US Hwy 285 in the San Luis Valley crosses the Russell Lakes National Natural Landmark. Established in 1975 in Saguache County, the site protects Colorado’s largest remaining bulrush marsh and provides plant and animal habitat in the increasing developed mountain park. Looking east from the “visitor’s center”, you might be able to pick out Great […]
Americana Music Awards 2018: We Can Do Better
Executive Summary: Jason Isbell won the Americana awards. Again. And he deserves it. The Americana Honors & Awards honored and awarded the toast of Nashville for 2018, as voted by the members of the Americana Music Association. I was once one—a member, not an honoree, by gosh. I still self-identify as an Americana fan… much […]
A Love Story for the Animas River
I remember the Orange Tang of the Animas River running through Durango, Colorado, and on down to Farmington, New Mexico, in August 2015. Where normally kayakers and fly fishermen joust with tubers, the river coursed with the mineral runoff of Silverton’s shuttered Gold King Mine, zinc, cadmium, aluminum arsenic, and iron hydroxides let loose by […]
Pagosa Rotary Independence Day Parade
I love a parade. I helped organize the Pagosa Rotary Club‘s Independence Day Parade this year. We put on a bit of a show for the tourists and locals alike. Like the Librarians and their carts, my personal favorite this year (and we kept them in front of the horses, too). .
Cloman Park
Archuleta County’s Cloman Park features 120-acres of passive recreation (plus a disc-golf course, but how active is that?) north of Cloman Industrial Park, tucked in behind Stevens Field airport. Take Piedra Road (County Rd 600) to Cloman Blvd and drive until you can’t drive no more. Bring your own water, sunscreen and good hiking boots. […]
Denver’s Civic Center Park
The Civic Center in Denver, at the intersection of Colfax and Broadway, is the beating heart of Colorado, stretching from the Colorado Capitol to Denver City Hall. The statue on the west steps of the Capitol Building is a Civil War cavalryman, dismounted with rifle in hand, in Memorial of the Colorado soldiers who fought […]
Modernism Overlooking Tradition
Pagosa Springs, Colorado, is a tourist town, and we want to encourage our visitors to stop downtown and admire the scenery…and our shops. Pagosa Springs also has a rich heritage and tradition as a Western, Mountain town, far from fancy modern steel and glass stylish architecture. The Town this last year dropped a pretty penny […]
Spring 1918 on the Western Front
In March 1918, Bolshevik Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers ending the Great War on the Eastern Front. This freed up Germany for Operation Michael and a last great Spring Offensive on the Western Front. The German Empire began their Kaiserschlacht on 21 March 1918, with the first of four offensive operations. […]
Winter 1918 on the Eastern Front
While the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in the October Revolution in early November 1917, their revolution continued to sport contradictions between the Old Style and the New through the Winter of 1918. On 1 Feb 1919 Old Style, Russia jumped forward to 14 February 1918 New Style, adopting the Gregorian calendar introduced in Roman […]
Kukla, Fran & Ollie: A Nation of Immigrants
Burr Tillstrom—the puppeteer behind the Kukla, Fran & Ollie children’s show—is my family’s claim to fame. I missed his centenary last autumn. Franklin Burr Tillstrom was born 13 October 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, and had an older brother Richard (1911-2008). Their mother was Alice Burr and their father was Bert Frank Tillstrom, a doctor. They […]