Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Chillin' in Steamboat and Stagecoach State Park

Evenin' Campers!
(Note: Written Monday night at Stagecoach State Park... posed Tuesday morning from Steamboat Springs where internet exists)

Well, it's now two nights without an internet connection. Last night at Jackson Lake in the plains and tonight at Stagecoach State Park outside of Steamboat Springs high in the mountains.

What a drive today!

We started at 4,800 feet or so in Orchard, Colorado about 50 miles Northeast of Denver. We took I-76 then I-70 to Denver then stayed on I-70 for 50 miles or so to Dillon, Colorado. At our maximum, we were 11,013 feet which is the elevation of the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70. Truck, trailer, Mrs. C' and the two dogs all took the hills in stride.

What views! I can't wait to post the pics but we are two nights now without internet at the campground. We connect at various points of the day... but when I'm driving. Sooner or later I'll add pics back to my posts.

So we got to the campground and it is rustic and Rocky Mountain beautiful. I'll save you the 1,000 words if you'll wait for my pics.

When we arrived it was 82 but dry and breezy enough to be comfortable if you were outside. In the trailer the sun shone full force on one side. We turned on the fans, put ice in the dog bowl, unhitched the truck, threw the dogs in the trailer and headed for town! Did I say I put ice in the dog bowl? Oh yea.. oh yea... I did say that.

So we headed to town for important government-related business... to stop at the the post office. Steamboat Springs is a ski town in winter (the ski area looms over the little town.) and a tourist destination for mountain watchers and mountain bikers and strange people of many sorts. Hey, did I mention yesterday that they sell dope here... wait a minute... I think I was told they call it weed now. It's important to know that to fit in here in Colorado. So in Steamboat Springs there is this main street. They call it Main St here. I'm good with that. Lot's of outdoorsy stuff. There's also a rodeo venue right in the town of Steamboat Springs.

Slightly off the main shopping areas are the usual professional, commercial, etc. businesses. A tourist map even showed where they sell the weed. Crazy, huh? Like tourists are interested in visiting high security retail operations when they visit Steamboat Springs. We drove by one and there wasn't even a line to get in.

Seeing that the shops on Main St. sell stuff we don't need at prices we won't pay, we headed to the grocery store for some provisions. Then we headed back to the park, the Airstream and the dogs who were, by the way, just fine and the trailer was very livable especially if you had a bowl of ice water to slurp from if you needed to.

We whipped up some dinner... made a fire and sat around it humming John Denver tunes as the sun settled then we watched the sky with all its colors slowly fade and the stars came out. Colors, stars, the slow cooling of the day into chilly evening, birds flying over the lake to their roosts for the night, very nice, very peaceful. We had a couple of 'smores thanks to the coals of the fire and headed inside to get away from the bugs which were coming out for the night.

So, that's our day in Steamboat Springs. It's not a college town, but we noticed the youth, vigor and health of the people here. Upon reflection that may be less a statement of the population of Steamboat Springs and more a statement of the people we are used to seeing in Vero beach Florida. Either way, Steamboat has that kind of youthful energy and I can see how it can take you back to one's college days just with one visit.

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