses of land as they tended cattle on the open prairie. After months out on the range, the cowboys returned to their ranches, sometimes partaking in friendly bucking-horse competitions with other cowboys in the area. Today's rodeo features big, bright LED screens of all the action, including instant replays.

On September 23, 1897, organizers harnessed the spirit of these impromptu matches of cowboy skill and the Daddy of 'em All was born. There were lots of PRCA and PBR cowboys in attendance, many of whom we've watched on TV. We saw bull riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, steer roping, team roping, tie-down roping, barrel racing, and the famous wild horse race.

The first Frontier Days was attended by 4000 people. Today the attendance for the week tops 500,000. There is also a huge Carnival Midway featuring numerous rides, games, music, and lots of "fair food". What a fun place! I loved it.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 7-13-2009

Today we left early for Estes Park and the east entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Just had to snap this picture going down into Estes Park. It is a lovely, though touristy, town at the base of the Rocky Mountains.

Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake is only open in the summer. It is the highest paved byway in North America. Rocky Mountain National Park is located in the north central region of Colorado. This road reaches an elevation of 12,183 feet and is closed by snow in the winter.

The park features a variety of climates and environments from wooded forests to mountain tundra. This is a picture of the Horseshoe Park area. The park contains 265,770 acres.

It was so sad to see the destruction that the Pine Beetle is doing in the park. There is no effective means of controlling a large beetle outbreak in such a vast area as the park's backcountry. You can see some of the infested trees in this picture. The destruction is much worse on the western side of the park with entire mountain sides covered with dead trees.

That's Longs Peak in the background, one of the many 14ers in the Park. Longs Peak is 14,259 feet high. The surrounding peaks are "only" 13ers.

After climbing to around 12,000 feet we entered the Tundra area. Tundra means land of no trees.

While it was quite chilly up here, there were still many small mountain flowers blooming.

We found this herd of elk in the Tundra area. I guess they find enough to eat as they are resting and seem contented. What beautiful creatures they are!

Split by the Continental Divide, it gives the eastern and western portions a different character.

The eastern side of the park tends to be drier with heavily glaciated peaks.

Here's a view of the glacial landscape.

Here I am sitting in front of the "Never Summer Mountains" located on the west side of the park. The mountains themselves, the result of volcanic activity, are very craggy and more often than not, covered in deep snow. This area saw the most extensive mining activity and trails lead past old mines and ghost towns.

After a stop in the town of Grand Lake, complete with wooden sidewalks, we snapped this picture of Grand Lake with the Rockies in the background. Grand Lake (town) is a quaint tourist town, much different from the more upscale Estes Park at the other end of the Trail Ridge Road.

"I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I say to myself, what a wonderful world."

ROCK LEDGE RANCH, COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 7-12-09

On Sunday, July 12, we headed back to Garden of the Gods for a visit to Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site where the spirited history of the West comes to life. Here you can explore the lifestyles and homes of the Pikes Peak Region's early inhabitants.

Our first stop was the 1775-1835 American Indian area, complete with authentic elk and buffalo-hide tipis and a wide variety of tools and items demonstrating the life skills of their culture. The Indians were sheltered from the hot Colorado sun as they were repairing their tipi which had been damaged by a severe storm a few days ago.

The man was cutting rawhide strips to repair the tipi. He is from Oklahoma, not a native Colorado Indian. The woman had wooden needles that they would use to sew the tipi back together.

The 1860s Galloway Homestead illustrates the life of a family in their first year of homesteading in the arid west. The cabin was "chinked" with the abundant red mud and had to be replaced at least once a year as the sun dried it out and it would crack and fall from between the logs.

The crude, one room cabin probably held up to 10 people in the family. On display were cooking utensils, a loom for weaving rugs, and several children's toys. It was probably only about 12 x 15 or 20 feet. Not a lot of privacy!!

The next people to live in this beautiful area beside Garden of the Gods was the Chambers family from Pennsylvania, founders of Chambersburg, PA. Mr. Chambers first wife had died from tuberculosis, and his second wife was showing signs of the disease, so they moved to Colorado for the clean, pure mountain air. It must have helped as the second Mrs. Chambers live to an old age.

Here is an unusual Silver Maple tree with four trunks.

For the first year the Chambers lived in a one room cabin, still attached to the back of the new stone house that was built the following year. The walls were over 12" thick and, despite the Colorado heat of July, the house was cool. This house was known as the Rock Ledge House.

The dining room was just off of the old cabin, now used as a kitchen. The Chambers house was not only a family home but also a boarding house.

In 1907 the Orchard House, a gracious Edwardian country-style estate, became Colorado Springs' first "suburban" home. The original home was built for the sister-in-law of William Jackson Palmer, one of the founders of Colorado Springs.

This is formal dining room where (up to 15 course) dinners were often served to guests, taking several hours to eat. It's hard to see, but there were 4 forks, 4 spoons, and 2 knives in the place setting. A servant would stand in the corner beside the "dumb-waiter" and keep constant eye contact with the hostess, who would be seated in the chair to the left.





The sitting area in the master bedroom. Unlike most married couples of that day, the Chamber's shared the bedroom.










That's Bill off to the blacksmith shop. You know Bill, he's interested in anything to do with tools!

The blacksmith had many tools and decorative items displayed. Here he was making a hook to hang clothes on.

He also made this intricate rose as a decorative holder to hold curtains open.

I couldn't resist this picture taken from inside the blacksmith shop looking out the door at the rock formation in Garden of the Gods. It was magnificent!

The Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site is owned by Colorado Springs.

VISIT FROM DENNY AND JAN 7-11-09

Co-workers from Meadville Medical Center, Denny and Jan, stopped by on July 11 for a short visit. It was really good to see them and catch up on everything back in Pennsylvania. They are on vacation and headed to Santa Fe, NM on their motorcycle. We do appreciate them coming out of their way to visit with us. We miss a lot of our former co-workers at the hospital, but are also glad to be fulltiming and seeing our beautiful country!