Our departure from our Wyoming campground had one funny moment. As I made a final run to the dumpster to drop off trash, I noticed this sign. Perhaps (a) the sign painter was trying to conserve on paint by dropping an “s”, or (b) the Dirty Boyz don’t like French words; or (c) someone flunked a spelling class…
Speaking of signs, I recalled this inspiring motel sign back in West Yellowstone…
Well, it’s happened again… we have fallen in love with another neat place. This time it’s Steamboat Springs. We arrived to a warm, sunny welcome in this north central Colorado ski town that advertises itself as Ski Town USA and Bike Town USA. We took a recon walk along the Yampa River Trail through town, and Suzanne was thinking about a swim, but had forgotten her suit.
Steamboat Springs is named for one of the many hot springs that dot the landscape here. That particular spring made noises like a steamboat. The most aromatic spring we discovered was Sulphur Spring, and its rotten egg odor reminded me of a high school chemistry experiment gone dreadfully bad.
Walking down the main drag, Lincoln Ave., I thought about booking a room at one of Steamboat’s classier motels…
Our walk took us past an industrial area on the river. This dilapidated, abandoned warehouse caught my eye; I found it intriguing, if not very pretty.
We also discovered the Chief Theater, Steamboat’s downtown performing arts center. We got two of the last tickets available for Duel of the Strings II, featuring cellist John Sant’ Ambrogio and guitarist Mak Grgic, along with the Steamboat String Quartet. It was an amazing evening of world-class classical music. Both John and Mak are absolute masters of their instruments, and we felt fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend their superb performance.
As many of our readers know, Sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis pratensis) are common back in The Villages, our home town in central Florida. I didn’t know that they were also visitors to the Yampa Valley. In fact, there is a Crane Festival here next weekend. Unfortunately, I encountered one belligerent member of the species right on the trail. My Lovely Bride cautioned me about getting too close to the aggressive avian, but alas, I ignored her advice. (Is this also a recurring theme?) You may have noticed that I added this photo to others of my daring interactions with wild animals on the blog’s banner above.