This morning found us at Sweeties in downtown Salida for breakfast. Then out to pick up Cristin’s car so that she could head on her way. We had a nice chat with Ken Shivley as we kept our car at their place. Then we said goodbye to Cristin and Heather and I ran into the forest service office in Salida where we said a quick hi to Stephanie Shivley before she had to go into a meeting. It was great to see them both and to hear a first hand account of Stephanie’s first deer hunt! She got the doe with one shot! Way to go Stephanie!!
Then Heather and I ran to Safeway in Salida for some food for the next several days. Cristin you will be proud I bought baked peas ;). Then we headed south via Cotopaxi to Westcliff. On our way we stopped at the Beckwith Ranch Site along Hwy 69. It was super cool. Again a great job of restoration by local and state groups to get it back in condition and keep using it. Absolutely a must see stop. Very interesting the English heritage of the valley. And the building are so cool! I love old buildings and houses because they just have so much character! We pay so little attention to the visual impact of our buildings today in an effort to save money and take so little pride in the details. This place had it all. Including the setting! After finishing our stop there we poked around Westcliff for awhile since neither of us really had ever spent much time there. Then we began looking for a campground. The forest service campground we ended up at was $18/night. I had searched for campgrounds around Westcliff and found the Grape Creek Campground for $20 and it had showers! So we stayed there. Super cute place. Love the setting surrounded by hay fields and cattle with the mountains in the background.
