12 year old in the mountains

We received a call from our oldest daughter telling us her Church had arranged for it's youth group to have a church camp in Alamosa, Colorado and would we be interested in having one of the grandsons stay 10 days before the camp and the other 10 days after?

We said "Sure" that would be a lot of fun showing the boys some of the features of living in the West.

Bennett was the first to come  - he recently turned 12.

He and his Mother flew into Denver and we met them there and enjoyed a visit to the Denver Art Museum which had an exhibit on the Art of Lowriders. This was a rather interesting look at the efforts of those who see the Lowrider car craze as an art form.

  

This creation mimicked a classic Chevy doing the "Funky Chicken Dance" bouncing on its hydraulic suspension  

Interesting creation using a shoe

Paper cutouts of lowriders were available for children to color and make their own

Betsy showing the handout

Part of the exhibit included art made of saddles

Julie in one of the walkways with sculptures

View of Denver from rooftop terrace

The Art Museum exterior is known for its use of decorative tile

It makes a nice backdrop for photos

The museum entrance features a giant dust pan and broom 

It begs to be explored

On the way to our mountain home we stopped in Old Colorado Springs and visited Michael Garmin's Magic City. This display includes a scavenger hunt for objects to be found in the 1/6th scale model of a Cityscape. 

Julie and Bennett exploring the Cityscape

The display includes a scavenger hunt and Bennett was searching for clues

Lots of detail in the 1/6th scale city

Filling out the form

I like this self portrait of the artist who made all of this

In past visits Mr. Garman would visit with us as we toured the display. I miss that...

Then we headed over the first of many mountain passes Bennett would see on his trip

We had a bit of time to see some of the new buildings on the Western Colorado University campus in Gunnison, Co and check out some Graphic Novels from their student library.

This is the reading room of the campus library - it has a bit of a Harry Potteresque feel

Heading to the car with our graphic novels

We heat our mountain home with firewood cut on our property. It is nice to have help in splitting firewood and getting it drying in anticipation of cold weather.

Bennett enjoyed taking logs and splitting them into fire wood

Our Miniature Schnauzer is always ready for a car ride. In this case to ride to see Bennett and Grandma off on a mine tour and later a ride to the top of Engineer Pass on a 4x4 trail. We were bumping 13,000 feet once up there.

This is a great mine to tour above Lake City, Colorado

Ready for the Jeep Trail

Mining equipment on display outside the mine tour

A view of the mine tour buildings on Henson Creek road

We made it to the top

The dog is staring at the small shape on the snow field that is Bennett

C'mon Dad lets head over that way

Bennett on the snow field

He was very happy up there

Top of the world

This is the view of the Jeep Trail heading down. The switchback at the end is rather "Sporty" and left a permanent memory with Bennett 

A wooden swing outside the Lake City restaurant gave a place to relax before dinner

We drove thru the mountains and stopped at the various scenic overlooks along the way. We were heading to Chama, New Mexico to explore the historic narrow gauge steam railyard and chase trains up to Cumbres Pass.

Overlooking Lake San Cristóbal

Overlook is just a short walk from the highway

Overlooks include signage telling names of various peaks

Checking out the headwaters of the Rio Grand river

This sign explains the landslide the blocked the river that formed Lake San Cristobal

Camping at the Rio Chama camp ground preparing to chase steam trains the next day

The Cumbres and Toltec narrow gauge railroad is one of the few places where visitors are allowed to explore the railyard unescorted. This gives one the opportunity to experience "Cinders and Smoke" first hand and up close.

Checking out the train

Exploring the railyard

Looking over the engine house

To be viewed from the outside only

Engine on one of the speeders that follows the train with fire fighting equipment

Bennett taking pictures at the famous Jukes Tree

There is a rock you can climb below 'Windy Point' which gives great views of the train climbing the grade

You can then turn around and watch the train on the tracks above you

Just past Cumbres Pass the track doubles back on itself

Great place to watch the train loop past

We made it to Antonito to drop Bennett off for Church Camp

He was glad to see his brother - we pick him up a week later