I know, I know. Trust me, I'm not looking forward to the 4 memory cards worth of photos I have to edit, blog and catalog either. It's been way too long since I've posted. But what can I say? Less time on the computer meant a good summer was had by all, right? Yes, in the Krauss Haus, summer is officially, unofficially over. Nikolas started back at school yesterday....and here I sit today beginning to edit photos from my birthday at the end of June. Yikes, catching up seems like a daunting task, but I will prevail! So, let's take a look back and I'll lead you through our summer excursions.
"My birthday, my choice of camping destinations!!" Where you ask? GHOST TOWNS! Yes, you know I love those ghost towns. So off we headed to the area of Salida, CO- mining country back in the day. The weekend started off with a disappointing 'campground' (back home we just call them 'pull-offs'!!), but the next day we found a beautiful state campground that even had an empty spot for us.
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| The Arkansas River. |
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| The view from our campsite. |
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| What a great spot! You can see Nikolas peeking in the window at Abby. |
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| The view out our 'kitchen' window. |
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| We soon learned that this is THE place to go rafting. They were fun to watch! |
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| You know the old preschool song: "Clean up! Clean up! Everybody clean up!" |
(I'll be posting sequential rafting photos on my other blog,
http://aseyeseeitphotography.blogspot.com/, soon.)
Our first ghost town stop of the weekend was the cemetary at Iron City. Back in June I could have told you all about it after reading the history, but now I'm just going to have to be vague and wing it (remember 3.5 more memory cards to go....!). It was very interesting. There was quite a diversity of headstones and markers. The entrance had a plaque that noted all of the names, dates and causes of death.
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This one was intriguing- "Harry Kearns". To all you Kearns', think you're related?!
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The remnants of Iron City. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?!
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And now on to the town of St. Elmo. It's maintained, a little more modernized (the general store even sells chipmunk food) and most, if not all, is now private property. It was definitely neat, but not nearly rustic enough for me. If you like a touristy ghost town, this is your place!
So now you see why it's important to know WHERE you can get the chipmunk food!! It was literally a feeding frenzy! Look at how this little guy packs it away (Arvo, if you're reading this, I know you're loving that phrase...ha!).
St. Elmo.....in all its quaintness. 
The town(s) are located in such a remote, mountainous setting. I can't begin to imagine what travel was like back in those days.... not to mention the severity of the seasons.
So, it's been a few months since this experience....well, umm....TRAUMA. Let's just say that the three of us were initiated into the world of "it may say it's a road but would you really consider that a road and should you really be trying to drive up it." Yes, fear....complete fear. I've tried to block most of that experience from my memory.....or maybe it was just literally shaken out of my head. The sign said, "Mary Murphy Mine 0.8 mile". Sure. Why not? About 300 feet up the road I announced: "I can't do this. Let's stop!" Sven's response: "Uh....too late for that now. We have to keep going." Yikes. Gulp. Gasp. Close eyes. Slight nausea. You get the idea. Let's just say we're a little wiser now and grateful to have survived vs. the alternative (let me tell you, that was not a given during this 'experience'.) Well, we made it up until we could find (barely) enough room to turn Sven's truck around. Was it the mine? Had it been 0.8 miles? Who knows. That's as far as we got and this is what we found:
It's completely unbelievable that I was able to take a steady shot after ascending this insane mountain road!
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Man, I almost have to close my eyes seeing this photo and remembering the terror of it all!
So we saw this on our way down off the main road....really? We didn't have to test fate to see something old and cool?!? For all we knew, this WAS the mine and that sign had been a wild goose chase!
But, alas, we survived and made it home to enjoy the beautiful evening. Our guardian angels were really looking out for us that day! Whew! Next time, let's explore first on foot......fabulous idea, Thad!
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All in all, it's not so bad to turn another year older in such a fabulous place. It really makes you appreciate all of the beauty that surrounds us each day and how each day really should be appreciated and lived to its fullest.
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