Day 8:

If you read the blog you will see that today began in Leadville, Colorado. Leadville has the distinction of being the city with the highest elevation in the United States at 10, 152 feet. As a result it is difficult to breathe there if you are not acclimated to the high elevation. Luckily I remembered this before I had Fr. Doug give me last rites. I thought for while I was "coming home, Elizabeth," that this one was  indeed the big one. Thankfully this was not the case. First of all I hope the "big one" happens in the distant future. Moreover I am not sure why my afterlife would include the wife of Redd Foxx.

Leadville. The Delaware Hotel is on the right.

At first I wanted to eat at the Golden Burro in Leadville, an old Leadville greasy spoon. However the allure of free cereal sold me on breakfast at the Delaware. After leaving the Delaware, our first stop was Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, which is just up the street from the hotel. The parish in Leadville has two churches, Annunciation and St. Joseph. St. Joseph was a Slovenian ethnic parish, Annunciation was the Irish parish. Mass is celebrated in St. Joseph from October 1st until April 30, and at Annunciation from May 1st until September 30th. Annunciation has a nice high altar with inserts of green Connemara marble. During our visit I noticed that the Diocese of Colorado Springs only has 12 seminarians. After Lincoln with their 42 I felt bad for Colorado Springs (the local diocese) until I realized we only had 3 in Altoona-Johnstown (who are all very good men by the way).

 

 

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Leadville. At 10, 152 feet they give new understanding to the term "High Mass," in fact they have the highest in the nation.

 

Interior of Annunciation Church

 

 

 

Upon departing the church we toured around Leadville for a little while. It went well except for one true mishap and one near mishap. First the actual mishap. I asked Fr. Doug to pull over so I could take a picture of an old schoolhouse. He did so and I got out and walked up the road. While taking the picture I heard a loud crack. I looked down the road and saw that Fr. Doug put the car in reverse and backed  over a bent metal highway reflector. When he pulled forward it ripped the plastic bumper. I hope that insurance covers the bumper. A plastic bumper, yoi.

 

 The schoolhouse. Fr. Doug looking at the bumper and lamenting this trip

 

 

Next, the near-mishap. Right before the schoolhouse incident I told Fr. Doug I wanted to take a picture of a building and a car that looked like "it came out of the photo section of a Rand McNally Atlas from 1968." He pulled into a small driveway. As I was taking the picture I heard him whistle. I wasn't sure why he whistled, so I stood in my place. A few seconds later an old mangy dog crawling through a rusty metal fence growled at me. Fr. Doug said he never saw me move so fast. I guess he whistled to warn me that the dog was stalking me. A simple "Hey that old mangy dog is about to tear your face off" would have probably worked better.

 

OK, maybe a National Geographic on old mining towns from 1968

 

 

In addition to the above mentioned situations we did mangage to take some other pictures of the town.





 

The Silver Dollar. Great place for a beer and a broken arm

 

The Opera House. I understand they produce the Wagner's entire Der Ring Des Nibelungen three times a year using an all local cast

 

After bidding Leadville goodbye, we headed south. The drive from Leadville to Buena Vista has some of the best scenery I have ever seen (and I have been on many rides). Some truly breathtaking views of the Rockies.

 

Between Leadville and Buena Vista on US-24

 

Buena Vista, Colorado

 

Also in Buena Vista. The town is very small, and contains this small strip mall with only three businesses. A tattoo parlor, a Domino's Pizza, and a Liquor store. It is located right next to the "Gunsmoke" gas station and convenience store. Basically it is redneck heaven.

 

After Buena Vista we continued our journey that lead eventually to Cripple Creek, Colorado. Along the way we stopped at an old homesteader's cabin built by Adeline Hornbeck. Born in Massachusetts in 1833, Adeline Hornbeck and her husband moved west and had three children before he died in 1864. As a widow with three children  she bought a plot of land under the Homestead Act. The story gets complex from there but suffice to say it was a real treat to visit her homestead a few miles from Florissant, Colorado.

 

Hornbeck Homestead

 

This place sure beats the sod house in Nebraska. Hoping the Schwann's man gets here soon, I haven't had a chicken patty in 12 minutes.

 

Cripple creek was a real disappointment. The entire downtown has been turned into a casino. I wanted to visit the Molly Kathleen Mine (I suggest you name your first born after the mine. If the child is a boy he will get tough becasue of it, and as a result become a good miner) but couldn't find where it was located. Disgusted I wanted to see a real gritty mine town. I traveled six miles to Victor, Colorado and my wish came true.

 

  St. Victor Church in Victor. Note the streets are dirt. Not sure how I can hint to Bishop Bartchak I want assigned here.

 

Victor is a rough town. We ate lunch in a bar on the main street (there were very few options). It sounded like a dog fight broke out in front of the bar, the town had dirt streets (save the main drag), and is surrounded by old (some still working) gold mines. It is as close as you will get to the olde school mining town in Colorado.

 

Dirt streets and cars that could get antique plates. I can't be assigned here otherwise I would never want to leave to go to heaven.

 

 

One of the many old mines in Victor

 

I originally planned to take a crude dirt road to our next stop. This route had great scenery and passed by the beautiful Phantom's Canyon. After our mishap this morning Fr. Doug didn't think a three hour ride on an unimproved dirt road (it was rough, we drove on it for a quarter mile) was a viable option. Thus we took paved roads for the next few hours. We wimped out. Fortunately even along the "city" roads, there were plenty of things to see.

 

On a train bound for nowhere

 

 

 

 

 



 

The Rockies, continued

 

Eventually we made our way to Bishop's Castle, about 12 miles from Rye, Colorado. Bishop's Castle was built by an eccentric craftsman named Jim Bishop. Mr. Bishop began working on his castle in 1959 and is still working on it to this day. Mr. Bishop will gladly tell you that he built the castle, all of it (100%), by himself. He doesn't live there, but continues to work on it daily. As an ornamental iron worker he is very talented. That being said the place seems to have a significant number of places where one could potentially be killed. Spiral stairways that have no handrails, open windows, and rickety floors remind the visitor that they must be on their guard when visiting. Mr. Bishop is also an exceptionally devout Libertarian (countless signs tell you this). It is worth a visit.

 

Bishop's Castle

 

More rickety than you think

 

Fr. Doug wimped out and stayed on the ground. Or perhaps he just had more commonsense than Fr. Aron

 

You tell him he has bad breath

 

Trip on these stairs and you will fly right out the window. The objects in the window form a balcony and would not help much if you tripped.

 

Not sure what is more amazing: that one man built this place on his own, or the fact that he owns an International truck without rust.

 

After Bishop's Castle we drove for well over 2 hours to our motel. Tonight we are staying at the Movie Manor located at the Star Drive-In in Monte Vista, Colorado. Built in the 1950s, the Movie Manor was the brainchild of the Drive-In owner who needed stable, year-round, income. His motel, the only one I know of, allows patrons to watch the movie through the window. Each room has a wall speaker that allows each guest to hear the film. Tonight the film was The Avengers. I wasn't into it and watched the news on the room television instead. Nevertheless it is an interesting place to stay.

 

The Movie Manor

 

You can see the screen out the window

 

The mountains surrounded by desert in this part of the state remind me of Mt. Sinai