Friday, June 15, 2012

Tin Cup

More from our vacation. . .more to scrapbook :D
One of the afternoons my husband wanted to hit one of the mountain lakes just up the road from where we were.  I decided I'd like to join him.  So the kids, the dog, DH's brother, his two kids (who aren't "kids" since they're in their 20's) and their two friends headed up the long dirt road about 14 miles up from the Trading Post.
Outside the Trading Post where we were staying I found some real estate listing for cabins in the area. . .passing up the 1.2 and 3.4 million dollar listings, I found a cute and very old, like 1880's, cabin up in Tin Cup.  The kids and I immediately started fantasizing about summers spent up there.

You go through Tin Cup to get to the lake.  Tin Cup is an old mining town that once boasted a population of over 1,400.  It sits at an elevation of about 10,000 feet and is only accessible during the summer months, unless you have a snow mobile and are made of hardy stuff - this type of area would see dozens of feet of snow in a regular year.  This year the drought has hit the area hard.

Driving up to it, it looks like a Ghost Town.  High elevation bushes grow close to the road, most of the cabins are shuttered and solidly closed up - 2x4's cris-cross the front doors.  Then you look closer and you see some of the homes are opened. . .colorful flowers hang on patios and in buckets.  Curtains visible through the windows.  Clothes are blowing in the breeze on clothes lines.  Neighbors chatting or walking dogs.  I imagine as the season gets on a little more the little town buzzes - after all the church/town hall has a family night every Tuesday.




The townhall built in 1902.



The views coming back out of the little town were amazing; 180 degrees of peak after peak almost rising directly off the valley floor.  The range includes a couple 14-er's.  They are oddly nude this time of year, when a decent amount of snow usually caps the peaks.


I'm off to find a recipe for tonight and de-bone (a first) some chicken thighs. . .thank you YouTube.

Happy Friday.

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