Around With Grandpa: Conquering the Rockies

Breakfast at this Best Western in Raton was outstanding! Look at this! A glass glass for juice, a real plate for food, real silverware and a cloth napkin, real bacon, eggs, sausage and potatoes. I could eat here every morning!

The girls are ready to get on the bus at our motel in Raton. Kathrine our history instructor is in the middle.

Welcome to Colorado!

Continental Divide. We were at the headwaters of the Rio Grande which flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Just a few feet west water flows west through the Grand Canyon toward the Pacific Ocean.

The mountains are getting closer!

We stopped for a break by a small mountain stream. The water was cold and inviting. This is Brittny and B.J.

Kathleen has started her rock collection.

One of our first historical stops was at Fort Garland. Kit Carson was in charge here for 18 months.

Ray, our driver. We told him to stay off that wall!

Parade ground and flagpole.

Flower at the fort.

Brittny in Teepee at Fort Garland.

From Fort Garland we drove higher into the mountains (elevation 9242) very near the continental divide to visit the old gold mining community of Pitkin. This is their city hall.

Pitkin church.

I noticed this house with a homemade elevator.

Main street - Pitkin, CO - We wandered around town for a half hour or more and I only saw one resident and three hunters that came through on their ATV's.

Pitkin post office. I took this photo in memory of Grandma.

This wood stove was in the Pitkin museum and souvenir center.

This little exhibit was outside the "Road Kill Cafe". The narrow guage railroad (Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad) came through here on its way to the Alpine Tunnel just a few miles to the east. This tunnel was the highest (over 2 miles high) and longest (1772 feet) narrow guage tunnel in North America. It was completed in 1882 and abandoned in 1910. Now landslides have covered both ends of the tunnel.