Sparky's Colorado Vacation, Page 2
by Sparky

After the mine tour, we headed for the train ride on the little narrow gauge train that leaves from the new train station, which is located next to the museum, and it takes you about 5 miles south of town.  We had just missed the train, and the next one wouldn't leave until the one we had just missed got back again, cuz that was the train we would have to ride, and it wouldn't back for almost an hour.

That's why we decided to eat a little lunch and then go see the Cripple Creek District Museum, which is in the old Midland-Terminal Railroad Depot, and that is a hysterical building all by itself.  Inside they had a lot of interesting old antique kind of stuff that told about the history of the region.

I guess I should say that the old folks did all the heading for the train and missing it, cuz none of us guys was originally gonna go ride it, and fer sure, none of us guys was gonna go check out the museum, but Sniffy did finally climb into Jim's jacket pocket and go to the museum, so he's the one who told the rest of us what was in there.

The pictures below show a few of the highlights of the museum, and you can click on their website to find out more about that museum:

Cripple Creek District Museum 

Cripple Creek Steam Train

After getting back from the train ride we headed to the old town of Victor, Colorado, where we took picture #1 below.  The story goes that the town had gotten some street lights, and the work crew decided to put them up quickly so they could get off work early.  Since nobuddy wanted to go and look fer a ladder, they jest hung them all on the same pole, within easy reach, so it would be easy to change the light bulbs if they burn out.

One feller also said that he liked them put up low so he could pull his pickup up under one of them at night to work on the engine.  This is a great idea that might spread quickly when people start to see this picture and get the word out!!

After that, we set out for Gunnison, where we would be spending the night.  On the way we went past an old railway tunnel that was used for many years by cars coming from and going to Cripple Creek and Victor.  Since it was a railroad tunnel, it was only one narrow lane, so traffic had to take turns.

When the gambling casinos opened in Cripple Creek, many people were in too much of a hurry to want to take turns, so a highway was built that bypassed the tunnel and avoided many angry confrontations whereby two cars ended up in the middle of the tunnel blowing their horns at each other.

We was going through a pretty canyon, and saw a sign about a railroad display, so Gloria asked Jim to turn off the highway to see what was there.

We saw a couple of train cars and a restored cattle loading ramp at the visitor center of the Curecanti National Recreation Area, so we continued up the rugged canyon to see what the big deal was.  It lead up to the Morrow Point Dam & Power plant.  Close to the dam they had a special concrete thingy with a red cap that looked kinda weird. so Jim and I had to go and check it out.  It turned out to be a special mount that they put a Theodolite on so they ken keep track of the dam in case it starts to move from the pressure of the water, or in case a boat crashes into it from the lake on the other side.  You ken learn  more about the Theodolite by reading the column at the left.

They also had an abandoned short train there parked on a bridge.  The story is that the train was crossing the bridge when it stopped and the engineer and fireman from the locomotive went to catch some fish that they usually cooked on a special hot part in the locomotive, so they could have a fresh cooked lunch before getting into Gunnison.  Well, they went about a half mile up the canyon, (back before the dam was built there, of course, cuz that train wouldn't have been able to climb up the mountain soon enough to get over that tall dam.)

That's when the company that had sold the bridge to the railroad hired a repo man, who showed up to repossess the bridge.  He hauled away both ends of the bridge and left before the train crew returned from fishing, to discover their train left high and dry on the middle bridge section that the repo man couldn't figure out how to get the train off of so he could get that one too.

There were no cell phones back in those days, so they jest had to walk into town to report the incident to the railroad office, but the phone was disconnected, so they never did get to cook the fish they had caught, and they also had to find other jobs cuz the railroad had gone bankrupt!

There was also a reel cute Chipmunk hanging out and begging while we was there, so I opened a can of peanuts that we keep in back fer jest such an occasion and threw him a pawful of them, which he came up and stuffed them into his cheek pouches, then he ran off.  The deal is that if I feed somebuddy like that he is supposed to eat them right there and act reel cute fer at least a minute or 2, but this guy ran off and ate by the side of the weeds, then he ran off out of sight, so I didn't give him any more peanuts or even a drink of my root beer!

For more information, click on the website below:

Morrow Point Dam 

What we did in Gunnison:  We arrived, ate dinner at the Taco Bell, then checked into our motel.  In the morning we got up, ate the free continental breakfast at the motel, then blasted off for Ouray, Colorado.

Continental Breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express Motel:  Jim says they have the BEST CINNAMON ROLLS, and they're free!  They go real good with coffee and a banana and a bagel with jelly or cream cheese.  That makes a lite breakfast that only contains about 8,634 calories and keeps you from getting hungry again for almost 2 hours!!!!

What others do in Gunnison:  They drive all over looking for a Wendy's or Burger King or Arby's, but you probably won't find any of them there.  We didn't.

Since Gunnison is home to a college, you will find a Pizza Hut there without a whole lot of searching, cuz college kids jest love pizza!

They do have a Pioneer Museum in Gunnison, and there are some interesting trains out front, but we didn't go  there to see what else they have inside.

They also do a lot of farming and ranching in the Gunnison area.  Besides that, read the column at right to get more ideas about Gunnison.

(We overheard an old geezer in the motel breakfast room telling another guy that his favorite thing about Gunnison was seeing it in his rear view mirror).

We didn't think it was that bad of a city, and the next time we're there and not on our way to somewhere better, we'll go and check out that Pioneer Museum and take another look for Wendy's, Arby's and Burger King!