…and somehow it all works together.
We started out from lovely Boulder with a real accomplishment, finding Mork and Mindy’s actual house! That was exciting, let me tell you. And isn’t it just too perfect?
We then galloped off to Golden, Colorado, and climbed (via car) what seemed like a mile almost straight up Lookout Mountain. The hairpin turns were quite the thrill, but it was all worth it when we got to the summit and had an amazing view, plus the excitement of seeing the Buffalo Bill Museum and grave! Can you beat it?
First of all, the view. Lookout Mountain (not to be confused with the one in Tennessee) has a height of 7,400 feet, which is why you can look down on the Denver, the Mile-High City. And it’s a beautiful clear day, so we could see for miles.
The real reason for our visit was to pay homage to Buffalo Bill Cody, who died nearby in Denver. Lots of wonderful artifacts and pictures from his Wild West Shows. Can you imagine Buffalo Bill having tea with Oscar Wilde or entertaining the Parisians, along with Sitting Bull and Annie Oakley? Bet they all loved it.
His burial place was quite contentious. His widow swore that his dying words directed her to bury him on Lookout Mountain. However, people in Cody, Wyoming (which he founded), thought she was being paid off by the Denver Post. And North Platte, Nebraska, where he lived for years, wanted him back big time. At the funeral, his wife had an open casket because others didn’t believe it was really him in there. The grave stone confirms this was his choice of resting place. And they had armed guards and tanks there for years because Wyoming and Nebraska had both announced plans to remove the body. It wasn’t until his wife died and was buried next to him that they could put several feet of concrete on top of the tomb as a deterrent. The man was a showman way past the end. The funeral itself caused a mob scene on the mountain, and it remains one of the top destinations in Colorado to this day. Sorry, Wyoming and Nebraska.
The town of Golden is quite nice, and gives you a good idea of what’s important now in the New West. Get healed, guys! And you have to love a town with a statue of Adolph Coors in the center. We had so looked forward to the Coors tour, but they were closed this week. Bummer!
Then off to Denver, where tonight we meet Krista and Alan for dinner, who are so graciously parenting our car until next spring. We’ve been through 9,500 miles this trip with our faithful steed, and I’ll really miss her.
So this is almost the end of this round of our “See America” project. Stay tuned for one or two more. And if you had fun coming along, feel free to subscribe to this blog. There might just be occasional postings from New York and other places we encounter.
I saw on the news recently where Annie Oakley’s niece just sold her rifle for something like $250,000. I guess nothing is sacred other than money.
Glad the weather has cleared and we get some more of the wonderful landscape pictures.
I can’t believe the trip is almost over. Your daily posts are something I look forward to every day.
We will have to go back to old-fashioned email, but I agree – it won’t be the same. Thanks for being there every step of the way!
My grandmother saw Buffalo Bill. In Cardiff. Wales! ( See, the Welsh connection sticks with this blog almost to the end!) He set up camp in one of the city parks, She was very young but remembered the horses mostly. I guess he must have been doing shows as part of the tour, but it was the parade that impressed.
So now–after this amazing trip–what’s next for this great piece of writing?Are you going to shape it for publication? ( You could leave out the bits about Don’s yoga!) There’s so much interesting stuff here, told in your cool and witty style. So many connections too; not just the usual things about landscape and history but all the references you’ve pulled in about art, architecture, literature, movies, movie houses etc.
And you can always promise a Part Two.
Anyway,echoing Gail’s comments, thanks for the daily tonic.
An occasional NY blog would be just the ticket.
I promise to not let faithful readers like you and Gail down. I also promise that any posts will not include exciting news about what is going on in the office. That just really won’t compare to all we have seen.
Our plan is to definitely have a Part II next year, when we return to retrieve our car and explore more of the West. In the meanwhile, Santa is bringing me a new camera for Christmas, I hear, and I will have to try it out on New York.
Thanks for being a great reader!
So here is some interesting information for you. Don reports that BB (Buffalo Bill, of course) was in Cardiff on September 20 – 26, 1891, July 6 – 11, 1903 and May 20 – 21, 1904. Your grandmother went to Sophia Gardens to see the show, which would have also included Annie Oakley.
We are privileged to know you.
My thanks to the Cymraeg Society of Denver for this information. I reckon she must have seen the Farewell Tour in 1904. And in Sophia Gardens, eh? There’s posh.
We knew you’d be impressed.
In the immortal words of a young Shoeless Joe baseball fan years ago, “Say it ain’t so Jo.” I think it nicely sums up my feeling about the end of your trip.
Thata is not Anonymous up above. That is me. Did I push the wrong button?
Gail
Guess you must have, but it did provide hours of fun thinking about who wrote it. How did you guess I always wanted that wonderful line used on me – in a good way, of course.