Chased

 Saturday morning began with bright sunshine and a brisk breeze, springtime in the Rockies weather. We ditched the jackets and drove into South Downtown Denver (SoDo) and did a little shopping for the upcoming week. Then back into Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo). That's just southeast of Five Points and north of Lincoln Park. Got it? This time our destination was Union Station. Not THE Union Station, but the glorious former main railway station and central transportation hub in Denver.

The station first opened in 1881, burnt down in 1894, and fully reopened in 1914. Located at 17th and Wynkoop streets the building includes the historic terminal building, a train shed, an underground bus facility and light rail station. It also serves as an Amtrak stop for the California Zephyr. In 2012 the station underwent a major renovation and now includes the 112 room Crawford Hotel, shops and restaurants.

We took a look at downtown from the front of Union Station, then redeemed our car from the nearby parking garage. $9 an hour....

The temperature was absolutely great in Denver today. High 70's to mid 80's during the middle of the day. Short shorts were the dress code for the day, and the city, it's parks, and the highways were packed with people lovin' the sunshine!

On I70 West, heading back to Central City, we passed the famous house used by Woody Allen in his movie "Sleeper", sitting high on a cliff near Genosee.

A short distance from Central City, we drove through Idaho Springs. This burg claims to be a destination for skiers and history buffs. It seemed to us to be just another tourist town so we just drove through. The white rectangle in the pic is a reflection of the parking stub from downtown. I wanted to save it.

Back in Central City, we decided to dig a little deeper (it's a gold mining joke) into the history of the area. As a result of the discoveries of mineral wealth by John Gregory and William Russell, thousands of miners flocked to the area, to eventually take $85 million in gold out of the ground. Many of their mines still stand abandoned and tailings piles dot the hillsides.

Not all of the miners were successful in their quest. Many dug a different sort of mine.

Now fallen into disrepair, the historical cemeteries northwest of town cover the side of a low hill. The markers bear witness to deaths early on in the towns history through the 1950's, when Central City was just another mining town struggling to survive. 

As storm clouds gathered in the west,

we looked out of the windshield of the motorhome at the lovely valley that Central City lies in.

Those storm clouds? They gathered a bit more....

and it began to rain. The wind came up and the temperature dropped. From the 50's midday, to the 30's in the evening. Then it snowed a little bit. A check of the weather apps we use and a listen to the Weather Channel showed us snow tomorrow, snow Monday, snow Tuesday, and temps in the thirties. That's the high daytime temp!

Ok, we can take a hint. Since we have to drop down a 7% hill to get to I70, and then another 3,000 feet or so to get to Denver, we have elected to leave on Sunday morning (Happy Mother's Day, Donna) and head into Kansas, where the only worry is tornados....

See ya later, Central City!