54° here in Colorado this morning! It's been nice weather, in the 70s, while back at home it was 95° yesterday. Yuck.
Wednesday we spent some time in
Leadville, the highest incorporated town in the US at 10,119 feet above sea level. It's a charming place, lots of tourists of course, but also a lot of history.
This old school has been turned into condominiums and is for sale. Looked pretty uninhabited.
The town houses the
National Mining Hall of Fame, but unfortunately it was too close to closing time to explore. There were some amazing bronze sculptures there.
And a penny-smashing machine! I got one for my friend Elizabeth, who collects smashed pennies.
A sculpture of a miner reading his methane tester. While silver mining was the main reason for early European settlers to come here, there is currently a huge molydenum mine in operation that covers thousands of acres, not far from Leadville. This museum mainly focuses on the gold and silver mining history, but there is a gallery dedicated to Americans who were important in various mining industries.
There were many cute Victorian homes.
Inside a little bar, The Manhattan.
This is Anne, the bartender at The Manhattan, whose ex-father-in-law was part of the building of the huge radio telescopes at Green Bank, West Virginia. We had a great time talking with her about Leadville and about our state.
The opera house, an ornate and beautiful structure built during Leadville's mining heyday.
Great old ghost sign on the opera house.
Silver mining might have lead to the naming of this fantastic old saloon, The Silver Dollar.
I just drank water here, but had the most delicious treat, chocolate hazelnut beignets.
Larry had a beer and a long conversation with three construction workers at the next table, all military veterans.
The bar at the Silver Dollar.
It was such a cool place, with lots of memorabilia on the walls.
And this very ornate pool table. Those brass lion head legs!
I really enjoyed this quirky town, and hope to go back someday. Just so much to see!
Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.
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