July 28-29, 2014 Crested Butte and Gunnison Colorado

We wanted to go up by Crested Butte and view the wildflowers, but there was no room for anything the size of our bus up there, so we stayed in Gunnison.

After leaving Salida we drove past Monarch Ski area over the continental divide at Monarch Pass.  We are staying at the Palisades Senior RV resort. No one under the age of 55. I loved that on their t-shirts they say ‘We’re all here because we’re not all there’. The resort is right next to the assisted living and nursing home too. Very handy. It is very quiet. It is not near a highway  and is between a canal and a pasture.  Here is the bus at Palisades.

For my birthday we drove up past Crested Butte to Skofield pass to see the wildflowers.  Crested Butte claims to be the wildflower capital of Colorado.The areas snowfall, soil, and unusual orientation and sun exposure of its mountains (many of which are stand alone peaks) conspire to create a rare profusion of flowers. There is a wildflower festival in early July, but the flowers can be magnificent well into August. It was raining and cloudy. The wild flowers were spectacular. This second photo has 4 bucks in it. The flowers are so deep you can only see their backs and heads.

Field of sunflowers. The old town of Gothic is now the site of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. It was founded in 1928. It utilizes many of the historic cabins here.

This cabin is named Paradise. Aptly named since it appears to be in paradise. There are supposed to be some great views of high peaks here, but they are covered in clouds today.

Fireweed, cow parsnip and sunflowers.  John and I in an alpine meadow of flowers.

Waterfall at treeline. This snow is avalanche debris, you can tell because there are full grown trees that were brought down by the snow.

Queen Anne’s lace in front of a pond near the pass. Queen Anne’s lace, larkspur, geraniums, senicio, chiming bells, green gentian flowers.

Green gentian, indian paint brush, larkspur, sun flowers, and more . We had lunch at this lake. John reserved a table for us. . . We had to hike to the lake, the road was a four wheel drive road, and was too rough for the Subaru.

Birthday girl in the flowers. On the way back we saw the East River meandering in the valley near Crested Butte ski area.

This is a view of the ski area. It has some very, very steep runs at the top. The bowl in the middle is called Outer Limits and you can hike into it. John is at the Eldo brewery over looking main street Crested Butte. It is a sunny place for Shady people it says on it’s sign. John did not care for the beer and he watered the plants with most of it.

Seems when you reach a certain age you are not just a princess, but a historic princess. . . John on a chrome bumper seat on main street.

Back in Gunnison John took me to Mario’s an Italian restaurant for my birthday dinner. What a great birthday.

Sky rockets, sign in the outhouse in Gothic- Save a Marmot, Close the lid and latch the door, chiming bells, queen anne’s lace, chiming bells and larkspur, yellow flowers, Caution falling snow and ice-maybe in the winter, sneeze weed and fireweed.