Forgotten Small Mountain Towns In Colorado On My Way Towards Denver - Old Mining Areas & Railroads
Small Mountain Towns in Colorado
Transcript
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today's adventure begins with a red
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self-pumping gas nozzle
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4.95
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per gallon
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but this very
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uniquely named
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convenience store welcome everyone
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yet in the woo here as a recording of
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this thursday june 16 2022 i probably
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shouldn't have not taken that step
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because it's really close
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to that ledge
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well not a ledge but just a little
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little dip down into the river
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i am on my way to denver colorado no
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real rhyme reason or and or game plan
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today other than hopefully finding some
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roadside relics some wacky items
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on my journey into denver
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and looking at some mountains
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all around me even
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back there
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behind the gas station
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moving pretty quickly this river is
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moving pretty quick
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if you fell in there you'd be swept down
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the river
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as always i'm inviting you to join me
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see how this tastes
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it's warm
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join me shall you i'm also hoping to get
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on some back roads well i kind of am on
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the back road i veered off the main
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thoroughfare the main freeway well
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highway over there
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and the next town
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i hope to get some back roads and small
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town stuff as well as some odd unusual
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things now the name of this little
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downtown area is glenwood springs but
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also
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referred to as hot springs
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cooper avenue was the main street and
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like where they have these little
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information placards like eb everett's
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pioneer grocery used to be right here on
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this corner
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back in 1886 he replaced the tent with a
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brick store this is a dismount zone
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never heard it referred to as that
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usually it says no skating or biking but
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it says dismount zone
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it's a lot of neat history right here in
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this little downtown
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pretty good view of the mountain too for
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example of course the door is closed the
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store's not open at the moment and the
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door is
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looking in usually this door is
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kind of swung open over here
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but this is where doc holliday
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had his last moments
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november 8th 1887.
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here in
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glenwood springs
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so your time up there is 20 minutes
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until 10.
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it's now a place called bullocks
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but this is where doc holliday spent his
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last moments
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in this building
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getting over to this section was a
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little confusing
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i turned onto this road thinking i'd be
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able to park over here and this ends up
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going to a roundabout which got me back
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on the main road
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so i ended up having to go up a mile or
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two turn around and come back
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if this was the original downtown and i
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would imagine there was an older bridge
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that was replaced with this one a little
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less confusing but i ended up
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turning back around i was patient found
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my way around
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and looped back over
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to the
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doc john holiday tavern here
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this whole neon
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i really love this relic
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look at that thing glimmering in the
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morning sun
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and next door is a barber shop hole
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nice little relic here
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all falling about apart the wood
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starting to decay just a little bit
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but you could see the years
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of weather worn on the paint
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what used to be the barber shop here
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it's now a newer hair salon but they
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still have the barber pole up front yeah
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take a look how the main street
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this newer road kind of veers up and
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obscures and blocks
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the old downtown
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it's kind of unusual i don't know if it
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hurts or helps the businesses
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not knowing that
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you know you can't just
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can't just park in front of the stores
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anymore
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ah progress
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and around back in this alley
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there's a little little painting mural
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here
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started to
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kind of
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be scraped off the side of the wall
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up for artistic interpretation on what
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this says oh you know what
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my well it looks like
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a stream going through the mountains and
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clouds okay that's that's what it is
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from this angle it
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makes a little more sense
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the name of this exit was no name
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and i missed the sign pull it in here
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luckily the rest stop says the name
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well i should say no name
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no name
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rest area the rest area with no name
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just some incredible views in this area
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of the country
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people riding their bikes down there on
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the path
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little picnic table set up
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this foot
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path
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worn from
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many
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people's shoes walking over the years
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heading down to the waterway
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very peaceful out here you could do a
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little bird watching
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there's a bird right there
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okay see you later bird uh bird went and
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perched over there on the picnic table
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then also down here
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are a few folks on the river itself in
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those rafts
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the white water rafting
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and just a little further up the way to
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another rest area
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sign said grizzly creek
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once i got over here this
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little information saying from vision to
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reality glenwood canyon has been a link
