Lakeside and Ghosts

48°f/9.8°C, light clouds. A few showers yesterday, but it was another nice day overall, while at home it's already 77°, but low humidity, which I am sure is much appreciated.

There is a large lake just a short walk from Sarah's house, which provides water for Boulder and other cities and towns. This year, because og the lack of snow last winter, the water level is 60 feet below normal. 

It is Sarah's big German Shepherd Glen's favorite place i think. He loves tge water, and actually had 2 walks to the lake Saturday to take a dip! Can you see the happy boy?

Because of the low water level, we found all sorts of odd men's. The town of Dillon used to be here, but that entire town was moved when the dam was constructed to create this lake. The town moved once before, in the late 1800's,  when the railroads were being built, because at their former location they would not have had rail service!

This shows the impact of the low water--- the resurfacing of an old roadside, and a long, long expanse of gravel.

The clouds were gorgeous,  signaling incoming rain.

Later in the day, we went into town to visit a rock shop. What a place! Larry had fun with a dinosaur outside.

 

Then on to this replica dredge boat for dinner. This boat is built on top of an original dredge boat that sank here. These boats were used to dredge the river for gold, and millions of dollars worth was pulled from the river and its banks back in tge mining heyday. While we were eating, it poured rain on one side of the boat, but the sun was shining on the other side! Crazy.

Our tour guide, Gail Westwood, awaited us after dinner. She told three stories right on this spot, of violent deaths that occurred around the boat. Those were not easy days for miners.

A stop at a former brothel, where two of the girls formed a suicide pact and took poison. One survived, and her ghost lingers, filled with guilt that her friend died and she didn't. 

Our group of 22 had a long walk, and I was so glad that Sarah's boyfriend Andy went to get the truck at the end so we didnt have to walk the mile and a half back. There were stops at a haunted store, a doctor's  office, a restaurant (where Andy once worked and experienced the ghost himself),

and last, the very haunted Brown Hotel. Appropriately, lightning kept flashing behind the house as we stood there hearing tales of the dark deeds that went on in this place, and that continue to occur. The Ghostbusters TV crew was here once, but i could find no episode filmed by them.. 

I tried to get a couple photos of the inside.

Outside the hotel, this big guy looked pretty fearsome. 

The hotel is now an Airbnb,  and can be rented for $3000 a night. There are beds for 14, so maybe it would ve worth it for a group of ghost hunters? Bit out of my budget.

You can read a good article about the tour and Gail Westwood here.

Then it was home, and another early bedtime as we were all pretty tired, but what a nice day it was.

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