Now this is what we call getting high!!

Elks Lodge, Leadville, CO – 7-11 to 13, 2016

On the way to Leadville we saw smoke from another fire off in the distance. It was near Salida, CO.

Late in the afternoon we arrive.

One of it’s claims to fame is that Leadville, CO is the highest incorporated city in the United States. We called ahead to the Elks Lodge to make sure it was OK to dry camp in their parking lot. The lodge is the building in the center of the picture. We are two blocks from Main Street.

Once we pulled up into the Elks parking lot, we walked inside the lounge to ask where was the best place to park the RV. There were two gentlemen at the bar that were wearing candulas (supplying oxygen right to the nose). I felt like asking them if we could take a hit since us Floridians were gasping for oxygen up here on top of the mountain. They told us the best place to park and even told us where a 15 amp plug in was hidden. Wow! Electric too? Life is good.

So we got the RV squared away and came back in for an adult beverage. We got invited to a Taco Dinner and someone bought a round for everyone. After telling and listening to stories, we called it a night and went back to Big Guy.

Right across the street from Big Guy, this eyeball was staring at us. There are many stories as to why this house has an eyeball. One is that it used to belong to an optometrist. Another is that it used to belong to a fortune teller and was an advertisement for the All Seeing Eye.

The next morning we wandered around town, and the views were marvelous. Everywhere you looked were mountains.

EJ did some shopping and purchased some REI shorts, a couple of puzzles and a light weight hoodie. After carrying all that around, I was thirsty.

Leadville does have a micro brewery. Notice the play on the periodic table symbol. They didn’t have any selections that EJ cared for, so she took off to so some more shopping while I sipped my beer.

Afterwards we drove around Turquoise Lake scouting out campgrounds for a return trip. This is the reservoir for Leadville and is quite popular with campers. We also hiked through the woods to an overlook where you could see Leadville from afar.

The next morning Frank got his dander riled up when we went to the Golden Burro for breakfast. We walked in and they told us it would be fifteen minutes before they could seat us. It was plain that there were plenty of empty tables around. But instead, we opted to sit at the counter where we didn’t need any hostess to show us to our seats.

After observing a customer spend about 15 minutes trying to pay his bill we discovered what the real problem was. Their point of sale software had crashed and they couldn’t get it restarted. I pointed out that there was a perfectly good calculator sitting on the shelf and they could use that to add up the bill. Oh no, they wailed, we don’t know how to figure the tax! When the big EMP hits, we’re screwed!

Flowers were spced along the sidewalks.

After that we decided to take another road trip and stop by Frisco and Silverthorne. On the way to Copper Mountain we passed a pull out that we had stayed at several years ago. We were considering a hike there, but saw this crowd and opted not to go combat hiking.

On our last night there, we want back to the Elks Lodge to say our goodbyes and to check out the Elk that had been donated by a local artist.

We spent several hours trying to figure out where to go next. We knew some Alaska friends were going to be staying near Pinedale, WY which was only 500 miles away. So we decided to head that way and have some replacement parts and our mail sent to where they were staying.

So long Colorado, for now.