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to the nation's ground transportation
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since the denver and grand
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rio grande railroad back in 1887
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and there's some historical photos here
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what it looked like back in the day look
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at the train going through the caverns
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there
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this little structure looks like
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something that frank lloyd wright would
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have built
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also a bridge over here should be able
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to get a pretty good view of the
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waterway
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so
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awesome so notice how this stream
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veers out of the mountains
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up there got the
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on-ramp off-ramp
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main road going by
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and then
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dumps into the river
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i almost lost my footing just then
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the butterfly
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standing on this rock you see others
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have stacked
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these tunnels go directly through the
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middle of the mountains
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pretty fascinating
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the engineering that goes into this
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so you're kind of in the
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shadows and now about to go back outside
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into the brightness
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stopped off in the town of gypsum now
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i like this church this is a lutheran
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church
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and this structure is very unique as
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well it has like a little observation
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tower
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up top there and an ostrich piece of art
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around the side
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there's the ostrich
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there's the observation tower
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hello ostrich
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metal ostrich
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so metal a lot of times i'll get into
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these little communities trying to find
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some of the original structures
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like this there's a sign there so some
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sort of store
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maybe a bar at one point on the corner
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of first avenue
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and railroad ave there's railroad tracks
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right over there
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this is the eagle information center
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visitor center
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eagle
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colorado there's also a historical
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museum located in this barn
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as well
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right here along the river also
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old train car the rio grande
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so can i go up in this
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back door another waft here you got the
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stairs you can go up and get a
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little higher up perspective
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when you're on the train
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okay this post office
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there's a stick down here first i like
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i felt it i was like i hope that's not a
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snake but it wasn't a snake
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this mine not my car next to the my car
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is this post office
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from the town of avon colorado
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probably relocated they got the
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sprinklers on out here and there's a
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blacksmith shop over there as well
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see what's inside
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some old theater seats here
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as well as a stove
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and some sort of
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cooking mechanism
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or maybe a washing machine looks like a
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big ice you know
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ice cream
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hand ice cream machine but i believe
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it's probably for washing clothes
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we've got some church pews in here as
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well be tough to see through these
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windows because of the glare
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there are some artifacts over in there
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got a pie down there
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some cupboards from an old homestead
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an ironing board
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and some items you could find back in
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the back in the good old days
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in a general store
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quite an assortment of items there the
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train going by through avon is an
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overhead photo from the 1950s
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it's another photo from the 50s
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this is really cool this is from the
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1920s
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this is the avon store in the 1920s
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100
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plus years ago
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incredible
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there's another cart here on the rails
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go inside the blacksmith shop now
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a few items
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we make the horseshoes down there
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it says forge owned and operated by
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emmett
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nottingham and avon
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in the old west of course i think of
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back to future three dr emmett brown
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that wasn't emma brown's another emma
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but the old west 1885
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up on that hillside looks to be an old
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cabin
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a homestead
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way up there on the on the peak
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it's just kind of teetering there
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got a lot of rapids through here going
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underneath that railroad trestle
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i did have to dodge those sprinklers
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i was trying to go into the blacksmith
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shop
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in the post office
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that's where the walkway was the
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sprinklers were trying to get me
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i'm gonna go inside the barn now this
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free museum free admission to set on the
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side and here's a general layout of the
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land i am over here
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an eagle
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which shows elevation six thousand six
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hundred feet but you can see some of the
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other mountainous regions yes before
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even before calculators and then now of
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course with smartphones that have
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calculators on them
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there were
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adding machines
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very
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bulky adding machine almost like a oh
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i'm going to say paperweight but this
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would be a paperweight it's a sears and
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roebuck catalog there
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got the stamps
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and then have this item which would be
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like a cash register
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an underwood sun strand yeah it's kind
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of always interesting to think about the
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tools of the trade
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back in the day compared to these are
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saddles they still use saddles today but
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a lot of the other machinery has been
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updated and these are these are serious
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antiques through here
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oh look at this president gerald r ford
