THE CRAZY CRUZERS ARE HEADING WEST!: CANON CITY, COLORADO

May 30, 2015

What a day! After saying goodbye to our friends Paul and Ann in Larkspur, we drove 88 miles to Canon City. It was a pretty easy trip and we were lucky enough to get here early in the day to see and do so much! I am going to break the day down via the following photo blog:

LARKSPUR TO CANON CITY

Paul, Ann, Bonnie, and Thom

Our address for a few nights! Canon City, Colorado

Lot 40

The view from our campground!

Holy Smoke Bar-B-Que Showdown, Canon City, Colorado - Thom and I have talked about going to one of these competitions and finally did!

There were some pretty amazing grills!

There were also some pretty unique BBQ teams!

Our first taste - from Montana's BBB

We learned that not all teams competing were selling their BBQ!

This is a smoker!

These ribs were actually from a competition team from Colorado but we found the ribs from Montana to be a better value for the money and tasted a whole lot better.

PRISON MUSEUM

Yes, Prison Museum!

Gas Chamber

It was really strange to be on this side of the current prison, which is literally in downtown Canon City, and you could hear the inmates playing baseball!

Riot Cell, depicting the 1929 riot.

Why anyone would want to touch the Execution Table?

Each cell depicts a different situation within the prison.

This made me feel "old". When I was in high school, I was trained on this type of telephone system! f

Books used to store contraband! The old "knife in a book" is real!

"This large painting was painted by a Federal inmate. It is very interesting in the fact that there are several hidden pictures within the larger one. Can you find the AK-47?"

Knife Cabinet! A lot of the exhibits, like this one, made me realize the lengths the prison personnel has to go to in their everyday work life!

Old prison to the right of the current prison; the old and new prison guard towers!

We could not find out what the building is next to the current prison but it looks like an old church.

ROYAL GORGE TRAIN TRIP

All Aboard! We figured we have heard and seen so many trains this trip we might as well take a trip, and what a great place to do so - Royal Gorge!

The Royal Gorge Train

One of several waterfalls; Sunshine Falls

And, of all rivers to follow, the Arkansas River!

Look close - can you see "Devil's Head"?

See that bridge way up there? Later in the day we walked that bridge!

See the cable car way up there? We also took a ride above the gorge in one!

LOOK VERY CLOSE and you will see BIGHORN SHEEP!

LOOK VERY CLOSE AGAIN and you will see BIGHORN SHEEP! Thom captured the sheep on his video camera and was able to clip the video for me!

These two rafters or kayakers needed to be rescued!

Rescue team!

BIG DADDY'S DINER

Across the street from the train depot was this diner so you know where we had dinner!

Thom, his chocolate shake, and our waitress Danielle, who had so much makeup on I just had to get a photo!

Thom: Cheeseburger and fries (with his very delicious shake); Bonnie: Salad and chicken noodle soup with coffee (so good).

BUCKSKIN JOE'S, ONCE UPON A TIME

It was so sad to see what has happened to Buckskin Joe's, a place Erica and Philip loved, and where Erica once had a foot long taco and Phil had his first buffalo burger! :(

I can still see the shootouts and the hangings that Buckskin Joe's used to do every afternoon. We have a family photo that was taken here, which is one of my favorites!

We saw a magic show in the larger building. Such great memories even if it no longer exists.

ROYAL GORGE CABLE CAR AND BRIDGE

Thom and I took a drive to Royal Gorge to see if it was RV friendly for parking, as we were thinking about how we were going to fit everything in that we have planned while we're in Canon City for two nights. When we got to the park around 6:45 p.m. it was still open! We literally got the last cable car ticket to cross the gorge! We had already planned to walk back on the bridge, which we did, but we had to hustle to the cable car platform! It was perfect! And, it would not have been a good ride in the RV!

This notice is not outside the cabin, it is inside the cabin!

Thom video taping the trip. Unfortunately, the cable car made a reflection that was hard to take photos of the gorge, but you can see we are over the gorge by looking past Thom's face!

We are somewhere over the gorge at this point! I have to say, it was truly a peaceful experience even though you could hear the wind blowing!

The cable car on the other side. By the way, you can zip across the gorge, and we saw someone do it. We had no idea what was happening until he got near the loading dock when we were getting ready to head across the gorge. The "crazy person" who is going to zip across the gorge, rides the cable car and a ride employee goes with them with the "jacket" that the "crazy person" is going to wear as he/she zips across the gorge! It is a fast trip!

Only one of a few good photos within the cable car.

From land, on the other side! This was our greeting!

The Royal Gorge Bridge.

It was so windy and we didn't have a jacket, but it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be even though it was a bit cool.

Here we go - and by the way, the bridge is a wooden bridge!

Looking over the bridge, down into the gorge, where we were earlier in the day.

Thom and the Florida flag. You can see how hard the wind was blowing - the flags all stood at attention!

Another view looking down from the bridge.

This is from a view station on land after the bridge walk.

The Royal Gorge Park closed for 14 months after the 2013 fires but it coming back to life slowly but surely. We were actually in the area, on our way to Alaska, back in 2013, and we could smell the fire from our Pike's Peak Jeep trip.