Falling for an Old Mining Town

When I have an opportunity to climb up from the foothills into the real mountains,

I can't wait to throw a jacket, my binoculars and a camera into the car and hit the road.

Fall is the best time to visit the mountains when the rocky hills are glorious,
dressed up in their autumn gold, and the air is crisp and the sky is brilliant blue.
Weekdays are ideal when most people are working and kids are in school.
Ain't retirement great?

We drove about an hour from Denver to the charming old mining town of Georgetown
nestled in rugged Clear Creek Canyon.
Georgetown is home to a large big horn sheep herd and are often spotted along the highway
but not today.

Soon, we  found ourselves strolling down picturesque side streets to see
some really outstanding Gothic Victorians.

Georgetown, dubbed the Silver Queen of the Rockies, features numerous original buildings
from the silver boom of the 1860s. 

This simple beauty is one of my favorites.

Wouldn't you love to have this pretty house with its very own rushing stream?

Stopping for lunch at the Happy Cooker was delicious . . . 

and made even better because it was warm enough to eat outside on the patio.
What a perfect spot to watch the world go by and imagine what it
must have been like 150 years ago . . .
ladies in their swishy long skirts and men shuffling by in heavy worn boots,
perhaps leading a tired burro laden with mining tools.

After lunch we strolled down the main street of Georgetown
and admired the famous Hotel de Paris.
This elegant European hotel, which opened in 1875, was built by a mysterious Frenchman named
Louis Dupuy. It was later revealed that Dupuy was a refugee journalist from Paris and London.

Although there are some shops in Georgetown, this town is more about absorbing
the history and beauty of a fascinating time period in the Colorado Rockies
when fortunes were made and lost overnight.

Further down the Main Street we saw an original 1870s grocery/hardware store . . .

and some stately architecture against craggy mountains, reminiscent of a western movie set.

As the sun began to slide behind the surrounding steep mountains,
the sound of the Georgetown steam engine called us into the hills
just in time to see it pull into the station. 

Visitors lined up for boarding.

The train makes it way past several gold and silver mines
on its way to the next mining town, Silver Plume. 

The sound of this massive steam engine chugging up the valley gives me chills
as I think of the miners who lived and died here in Georgetown, the Silver Queen of the Rockies.

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