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and mrs betty ford
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enjoyed winter rides in this very sleigh
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veered off a bit onto highway 24 now
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i'm at some serious elevation in fact
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past a couple signs
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that said avalanche area
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over here is a mining town
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that is completely closed up
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all those houses
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that are over there on the hillside no
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one lives in them the whole thing is
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desolate and empty
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an entire town
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gone
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well the people are
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building still remain
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how fascinating is that
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and i would imagine even in recent times
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you could probably traverse down there
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there's a relatively new fence up here
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says private property a super fund
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site
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so i don't know if i'm gonna make the
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pilgrimage down the hill
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or not
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top of the rockies america's byways
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scenic byways
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now this says free entry
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this is quite the conundrum so is it
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free entry
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that has been painted here
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or
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do you abide by this i'm gonna go with
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this one
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looks pretty fascinating though this was
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the road into town
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old mining town down there
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what i'll do is i'll go back over
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to that lookout there's a lookout over
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there and i'll just kind of zoom in
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from a distance
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instead of hiking all the way down the
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hill
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i try to tread lightly when they say
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private property you just never know
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especially
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this isn't this is exactly my home turf
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this really is quite the gorge right
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houses and it's interesting that they're
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all still standing
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and then the factory and mill
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up there on the hillside
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all right gonna head back down the
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mountain
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just down the descent a little bit is
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another very beautiful area
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and a dirt road
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that says you're not supposed to go any
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farther down there's this building
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water treatment plant down that way
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it's called the eagle mine wtp
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the gate is open but it says do not go
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past
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this point
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there is some sort of old trestle there
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you got the wood decaying and whatnot
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but still standing
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there's some on that point and then
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there's also
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another part of the trestle way down
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and starting to descent now about an
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hour well 50 miles 60 miles outside of
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denver at the loveland basin
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way up here just saw some signs saying
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how are your brakes
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because there will be 44 miles
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of steep grades was letting the truckers
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know
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to put it into low gear i am just
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driving a car start to go down to into a
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low gear but i was noticing going up the
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ascension
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definitely my car was not struggling but
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you could definitely tell that it was
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going almost
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you know not straight up but at a pretty
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good
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ascension rate and now going to be a
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decent in fact that sign right there
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says
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five to six percent grades the next 12
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miles
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but for 44 miles
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all
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dissension going down
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thankfully it is you know just about
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summer well i guess technically it is
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summer
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not winter time
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because if it was winter time half of
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these roads probably wouldn't even be
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able to be traversed with the ice and
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snow
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listening to the radio
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whoa there's a
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sports car going by there
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listen to the radio they said too
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because of the elevation whatever you
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normally drink in water you want to
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drink twice as much water
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this area over here is just for a quick
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little stop
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no long-term parking just a quick check
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to
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either chain up in the winter time
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for the ice and the snow you put chains
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on your tires it's required in the
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winter time when the snow is thick
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or also this time of year or any time of
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year check brakes if your if your brakes
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start to lock up or heat up
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pull over here and make sure your brakes
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are good
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silver plume
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has a main straight
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and a post office and a saloon saw this
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exit and pulled over
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this is what i'm talking about right
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georgetown loop railroad
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here's the water tower
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looks like a train museum
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of some sort
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this kind of just popped up out of
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nowhere going down the mountain
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all of these vehicles are equipped with
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a snow plow on the front of them
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that's a renegade right there
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if you weren't paying attention you
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would miss this exit completely and not
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even know that this little village
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exists
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of silver plume
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a historic hotel called the windsor
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hotel
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sits right up here in very unique
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buildings here at the base of this
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ridge
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i really like this little town very very
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small
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just parked at the end of the street and
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i'm just walking walking down this dirt
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road
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imagine living here
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buying a house here
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with i-70 going by there at extreme
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speeds
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pay no attention to this quaint little
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town in here
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this is something out of a movie okay
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this states incorporated 1880.
