Florrisant, Colorado - Rain, Hail & Sun

Friday turned out to be cold and rainy, so not much to report.  Kelly actually went in to work to finalize some paperwork for her job that starts in October.  She ended up helping out, so I just hung out and went through the exhibits at the visitors center and took a few photos when the rain let up.

Florrisant Fossil Beds Visitor Center where Kelly works

We did get down to Woodland Park to eat at Kelly's favorite Mexican restaurant. The skies cleared enough for us to see Pike's Peak for the first time since our arrival.

Jane with Pike's Peak in the background

Kelly and I were staying at "The Ranch" where she lived the previous two summers and where she'll be staying when she starts back in October.  It's a long ride up a gravel road, but the mudflaps we installed seem to do the trick.

Road to home

Saturday started out nice and sunny. We went over to the Claire's fossil quarry to try our luck.  Because of all the rain, the shale was very wet and crumbly, so it was challenging.  Kelly found a leaf fossil that she and the owner had never seen before, so she'll have the head paleontologist check it when she comes back.

Print from bear that ate the hummingbird feeders!

Kelly originally was supposed to go to a concert in Denver Saturday night, but there was an issue with the tickets so she wasn't able to go.  So instead a quiet night in Florrisant.

After finishing up some more paperwork at the fossil beds, we headed over to a new hot dog stand for lunch. The main restaurant in Florrisant had closed, so hot dogs sounded like the best thing available.  There was a flea market in the parking lot next door and we saw a bright yellow t-bucket hot rod there.  Kelly recognized it as Ernie's and we went over to chat.  Ernie is 83 and the local hot rodder. He has several other hot rods and uses a Corvette for his winter car. We had a great chat with him and he was quite impressed with Jane.  Kelly has a standing invitation to their car club meetings when she returns!

Headed down to Woodland Park to get some groceries for dinner and they were having several festivals downtown.  Kelly got a lot of thumbs up on the car.  Five minutes after we pulled back in and parked under the cover it started hailing. Thankful we weren't still out on the road, although this hail wasn't particularly large - but still...

As it often does in Colorado, the storm passed fairly quickly and we were able to take a nice hike and then grill dinner.

After a couple of restful days in Florrisant it was time to hit the road again tomorrow.