NELSON'S NOTES #62, Part 2

Written at the end of the historic Chisholm Trail, Abilene, Kansas

Aug. 16, 2006

THE SPLENDOR AND SIGHTS OF NORTHERN COLORADO

1. Rocky Mountain National Park - it was hard to pick only one view of the Rocky Mountains' splendor but this one is typical.

2. Poudre Valley Canyon - until a no-nonsense female guide got in the water and put these rafters through the rigors of the sport, the crews played around, hitting the water with their paddles and splashing each other. We saw and heard it all while watching from a spot above the launching area.

3. Northern Colorado Water Conservancy Project - The waterfall behind Bruce represents the Continental Divide in this outdoor model. The model demonstrates how water from Grand Lake and other reservoirs on the west side of the Continental Divide is collected, pumped, and channeled to reservoirs on the drier east side. The lynchpin of the project, the 13-mile-long Adams Tunnel, which took seven years to build, was constructed under the mountains beneath the Continental Divide.

4. The "capitol gang" - In July, Bob and Carolyn Ross, Jim and Sharon Decker and Bruce and I converged on Colorado's capitol building in Denver for a tour. All of us are from Fun N Sun.

5, 6, 7. How high is a mile? - Evidently it depends on who measured it, when they measured it and the standards they used. The granite steps leading to the Colorado capitol's west entrance display three "mile-high" markers. Because the first penny marker, originally placed on the 15th step in 1909, was repeatedly stolen, 38 years later the words were inscribed in the stone; the second penny marker was placed on the 18th step in 1969; and the third was placed on the 13th step in 2003.

Marianna Nelson