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could there have been a bridge going
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over that waterway
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and the tracks went that way probably
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not because it would have
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went right into the side of the rock
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but maybe just doesn't look like it was
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placed here as a display
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this is the city hall
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okay this says 1886 the silver plume
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hose company
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this building
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this fence is made completely out of
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skis
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oh
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i'll slip on that rock
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all made out of skis
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that's different
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it's a good use of skis
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what happened to all the skiers
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that once owned those skis
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we needed well not neat imagine if those
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were found
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well that's actually not a good good
26:39
thought but
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the silver plume jail
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wow it was built back in 1875
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one of the chief 10
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tennis one of the chief
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ted ants
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that kind of threw me off
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one of the chief tenants was jack
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mcdonald the scottish miner previous
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owner of the 730 mine
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the jail closed in
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1915.
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i'm expecting saturday to be in here sad
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eye in here buddy
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you're incarcerated at knots berry farm
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but this reminds me of a place sat i
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would be
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i almost got the vibes walking up here
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if there was a place
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where i would imagine
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to see a vehicle like this
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with that on the hood
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i would guess this would be the place
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fits right in and at the end of the
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street the windsor hotel
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this thing is awesome
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there's dogs there
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hello pups
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hello
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all right back in my car now driving
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down these dirt roads here's the church
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building
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and more of the downtown area if i was a
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filmmaker if i was making a movie
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i would utilize this town
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i would imagine even dirt look at this
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the garage
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but this would be such a great movie set
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it ran out the town and even during the
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winter time with the snow everywhere
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would probably add to the ambiance even
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more
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you just see tim burton utilizing this
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town for something
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i don't know why just gives me those
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vibes continued on a little further
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now approaching the community of idaho
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springs colorado
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and right here off the 70 and this
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access road that i have
28:49
turned off of
28:51
is a former mine that's closed
29:16
plus she would have to scaffold over
29:16
that that
29:17
rusted out fence and
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climb over the river
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to get to those buildings
29:30
here's a nice little
29:30
relic off the side of the road
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oh prospector
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look at this thing
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so you got the shell on the outside
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which is probably
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concrete
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yeah it's like a concrete shell but then
29:49
you got the wood where
29:51
his arms were which has kind of fallen
29:54
to disrepair
29:56
this has seen some years
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that is something
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it's interesting that it was never
30:30
painted or if it was it's painted back
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to the beige now
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you know could have had the
30:37
blue pants on red shirt
30:40
colored bandana there
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hat
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maybe a brown beard
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it's just all beige all gray
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and i had something very interesting
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happen to me back there at the silver
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town so remind me of something out like
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you know be used in a movie and whatnot
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and that hotel
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there was a guy who was sitting on the
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stoop of the hotel and he said what are
31:09
you wearing a raised cap for i can't i
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am surprised someone out way out here in
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colorado be wearing a raised cap so i
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told him you know go to a lot of the a
31:18
lot of the games the team plays across
31:20
the country told her about a little tour
31:22
i'm on i do
31:24
things for youtube and travel around and
31:26
he told me that he was in the raise
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organization
31:29
for the montgomery biscuits that he was
31:31
just released from the montgomery
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biscuits and now he's just kind of
31:35
traveling a little bit
31:37
still going to be in the game but right
31:39
now is not
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with the rays and i said fun fact i have
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a montgomery biscuits hat and i went to
31:45
montgomery biscuits
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farm team game
31:50
and i also went to spring training down
31:52
in port charlotte florida
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he was there
31:57
what a small world
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what a really small world i thought it
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was pretty interesting i did not however
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catch his name
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which i should have
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but i figured that'd be too much just to
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ask because you know for whatever reason
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even though
32:08
i told him my name
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okay i failed on that one i didn't i
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should have asked his name
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and that's gonna do it for today
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checking in my hotel
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for the evening i have arrived
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in denver i'll see the next video the
32:22
vlog
32:23
is over