July 21, 2017 - Part 3

Hugging the left side of the road as we head back down the mountain.

We stopped at a really interesting area and found out these are beehive coke ovens,
used to carbonize coal mined in these mountains in the late 1800s.

Click on the picture above to read the plaque with further information.

A beaver lodge in a pond at the bottom of the mountain. 

July 21, 2017 - Part 2

 It was a pleasant drive...

 ...until I got to the dirt road that leads up to the camp.  

I don't know if these pictures accurately represent how sheer the drop-off is,

but I was hugging the right side of the road like my life depended on it.  :)

The Crystal River runs through the camp...the bridge that spans it is made of wooden planks.

July 21, 2017 - Part 1

Four days later I was making my way back to Marble to pick up Jed.

July 17, 2017

Jed went to camp for the first time this summer - not once, but twice!

The second week was spent in Marble, a little town about 60 miles west of Aspen 

and home of the Yule marble quarry, 

which provided marble for the Washington Monument, 

the Lincoln Memorial, 

and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery.
You can read some of the interesting history of the town here.

 

The camp has a western theme, and the kids slept in teepees (albeit wooden ones).

We got there a little early; it was a four hour drive from home and I had another four hour drive home.  

Jed was hoping some kids would show up at some point.  :)

On the way home, it started raining around Vail, about two hours from home.  

I don't like driving in rain (or snow) in any case, but I especially don't like driving in rain in the mountains.

I was a little terrified and was praying for protection and peace when a rainbow appeared,

making a perfect arch over I-70, beginning and ending behind mountains on either side of the road.

Then a really amazing thing started to happen - the rainbow stayed.

You know how fleeting rainbows usually are?

This one wasn't - as I traveled, it kept moving with me.

In fact, it stayed with me for the rest of the 2 hour drive home.

I spent the rest of the drive rejoicing in God's tender care.

The photo above was taken on the outskirts of Golden, 

when I got off of I-70 and it was safe to pull over on the side of the road.

By this time the rain was tapering off and the rainbow was not nearly as vibrant as it had been,.

but I'm still thankful for this reminder of a most incredible experience.

July 10, 2017

Tracy's sister and her family visited us this week.  

The first thing we did was take a walk in downtown Golden.

It is a charming little town, and Clear Creek flowing through the middle of it only adds to the charm.

That's Lookout Mountain in the background, with the M for Colorado School of Mines.

Our yard was in full bloom during their visit.

South Table Mountain as seen from the front of our house.