Traipsing through Colorado

© 2011 Lydia Hinshaw

That's fresh snow on the mountains above Leadville

Buena Vista's pleasant downtown

  MANITOU SPRINGS, CO -- Wednesday we covered only about 120 miles, but it was a beautiful 120.  We spent all of our travel time along U.S. highway 24, from Leadville, where we spent Tuesday night, to Manitou Springs, where we are revisiting a campground we particularly enjoyed on our way to Yellowstone last May.

 There was ice on our windshield when we woke up in Leadville, and fresh snow on the mountains that dominate the view from all over town.

 Down the road 30 miles or so we stopped for coffee in Buena Vista, a place we'd like to get back to someday.  It has an inviting collection of campgrounds, neat motels and hiking trails.

 At lunchtime we picknicked at a Forest Service visitors center atop a 9,500 foot pass with a view of Pike's Peak in one direction, and the several 14,000-foot peaks west of Buena Vista on the other.

 At Manitou Springs we found our campground just where we remembered it, and took a walk around town to get some exercise.

 Later, I brewed myself a batch of my favorite drink, iced tea.  Wanting to be helpful, Prince Charming suggested I cool the recycled juice jug of tea by submerging it in the icy water of the stream that runs just behind our campsite.

 The next thing I saw was the Prince running down the bank of the stream trying to catch the 2/3-full plastic jug that had floated away from him and was headed rapidly toward Colorado Springs.

 Realizing he was about to be in big trouble, he waded into the creek, and performed a rescue. Sadly, I did not have a camera handy to record this little drama.  I'm going to enjoy that iced tea, though.