Scary, but beautiful

I'm still trying to unpry my fingers apart so I can type this post.  Quite a day!  North from Buena Vista to Leadville to go up and over Hagerman Pass.  Supposed to be relatively easy.  It was very rough, definitely needed 4wd and high clearance, and the hanging off the side of the cliff stuff.  As those of you who know me know I don't do hanging off the cliff!  I think as we go on I'm frustrating Jan more and more cause I just can't deal with the heights.  I'm doing better and today if it wasn't for some trees and bushes along the side I would have turned around.  There were times today when we were looking straight down several thousand feet!  Enough of that.  We went by Turquoise Lake, an absolutely gorgeous lake near Leadville.

Then we went uphill towards Hagerman Pass and got another look at Turquoise Lake from a little bit higher :)

These pictures don't do justice to how steep and rough the road was or the dropoffs.  We continued and managed to make it to the top.

A little background,  Hagerman was the owner of the Colorado Midland Railway back in 1883.  He was trying to build a railroad that would go from Leadville to Aspen.  He decided to build it in the same pass we drove over today and ended up building a tunnel in 1887 at 11,530'!  The tunnel was used only a few years until a slightly lower one was built.  The railroad ceased to operate in 1918 and the lines were scrapped in the 1920's.
We then continued down the other side which I have to admit was less upsetting, into Basalt, then south through Aspen.  We had never been to Aspen before.  What a beautiful, clean, picture perfect town bustling with people and businesses.  We saw this very cool looking church as we went through.

We then continued on 82 over Independence Pass at 12,950'  This road was paved but in places was too narrow for two cars to pass!  Very beautiful, nonetheless.

The drive down the eastern side was gorgeous and not nearly as challenging.  We passed beautiful Twin Lakes again as we headed back to the motorhome to have a BIG glass of wine!

150 mile ride

Jan and I left about 9:30 for a ride up through Leadville and Copper Mountain, then down through Frisco, Breckenridge, and Fairplay, then across Weston Pass for a quick look at Twin Lakes, then back to the campground.  We are right along the Arkansas river, evidently a mecca for rafting, it does look exciting.

We went north to Leadville and checked out the campground we had stayed at back in 2001 with Ray and April.  It was late in the season, end of Sep.  In fact the campground was officially closed but the owner said we could stay and to leave the money in an envelope under the office door.  It was much busier today, packed!  Leadville looked much the same as we remembered, but busier.  We continued north through Copper Mountain onto I-70 east to the Breckenridge exit.  Even the interstate was busy!  We went down through an absolutely bustling town of Frisco, sidewalks crowded, cars everywhere, lines at restaurants, etc.  We continued to Breckenridge, and stopped to see an RV resort we had heard about called Tiger Run.  It is a condo park, a place where people own their own sites and when they are not there they rent them out.  It was completely full, and very nice as you would expect for a campground that charges $80/night!  Breckenridge is a very pretty mountain community.  Also extremely busy, people everywhere walking, riding bikes, shopping, eating, etc.  It's amazing to think that yesterday the stock market took an over 500 point hit, supposedly because we may be heading back into a double dip recession, but everywhere we went today, there were no signs of hard times.  In fact, we saw new construction all over, and only a couple for sale signs.  It's hard to figure.

Southbound, we went up and over Hoosier Pass at 11,541, through a little town of Alma, through Fairplay, then headed off road toward Weston Pass.  Beautiful scenery as we approached the mountains.

The road got windier and narrower as we ascended.  Only a few cars, peaceful and gorgeous.

We made our way down off the pass along a babbling brook on a pretty rough and narrow road.  Incredible scenery all the way.  Back onto the main road above Twin Lakes.  Dick and Ann were telling us about the lakes so we went by to check them out for kayaking.  They are big lakes and since it was quite windy, 10-20mph, we decided to try another time.

We had a wonderful day, including a great lunch at a little place in Breckenridge called Soupz On.  They make 6 kinds of homemade soup each day, and 5 different fresh salads, and out of the oven breads and rolls.  We each had a cup of soup and salad with a roll.  Yummy!