Drove over from Leadville, without seeing nary a hair on our newest travelling companion (if he/she's still with us). Last night it got down below freezing in Leadville; when we arrived in Steamboat Springs (elevation around 7,000 feet), the bank's thermometer showed a balmy 88 degrees. Goodbye fall, hello summer. We're about to change out of our jeans and into our shorts, and probably go check out town for the afternoon.
We haven't had any TV since we left Colorado Springs, but I had heard something on the radio about a hurricane heading toward New Orleans, so before we headed out to see town, we turned on the TV (we have cable here) to the Weather Channel and heard the news. I couldn't believe that 175 mph winds went through that area. So far they aren't showing too many pictures of the area, since the rain is still coming. I thought about the beautiful old Victorian homes in New Orleans, and hoped they wouldn't be destroyed. Even though some of the areas were economically depressed, they still had pretty homes with lots of potential.
Steamboat Springs is a ski town in the winter, but there are lots of folks who live here year-round, so it doesn't feel like a resort town. It has a cute main street with a nice neighborhood of old homes behind it, a creek runs parallel to Main St. and it has a six-mile long bike path alongside it. There are about a dozen hot springs in the area, with signs nearby them describing their history. Here is one of them, Sulpher Spring:
Since it is bubbly, it looks hot, but actually the water is always 72 degrees. And it does smell sulphery.
The mountains aren't as spectacular here as in Estes Park, but the elevation is high enough (about 7,000 feet) for the nights to be cool (tonight it's supposed to drop to 34 degrees), and the skies are perfectly blue. It's a lot smaller than Boulder and not as fancy, but I bet it's cheaper, and I really like it. We looked into some stores, and then stopped to eat dinner at a Tex-Mex place called Cantina. I had the best marguerita I can remember, and the tamale and chili relleno were great. Mark liked his chicken Santa Fe, and Katie ate all her fish. I'd give it 4 stars. And it wasn't too pricy. Including my drink, we got outta there for 40 bucks. I'd love to go back. And maybe we will, since our fridge has gone kaput.
Tuesday, August 30
We found out from the visitor's center that the gondola up to the top of the Steamboat Ski mountain is closed for weekdays, as of this week. It'll be open for the weekend, but we can't stay for the weekend, because it's Labor Day weekend and the campground (ours is the only one in town) is full. Also the weekday free concerts have ended, and there will be a lot going on for the weekend, but...so we'll be doing more regular stuff, less touristy stuff, which is fine.
Mark heard that the library has free wi-fi, so we headed over there. It's another nice town library, and the wi-fi was strong in their loft, so we took turns reading our email and getting stuff done. Afterwards, we ran errands and headed home for lunch.
This afternoon, Mark took Katie to the local spring-fed pool and they had a blast. I stayed back at the RV and did laundry, watched the Weather Channel and read books. The pool sounded so cool (they actually have multiple pools, all of different temperatures, and a kiddie area and a big water slide coming down the mountain. Also they have massage services (yum) and a gym. Sounds really neat.
The situation in New Orleans and Mississippi sounds bad. Only ten people reported dead in New Orleans, but the 10,000 folks in the Superdome don't have any electricity and the bathrooms aren't working. Geez, I am so glad we are not in that mess. They must all be worried about their homes right now. I wonder how long it will be till they can return.
After dinner, I made a reservation to have a massage on Thursday. I can't wait; this will be the first person who might shed some light on what's going on with my back.
Wednesday, August 31
Today we drove up a canyon east of downtown and found a pretty little hike to a 200-foot waterfall. Here are some pictures:
Then we parked in a city lot where the free city bus stops, next to a very cool playground, beside the bike trail, and got our bikes down and rode along the paved trail. It was very pretty, crossing little wooden bridges, going up and down little hills, and by lots of parks. We stopped in one for Katie to play, and it had an ice cream/coffee store and bike store next to it, so we had ice cream and lounged in the coolest recycled-ski-chair swings. Here's a picture:
We ended up passing downtown but then heading back for it. Here is an ice cream parlor inside an old drugstore:
Here's a shot of the Main Street sidewalk:
We looked around a really cool kids store with neato toys and horrendously expensive kids clothes. $75 for a pair of jeans for Katie? Not. But I got her a little toy bottle for her baby doll. It was hard to get her to leave. We stopped in a neat local bookstore, an old building with wood floors dotted with Persian rugs, a small place but a nice selection. Mark found a book about the SUV phenomenon in America. Next door was an outdoors store with a big end of summer sale, and Katie and I got shirts. Whew, enough shopping. We headed home.
