Coming to Colorado? Take this chance to learn a bit about our State. Please feel free to make your own submission, subject to these criteria: Factual, Interesting, or Trivial. PG rated, Colorado related. That's it. Here we go:

• In Colorado, Princeton, Harvard and Yale are 'Fourteeners', not Ivy Leaaguers
• Out here in God's Country, 'overnight mail' does not necessarily mean 'overnight'
• Visitors who fear rafting because they cannot swim should not worry. Swimming doesn't help.
• In our high altitude and thin air, if you can grow a garden between June and September, go for it.
• Deer and Elk don't make for good hood ornaments. Drive Carefully.

Please offer your own submission....

JPS

 

Colorado's southwest corner borders Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, the only place in America where the corners of four states meet.

Colorado is the only state in history to turn down the Olympics. Denver was supposed to host the 1976 Olympics. 62% of all state voters choose at almost the last minute not to host the Olympics, because of the cost, pollution and population boom it would have on the State of Colorado and the City of Denver.

Colorado has more microbreweries per capita than any other state.

Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States at 10,430 ft. above sea level. Because there was lots of "silver" named towns at the time, the founding fathers suggested Leadville.

And finally....the world's largest natural hot springs pool covers 2 blocks in Glenwood Springs. And one of our rides goes there!!

JPS

 

Think all it does in Colorado is snow??? Well you guessed wrong! Colorado averages 300 days a year of SUNSHINE!

However, local ski areas recieve around 300 inches a year of snow. Thats 5.5 MINIs deep! It also snows somewhere every month of the year!

-Andy

 

One of only two Americans ever imprisoned for Cannibalism...

(from Wikipedia)

...
Packer was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He served in the American Civil War, on the Union side presumably in an Iowa regiment, but was mustered out due to epilepsy.

In November, 1873, Packer was with a party of 21 who left Provo, Utah, bound for the Colorado gold country in Breckenridge. On 1874-01-21, he met with Chief Ouray (known as the White Man's Friend) near Montrose, Colorado. Chief Ouray recommended they postpone their expedition until spring, as they were likely to encounter dangerous winter weather in the mountains.
In spite of Ouray's advice, a party of six that included Packer left for Gunnison, Colorado on February 9. The other five men were Shannon Wilson Bell, James Humphrey, Frank Miller, George Noon and Israel Swan.
At an unknown date, the party got hopelessly lost, ran out of provisions, and became snowbound in the Rocky Mountains. Packer allegedly went scouting and came back to discover Bell roasting human meat. According to Packer, Bell rushed him with a hatchet; Packer shot and killed him.

On 1874-03-06, Packer arrived alone at Los Pinos Indian Agency near Gunnison. He spent some time in a Saguache, Colorado bar, meeting several of his previous party. He initially claimed self-defense, but his story did not pass in court. During the trial, the judge is widly reputed to have said,
"Damn you, Alferd Packer! There were seven Dimmycrats in Hinsdale County and you ate five of them!" An alternate version of the judge's outburst is
"Packer, you depraved Republican son of a *****! There were only five Democrats in Hinsdale County and you ate them all!" Both versions are considered apocryphal.

In 1968, the University of Colorado at Boulder named their new cafeteria grill the Alferd E. Packer Memorial Grill, and even today students can enjoy the meat-filled "El Canibal" underneath a giant wall map outlining his travels through Colorado. In 1982 the university dedicated a statue to Packer, and graduate Trey Parker, creator of South Park, made a student film, Cannibal! The Musical, based loosely on his life in 1993.

Enjoy your stay in Colorado.

JPS

 

AAAMINI....sssshhhhh!

"Think all it does in Colorado is snow??? Well you guessed wrong! Colorado averages 300 days a year of SUNSHINE!"

That is for us to know.....!

Being a Californian transplant, I really can't say anything. Love it here! My MINI saw its first snow yesterday.

 

Jonathan, did I ever tell you that I worked as a cook at a camp in the valley right behind Echo Lake.
Is "Bo Jo's" still in Idaho Springs? Home of the Mountian Pie!
Hope we can make it.
Motoring Down Life's ever changing road, with a big smile on my face,

 

I like the fact about all the microbreweries in CO. My kind of place to retire to hopefully. Or at least visit a lot. Go west and motor. Dan

 

Yes it is.

 

and our Mt. Evans ride goes right by there. However, if you are a wing fan, the place to go in Idaho Springs (for that matter, anywhere on earth) is right next door...the TommyKnocker BrewPub ( www.tommyknocker.com ) and frankly "What is a Tommyknocker?" should be one of our very best trivia questions.

Anybody???

JPS

BTW, there is the Dillon Dam Brewery just down the street from Copper, serving Dam Straight Ale and Sweet George's Brown. They also serve Yo Han Bock (rich and thick and full of tricks).

Not to forget the Backcountry Brewery in Frisco and Pug Ryan's in Dillon, and the Breckenridge Brewery in you know where....serving Avalanche Ale and Oatmeal Stout...

 

MMMMmmmmm Beeeeeerrrrrr

 

Something to do with "coal mining?"

 

Yes, something to do with mining, silver in this case. A clue "...rarely seen, but were often heard singing and working..."

 

In the western slope towns of Palisade and Grand Junction there are over a dozen wineries. Last summer, MINI5280 members did the Palisade Peachfest & No Whining Ride, stopping at several wineries along the way. This year's Leadville Loop Ride goes through Minturn, near the Minturn Cellars winery, located next to Chilli *****'s. So, if you're heading into Colorado FROM the west, you'll drive right through Grand Junction and Palisade.

 

How about a ghost character and strange noises inside the mines???

 

" Tommyknockers are the Welsh and Cornish equivalent of Scandinavian elves, Irish leprechauns and English brownies. About two feet tall and grizzled, but not misshapen, they live beneath the ground and are most active in and around the mines. Here they wear tiny versions of standard miner's garb and commit random mischief, such as stealing unattended tools and food. "

Who woulda thunk...

JPS

 

Kind of like the "knome" on the Travelocity commercials eh.

 

More Colorado trivia:

The Eisenhower tunnel is the highest auto tunnel in the world. And it's on some of our routes for MitM!

Katherine Lee Bates wrote “America the Beautiful” after being inspired by the view from Pikes Peak. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Pike expedition.

 

The Smuggler II Mine near Aspen produced the largest silver nugget in the world in 1894. It weighed more than a ton.

The town of Marble, Colorado supplied the stone for the Lincoln Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington, and hundreds of other monuments and buildings.

Doc Holliday died of tuberculosis at the Hotel Glenwood in Glenwood Springs.

Buffalo Bill Cody is buried on Lookout Mountain. The Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave is part of the Denver Mountain Parks system. Nearby, the city maintains a small bison herd that sometimes can be seen from I-70.

 

or peaks above 14,000 feet high. The highest is Mt. Elbert at 14,433 feet.

Visible and viewable from Leadville, CO which is on a number of our rides.

Please enjoy our peaks.

www.14ers.com


Jonathan

 

jsouz,
Has anyone told you lately that you're appreciated???
Thanks for all your hard work with MITM!!!!!

 

considering I totally spaced out calling that day.

Yes, my wife and son say this kind of stuff. Others do too, such as my students and those who take my classes. Some of my peers do too. I always question myself however.

Bottom line, you made my day!

Jonathan