Our first mountain trip of the year was to Salida and Buena Vista. BV seems to be more popular, or rather more chic, but we preferred Salida. Salida is much cuter and there's a lot more to see and better places to eat.
We started the trip with a visit to the Jumpin' Good Goat Dairy in Buena Vista. We didn't know what to expect but thought we'd give it a go and it was great!
First they take you on a little tour of the farm and dairy and we got to meet the goats and other animals.
Then they took us out to the pen with the "teenage" goats who are a few months old so that we could feed them. They were hilarious! They would jump over each other to try to get to the food and they made so much noise!
After that they took us to the pen with the babies who were darling. We were walking around amongst them and they tried to eat my purse and some ladies skirt.
And this little guy kept trying to eat Dave's shoe.
After that we were going to see the Llamas - they have guard llamas! I had no idea there was such a thing but there are llamas that are bred to be guard animals and they will protect these goats. Sadly, a storm was coming in and it was freezing(!) and we didn't have our jackets with us (still trying to remember that Memorial weekend is NOT quite summer yet in mountains) so they ended the tour a little early. They took the group into the shop so we could sample the various goat cheeses they make. It really was a fun little stop and would be loads of fun to come in the spring with kids so they can see the baby goats!
Next stop was to St Elmo ghost town. St Elmo is but isn't a ghost town. The town never fully emptied and there are a handful of people who still live there. The general store is open for business and there's a hotel you can stay in. I was really excited to visit a ghost town so imagine my disappointment when we pulled up and saw this:
Why is the main street a dang parking lot!?!? It broke my heart because it really just takes away from the feeling of it and the experience.
Nevertheless, we walked through and looked at the remains of the town and I do so love looking at the old buildings and trying to imagine what life was like in this remote mountain location all those years ago. They had to have been hearty souls to live up there!
Thankfully they do have this little street roped off for foot traffic only.
We went to read at a lake one morning. It was really cold (for which we weren't prepared - are you starting to see a theme here?) and the lake was sorta meh but it was nice to just relax.
I decided we needed to go find another ghost town so we headed out to Turret. We traveled a long way on lonely, dusty dirt roads. At one point we were climbing a hill and you know when you're at the top of a roller coaster and you can't see what's coming at all? That's what it felt like! We were at the top of this hill and couldn't see what was coming at all but as soon as we crested the hill the panorama was just breathtaking! This picture doesn't do it justice at all but you can see that there are mountain ranges in all directions. It was majestic!
We drove on for quite awhile longer and were wondering how in the world the miners got up here with horses, donkeys and wagons! It was quite a trip with our SUV. And this isn't even on the 4-wheel only map of ghost towns!
We found Turret and it turns out that it also never emptied out of people really but this town is interesting because people have built their new homes in such close proximity to the ruins. You can see someone's new home on the left in the background of this picture. Others were even closer - they could reach out the window and touch the old house. Apparently some of the residents are descendants of the original miners and setters.
We wandered around Salida which was fun but it was also odd because it was like no one has told them that the summer season has started. Several of the shops were still closed.
They have lots of beautiful old buildings.
And some massive trees in the park by the river!
It was a much needed break and we were happy to be back in the mountains! Exploring the mountains with Dave may just be my favorite part of summer!
