
Gallery:
Silverton and Animas Forks area – September 6, 2009, Colorado
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The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad tracks follows the Animas River through the Animas Canyon out of Silverton towards Durango – about an hour before the first train arrives from Durango.
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Last week we took a short trip to eastern Arkansas and, after that, over to northeast Kentucky.
Our first campground was at Village Creek State Park. The park is located on Crowley’s Ridge, a geologic anomaly of rolling hills in eastern Arkansas’s Mississippi Alluvial Plain.
With five trails totaling 7 miles, we had hoped to spend one day in the park doing some hiking.
Unfortunately, there was some kind of gnats hatching out. After taking one walk the first evening where we couldn’t get away from them, we decided to alter our plans and check out some of the other parks in the area.
The first day, we went to Parkin State Archeological Park and Jacksonport State Park. The next day, we drove over to Memphis and spent a few hours at Mud Island. I’ll be posting more on these as I get the photo gallery set up for each one.
The last evening that we were there and the next morning before we left, we didn’t have much problem with insects at all.
Our next destination was Paducah, Kentucky, so that Karen could go to the annual Paducah Quilt Show. Karen has several posts on her blog from the quilt show:
A couple of weeks ago, we took a drive down to Hot Springs to visit Garvan Woodland Gardens.
(Click on any of the images to view larger version)



We’ve been in Arkansas for nearly 30 years and this was the first time we had visited this wonderful attraction.
Photos from the visit are included in my newest photo gallery, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The Garvan Woodland Gardens is a botanical garden in Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA. The 210 acre garden is owned by the University of Arkansas and open almost every day during daylight hours, for a fee.
The gardens are situated on a wooded peninsula with 4.5 miles of shoreline on Lake Hamilton. The gardens feature rocky inclines reminiscent of the surrounding Ouachita Mountains, floral landscapes, streams, and waterfalls in a natural woodland setting, plus a Japanese Garden with Japanese maples and tree peonies, a conifer border, and various flower and rock gardens. Its collections display hundreds of rare shrubs and trees, including camellias, magnolias, roses, and over 160 different types of azaleas. (Wikipedia)
Gallery: Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
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Gallery:
Ouray and Vicinity – Colorado, September 8 & 10, 2009
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The Ouray Real Estate and Building Association started construction on the Beaumont Hotel on 5 July 1886, completing it on 15 December 1886 at a cost of $75,000. Palmer House supplied employees for the grand opening, on 25 July 1887. All of the original furniture was made by Marshall Field’s.
The Beaumont was one of the first hotels in the country to be wired for alternating current electricity. It boasted guests such as Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover. The hotel closed in 1964 due to declining tourism in the area. For over 30 years the hotel sat empty, boarded up and in disrepair. At one point part of the roof collapsed and more than once the building was considered for condemnation. The hotel was sold in 1998 and was meticulously restored, its multiple rooms combined into a more spacious arrangement — the large hotel building now has just 12 guest rooms. It reopened in 2003 and received the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation. In 2004 it received one of the first four Preserve America Presidential Awards for historic preservation.
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Gallery:
North Rim – September 11, 2009, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado
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Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a United States National Park located in western Colorado, and managed by the National Park Service. There are two entrances to the park; the more-developed south rim entrance is located 15 miles (24 km) east of Montrose, while the north rim entrance is located 11 miles (18 km) south of Crawford and is closed in the winter. The park contains 12 miles (19 km) of the 48-mile (77 km) long canyon of the Gunnison river. The national park itself contains the deepest and most dramatic section of the canyon, but the canyon continues upstream into the Curecanti National Recreation Area and downstream into the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area.
The Gunnison River drops an average of 43 feet per mile (8 m/km) through the entire canyon, making it one of the steepest mountain descents in North America. In comparison, the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon drops an average of 7.5 feet per mile (1.4 m/km). The greatest descent of the Gunnison River occurs in the park at Chasm View dropping 240 feet per mile (45 m/km). The Black Canyon is so named on account of its steepness which makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate very far down the canyon. As a result, the canyon walls are most often in shadow, causing the rocky walls to appear black. At its narrowest point the canyon is only 40 feet (12 m) across at the river.
The extreme steepness and depth of the Black Canyon formed as the result of several geologic processes acting together. The Gunnison River is primarily responsible for carving the canyon, though several other geologic events had to occur in order to form the canyon as it is seen today. (Wikipedia)
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Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, September 13, 2009
The Knife Edge Trail is a 2 mile round trip walk along the north rim of Mesa Verde National Park. It takes about l 1/2 to 2 hours to walk the trail.
Historically, part of the Knife Edge Trail follows a section of the Knife Edge Road built in 1914 as the main access into the park. Along the trail you may see patches of asphalt that remain from this road. Old-timers still proudly talk about what a feat it was to build, or “hang,” a road on this steep bluff. Users recall it with a bit of dread because of its narrowness, the unexpected rock slides and its slippery ruts.
The photo is from the newest of my photo galleries and the second from Mesa Verde. The gallery includes images from Cliff Palace — a Puebloan culture cliff dwelling —, the Knife Edge Trail and more.
Gallery: Cliff Palace and More – September 13, 2009, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
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