Gold Rush!

Yesterday we visited Idaho Springs, which is a town right off of I-70. I remember driving by it as a kid, but I'm not sure we ever stopped there. It is another cute little mountain town with lots of shops and restaurants--and, of course, rocky mountainsides at the end of every street. There is just something that is so lovely about these towns, which, if they were in rural Indiana instead of rural Colorado, I would think twice about stopping and strolling through the streets.

We started our day with a stop at Berthoud Pass, which is right on US-40 going into and out of Winter Park and is part of the Continental Divide Trail, and, I assume, the Continental Divide. We took the obligatory pictures. (Ryan is so good about humoring me and my need to document in photo every minute thing we do!) The best part for the boys was that there was still snow on the ground so they were able to touch it. Snow is so much more fun when it's summer and a novelty versus when it's winter and same old, same old! The bad thing was that they also felt the need to walk in it with their shoes on, so their shoes got all wet and muddy from the melting snow. Yuck! Jack wanted to touch "clean" snow, but there was no way I was going to let him walk that far up the hill!

touching snow in June!

Yes, one more mountain shot--the view from the Pass (That winding road is the road we take between I-70 and Winter Park. It was a bit nerve-racking the first time we drove it, but now it's no big deal.)

They'll still pose for these pictures! Give it a few years, and I know I'll get the eye rolls!

So, for the second half of our adventures yesterday we toured the Phoenix Gold Mine. Apparently it is from the 1870s but could still be productive today. It was interesting, but I think perhaps the boys need to be just a bit older to enjoy and appreciate it. The tour group was a bit too big, and one of the guides, who happened to be the owner, was quite the (long-winded) story-teller--not a good combo with three whining, tired children.

This is one of the most gold-packed sections of the mine. I realize it just looks like rock, but there is a little bit of sparkle that you can see if you look really closely. Apparently if a mine is able to produce 5 oz. of gold for every ton of dirt mined, it is a highly productive mine. It just blows me away to think of all the work that goes into getting gold!

There was a "lucky bucket" that we could touch on the tour. The boys both made their wishes: Jack wanted a guitar and Grant wanted his B.B. (his bear). It's funny what wishes kids make!

One of the things that set this mine tour apart was that we could pan for gold in the adjacent stream. I had never done it before, but after doing it I have much more appreciation for the people who would try to strike it rich by spending hours upon hours panning. It is tedious, laborious work. I only did it for a little while because it's hard to focus on panning and making sure my kids don't fall into the creek. They just seemed to enjoy throwing their pans like frisbees into the stream. Needless to say, we did not leave the mine experience with our kids' college tuitions in our pockets!

the boys when they were still interested in scooping up rocks and water

Ryan working hard to strike it rich for us!