Durango, CO, September 2013 - (Wolf Creek Pass; Durango& Silverton Railway)

Durango, CO, September 2013
Wolf Creek Pass; Durango& Silverton Railway

On our way to Durango, we had to go through Wolf Creek Pass
(10,857 ft).  When we approached it, the fog socked in tight, and
then the rain poured down in buckets, and as we rose through the
pass, it got colder and whiter; sleet that looked like snow and rocks
sliding down from the cliffs. Navigating a motohome with Jeep in tow
was quite an experience. It was an obstacle course! Did not slide,
 nor have any flat tires; WHEW!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Creek_Pass

The steam train from Durango (6500ft)to Silverton (9300ft)has been operating since 1882 

for both passengers and freight.The sounds and smells of a real steam train
are fantastic! The chuff-chuff and SSSSHHHHHhhhhhhhh and clanking are
simply grand! And the stops for water are fun to watch.
The route runs from Durango to Silverton and back, through the gorge with superb
 views down to the Animas River.  There is a long enough stopover in Silverton for a nice lunch
and a walkabout through the old mining town. Silverton's elaborate Victorian-era architecture
reflects the millions of dollars drawn from the earth during the mining boom of the late
1800's to early 1900's.

www.durangotrain.com/
www.silvertoncolorado.com

Taking on water that comes right from a stream

Downtown Silverton

The scars on the mountainsides and the mills and shantys

have walls that could tell many a fine story!

The scars of mining high up the mountains show that

every nook and cranny was explored in search of the

mother load!

We learned long ago that it is NOT possible to ride too many trains
NOR to take too many pictures!

Lancaster County PA - Discovering where we lived 2014-07-30

Lancaster County PA - Discovering where we lived for 25 years!

A dear friend named Sue from Illinois noted that she enjoyed our blog pics, but wondered when we would post some to show the nifty stuff about our home ground. Think about that! How often do you tour your own stomping grounds and take pics of the scenery and lifestyles that surround you every day? Well, here goes.......

For Sue

Lancaster County has more than 2,700 miles of winding country roads connecting small towns and villages, but there are main roads so often that it is near impossible to get lost. We often try to lose ourselves along these back roads among breathtakingly scenic farmlands, romantic covered bridges and PA Amish and Mennonite life, but have never succeeded!

A typical farmstead here has been home to several generations of Amish or Mennonite families, and they build more houses or add-on dwellings as needed. This one shows two large houses, a greenhouse, barn and silo to the rear, and vegetables for sale in front (garden to the right-front). There are several clothes lines full on this fine Monday, and the clothes tell that is is a Mennonite family as there are many colors and some patterns.

The average farm is about 50 acres. Their gardens provide produce to sell and preserve and eat, and the fields grow a wide variety of crops, such as wheat, oats, corn, alfalfa hay, soy beans, and *tobacco (*only the Amish).

Cocalico Creek Bridge number 2, built in 1892, 64 feet long, 15 feet wide, and still in use today. Lancaster County has 29 covered bridges, the most of any county in PA.

A country school, complete with outhouses, swings, tether ball pole, and a ball field (not shown).

And a pump out front.

The famous Green Dragon Market, open all year (but only on Friday)!  
http://www.greendragonmarket.com/index.php

Farm stand

Buggy tracks

The Ephrata Cloister, founded 1732.
http://www.ephratacloister.org/

Tobacco

Future buggy horse, in training

Oats stacked by Amish

Two large farmsteads

Denver Meats, Inc. (PART 2) - Makers of Hippeys Meat Products - The HOTDOGS!!!!! 2014-07-02

The HOTDOGS!!!!!

Here is the front-end process of making those wonderful  Hippey's Hotdogs!
YES! We had entirely too much fun.
Our thanks for the generosity of Sam and Ginger Hippey!!!

The meat is ground and put into a large square bin

that is placed on the hydraulic lift of the meat emulsifier

 Then it is dumped into the emulsifier

And the emulsifier churns the meat round and round

and you hear an amazing "whirr" that it makes

These are the high-speed blades that do most of the work 

Then the emulsified meat is poured into a huge bin

That you can see Sam pushing across the room

Where Sam hoists it up onto the hotdog machine

And he opens the trap door on the bottom of the bin

Ready to push meat into polyethylene casings

This is a shot of the entire hotdog machine

Nola (right), Sam (center), Deb (left)

The filled casings come out of the machine in a blur

And Deb loops the string of casings onto hooks

 Dallas hangs the dogs on the smoker tree

 

The trees are set in the smoker room

The smoker is loaded with six trees

And this is what a bunch of smoking dogs look like.

Last bunch of smoking dogs I saw were in a cartoon

where they were puffing cigars and such, and playing poole :-D

Yeah, sorta like this!

 Happy Trails Everyone!!!