Salida, Colorado: We left Breckenridge this morning, and had to get back on I-70 for a bit before taking a left onto 91 - down another of the prettiest drives in America. This is where you understand why the mountains are called THE ROCKIES - above the tree line is nothing but bare rock. Our first stop was Leadville, Colorado - another Colorado mining town.
It was 63 degrees - with rain showers.
alas, his pan was empty.
Any Parrothead worth their lost shaker of salt, knows Jimmy Buffett visited the Silver Dollar Saloon in the early 1980s and wrote Incommunicado here. Dave and I entered the dark bar and after 2.1 seconds knew it would not be a fine dining experience. The 7-foot-tall massive bouncer at the door refused to let me enter - nor take a photo - until the kitchen closed at 6p. Thing is, the Silver Dollar Saloon has imported Italian porcelain tile on the floor that are original to the 1879 opening. I was able to see the tile, but was not welcome in the Silver Dollar Saloon.
We continued south. This route follows a beautiful valley. Rock cliffs to the east and the Sawatch Range of the Rockies to the West. This area holds the Collegiate Peaks - named Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton peaks. Nine of the peaks are over 14000 feet.
Next town on our southerly route was Buena Vista. Buena Vista has a lot going on. A larger town then Leadville, BV has many nice shops, restaurants, museums and friendly people. We found an Italian place - CRAVE - and had a very nice lunch. We split a caprese salad and a cheese pizza.
The Arkansas River runs through Buena Vista and the "thing" here is surfing on the river. (Ironically, the 4L's are on the California Coast this week while Leo and Lucy attend surf camp - staying in an Airstream AirBnB!) Dave and I walked down to the river in Buena Vista to watch people river surfing.
Due to the terrible drought in Colorado (and everywhere), the river is low, but there are several "constructed" spots on the river where people who do not live near an ocean can pretend to surf.
We continued on to Salida, where we had a campsite on the Arkansas River reserved. Very nice, but we arrived just in time for a terrible windstorm, and dark clouds. We are hunkering down for the night, waiting for rain, and will not have dinner due to our big lunch.
Speaking of Lucile - she is 12 today. At surf camp, but her dad took her shopping for a bit this afternoon and she found an ANTIQUE in a shop and insisted her dad snap this photo and send it to me:
Until my next update, I remain, your Arkansas River correspondent.
Campsite Information: Salida RV Resort