Georgetown, Colorado

After the grey, dark and snowy day yesterday, we had a glorious sunny day today!  I had no appointments today so I made the most of the good weather and headed up to the mountains from Denver.

My first stop was to Red Rocks - an outdoor amphitheater built into the rocks about 30 minutes west of Denver (See Extra photo). It’s one of the largest and most popular outdoor venues in the world, built between 1936-41 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), one of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal work relief programs. 200 men at at time worked on the project, with the physical structure, stonework and terracing built by hand without the use of machinery.

I only remember going to three concerts here - Al Jarreau (in the rain!), Amy Grant, and John Denver who performed with the Denver Symphony Orchestra. All three were fabulous!  I wish I’d gone to more, but I was young and didn’t have much money in those days!

I continued to drive west and in another 30 minutes I was in Georgetown - a beautiful old silver mining town which gained prominence in the late 19th century after silver was discovered in 1864. The town Was nicknamed ‘The Silver Queen of the Rockies’. It is known for its Victorian architecture and Scandinavian influence. See beautiful short video of Georgetown here.

It’s been many years since I’ve been there and I enjoyed an afternoon of browsing, taking pictures and dining on homemade Italian food in the evening. It was such a beautiful day to be in the mountains but was SO cold - down to minus 19C at one point! I don’t ever remember being that cold in all the years I lived in Colorado!