Thursday, September 1
Today I got my hair cut, we checked out a big Alpine Ski store for Mark (I bought a book on edible plants of the Rockies, which is really interesting) we went back to the library so Mark can download a program he needs, and then I had my massage. Boy was it wonderful. The therapist (Amy Weeks of ____) told me that my pain is coming from the right-hand joint where my hips join my back. She had a back accident falling down a staircase and landing right on the end of her butt-bone, and she said it was a year before she didn't feel any pain there anymore. Hers was a worse accident than mine by far, and it gave me reassurance that my pain will be gone someday too. Mine's really not bad, but it does wake me up at night.
Amy loaned me a CD she loves to do massage by, and a kids music CD (African lullabye) that she likes, for me to copy and return to her. It was fun meeting her, and I'm planning to do a website for her.
After the massage, I met Mark and Katie at a park and we headed back to the neat swimming pools they went to the other day. Boy was I impressed. Back in California, I'd been to Keoughs, a swimming pool fed by a hot spring in Bishop. It was okay, but this place was fancy. They have a hot pool fed by the Heart Spring at one end, then another hot pool beside it which has jets. Katie is allowed in those, as long as we are with her. They are at about 100 degrees, so a little cooler than most hot tubs, and absolutely perfect to me. Next is a large pool of slightly cooler water, still quite warm, and it's five and a half feet deep in the deep end. Beside it is yet another pool that we didn't go into. A little ways down is a huge shallow pool that is two and a half feet deep, for kids. It is warm but not hot, and the perfect depth for kids to play in. Katie can go into it without floaties, and we practiced swimming stuff in there with her. It has a floating inflatable slide for kids to climb on and slide down, in the middle. Past that pool is a lap pool, which is kept cool. It's deep, and we didn't go into it. On a little hill is a kiddie area where warm water sprays out of various animals and fountains. It was closed for the night. And for big kids, you can pay extra and hike up the hill and slide down their big water slide. If you are ever in Steamboat Springs, it's worth going to this place. They even have a centrifugal spinner to spin your swimsuit dry when you are done. And, although we were told that they do use chlorine, we couldn't smell it on us at all. At Keoughs, they don't have to chlorinate, because the water is always coming into the pool from the spring, and moving out the pool to leave the place. Maybe the heart spring doesn't put out as much volume or something.
We met a dad and his son at the pool, and chatted with him about living in Steamboat. He is a plumber and really likes it here; he travelled with the Dead for a bunch of years and saw the country that way, and also lived on a boat, working for a guy who owned a $3 million sailboat that cruised the Atlantic and Carribean. After seeing everything, he picked Steamboat, and I can kinda understand why. Who knows, maybe we'll return to Steamboat Springs someday, too.
Friday, September 2
This morning I dropped Amy's CDs off, and took this picture of a neat looking museum in the neighborhood behind Main Street:
When I got back to the RV I put on the Weather Channel again while we got ready to go. Folks are having to leave the Superdome for Houston's sports dome, and apparently many of them are afraid it'll just be another disaster, like the Astrodome was. I can't blame them. There is a lot of looting going on, and armed gangs are roaming the devastated areas. Also, since there is no water available, folks are talking about being afraid that they might be shot for water. I can't believe how fast things have deteriorated. Maybe we're only hearing the worst. Two families were separated from their newborn babies; one family has found out that their baby is in Fort Worth. The other family is still looking (god that would tear us apart). It just sounds horrible. Nothing happening to us feels important enough to write about, when I start thinking about what's going on there.
Well, today we head west toward Utah, past Dinosaur National Monument. We'll be camping near there for the Labor Day weekend.