Miss Kettle's house in Westcliffe
Miss Kettle (one of my father's school teachers) had a house in Westcliffe.
We went up Round Mountain, a small mountain in the valley, and looked for garnets. (I don't think we found any).
From Round Mt. 1948 - Silver Cliff closest to us and the upstart Westcliffe farther away
We also went up Geyser Hill to take photos of the surrounding area.
From Geyser Hill - 1948
From Geyser Hill
One day we drove out to Willard Walker's ranch.
En route to Walkers
Willard had milking goats.
Mother and me with the goats at the Walkers
Willard was the son of one of the Evans twins - the other twin was married to my grandfather's brother. Willard had three daughters - the youngest one (Wildra) was my age. I am not sure what our relationship was but we became friends and were pen pals for awhile. Wildra still lives out there. While we were there, we took a trail ride.
Me on the trail ride
Beaver swimming in Willard Walker's pond
Trees damaged by beavers
Another day we drove up to Hermit Lake.
Old shack on way to Hermit Lake (our car parked beside it)
On the hike up there, I caught
Me with the garter snake I caught
a garter snake - I found that the snake can discharge a malodorous, musky-scented secretion from a gland near the cloaca.
Hermit Lake
My father took some photos across the valley - there was a hailstorm.
Hail storm over Wet Mountains from Sangre de Cristo
From Hermit Lake trail - family on right
Rainbow
When my grandmother's parents came to this country they bought property and established a ranch. After my grandmother married, and built their house, they moved in with her. We drove out to the ranch
On the way to the old Schwab ranch
Schwab Ranch house - our car with mother and my sister
Ranch House
Then we packed everything in the car and went back to the State Game Farm.
Daddy at the Tourist Cabins packing the car
- Next entry in the series 'Exploring the USA by Car': From the Uncompahgre Plateau to the Great Sand Dune Preserve in1948 - Ninth Post
- Previous entry in the series 'Exploring the USA by Car': Silver Cliff - My Father's Birthplace in 1948 - Seventh post
