Journeys

On the trail
August 8, 2016

Serendipity: noun: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

It wasn't a huge deal for us; just a casual jaunt over to the Hayden museum to see what they had about Rosamond and Dorothy, the two New York socialites who ventured out to the Colorado wilds to teach in a mountain schoolhouse, and their mentor, Ferry Carpenter, who later became Rosamond's husband. The museum is housed in the depot to which the teachers arrived in 1916 for their year-long adventure.

At the museum we met Lindsay, a most voluble lady who knows her local history and that's where the serendipity commenced.

In the course of a fun conversation, Lindsay happened to mention that the Hayden Inn was just down the road; it was the dynamic duo's temporary abode before they ventured out to more rustic digs. Ah, a historic building of significance to the story, so search it out we must.

A couple of blocks away, we found the lovely structure complete with a lady out in the front yard along with Barnabas, a very large and loud canine. Better ask permission, I thought, before I start snapping pics: thus began a prolonged conversation of great enjoyment.

Christine and her husband, Bain, purchased the Hayden Inn years back and were so gracious to chat with us. In fact, I can safely say we all really hit it off, so the subject matter varied apace.

When we discovered that Bain is pastor of an Episcopalian/Lutheran church, Chris mentioned that he plays the keyboard at our home church. Ah ha, Christine said, or something like that: perhaps he would like to play at their St. Mark's Church of Grace on the morrow?

And sure enough, right there at 4 p.m.(ish) on Saturday, arrangements were made for us to be there or be square at 8 a.m. the following morning, after the señor familiarized himself with their order of service and did some work to learn the hymns.

Chris tried out the keyboard before the congregants' arrival.

Now that was some serious serendipity, for which we felt most grateful - how fun to get to know that gracious couple and to be so welcomed by the members of their congregation!

So . . . if Nancy hadn't loaned me the book . . . if we hadn't come here to follow up on the story . . . if we hadn't gone to the depot museum . . . if the woman there hadn't told us about the Hayden Inn . . . if we hadn't gone to see it . . . if Christine hadn't been out in the front yard . . . if I hadn't asked about taking a photo . . . if we hadn't started chatting . . . if I hadn't asked if they rent rooms . . . if I hadn't told her that I do Airbnb . . . if she hadn't then given me her card and explained that her husband is a pastor . . . if Chris hadn't said that he plays music at our church . . . if she hadn't asked if he wanted to play at their church. . . and so life goes.

We (don't) have liftoff . . .

A 6:30 a.m. launch for the hot air balloon festival seemed so awfully early, but we toughed it out and hied ourselves out there to see the takeoff. But what ho? Balloons laid out all over grassy park and no one doing a thing to get them airborne. Turns out an approaching storm front had put the kibosh on the whole affair. All that work of unpacking the huge apparati and no flight - too bad!

The balloonists were good sports; many of them proceeded to inflate while remaining tethered, so we all got to ooh and aah about the colors and patterns.

A pretty tall order to deflate those big boys.

What a mess! But we were highly grateful for the pancake breakfast prepared by the high school wrestling team.

Cousin time . . .

We don't often host overnighters in the trailer (actually, we've never hosted overnighters in this one), but we find it's working out well to have cousin Barb with us. She's driven up from her place in Dillon to troop around the countryside with us.

One loooong jaunt out to see the Elkhead schoolhouse (yup, back to "Nothing Daunted" again) was very nearly a bust. Private property it is, not only is it posted "No trespassing" but even the sheriff put up a sign to warn us off, so we thought perhaps it was best to behave ourselves for a change.

Nobody said we couldn't hike on down the fenceline, though, in hopes of a better gander at the building that we had only spotted from miles down the road. That worked fairly well; at least we got a little upcloser look and a photograph.

The Elkhead school is a handsome rock structure that has been maintained well.

The Elkhead schoolhouse is far up in the mountains, a good site that allowed it to provide educational opportunities for the children of homesteader families that were scattered far and wide. This is the view from its perch high up on a ridge.

Elkhead Mountains . . .

So we were stymied at getting up close and personal with the historic schoolhouse, but there remained all those mountains and canyons to explore, and we did our utmost to see as much as possible.

Bears Ears is a local landmark with twin peaks.

I had expected the schoolhouse to be in a more forested region; instead the surrounding countryside was sage spotted, but as we drove higher into the Elkhead Mountains, our gained elevation yielded forest aplenty - tall mixed-variety trees growing thickly together.

That area is purported to have the highest concentration of elk in Colorado. In addition, there are moose, too, so my hope was to spot some of those large animals. Instead, what do I get? Sheep . . .

Okay, no elk and no moose, just a measly herd (or is it flock?) of sheep, but oila - to my great surprise, we espied three sandhill cranes loitering near a high wetlands! A handy-dandy kiosk somewhere back down in the lowlands explained that California Park here in the Elkheads hosts the largest nesting population of sandhill cranes in Colorado, so I guess it shouldn't be all that unexpected.