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Colorado Springs, Here We Come (Again)
We finally left Florida on June 6th and drove at breakneck speed, dodging tornadoes in several states to get to the "Springs" before Karen and Ron arrived to join us there. They came in on the 15th, giving us the opportunity to introduce them to Paul's cousin Roland and his delightful wife, Lori. We were also looking forward to showing them some of the beautiful attractions in the area.
Roland and Lori invited all of us to their home for drinks and snacks followed by a very entertaining evening watching the local roller girls at one of the arenas in town. Roller Derby has undergone a huge resurgence and has many of the same trappings as professional wrestling. However, the girls are cute and energetic and the sport seems to be a wholesome family activity. With still many minutes left in the game we felt we'd seen enough, understood little...and left!
Our Mollie Kathleen Mine Disaster
Our first day out dawned cloudy so we all decided to skip the Pikes Peak tour and go to Cripple Creek instead. Cripple Creek is an old mining town in the Rockies that grew to
be a vast commercial enterprise during the gold rush. One gold mine still operates in the town of Victor, near Cripple Creek but the gold fever that gripped folks in the early 1900's has dissipated. The town has become a gambling mecca and the only hint of its illustrious past are the burros who roam the streets and the crumbling head frames that point the way to abandoned mine shafts. We decided to take a tour of the Mollie Kathleen Mine that was open to tourists.
Before entering the shaft we donned hard hats. The shaft elevator was the same one that had carried the miners during the gold rush. It consisted of two metal cages hinged together. The back was solid metal with three sides of the cage being wire mesh.
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