Square Dancing

Give them a flat surface and a band, and let the square dance commence!

Country Church

Small churches are the backbone of small town America.

Lights over Delta

It can storm all around Delta at the same time, but somehow, the storms tend to miss town.

Class of 1997

So I am riding by this sign, and I think to myself; Nice of them to congratulate the seniors, but they just graduated, how can they drink?1997wait, that is 10 years ago..Perhaps they are using a old sign, and forgot to update the year..no waitIt must be that the class of 1997 is having their 10 year reunion! Yea, thats it, they are having their reunionin a bar.must be a small classToo much thinking going on, time to get the morning coffee before something goes really wrong in my mind.....so much thinking before coffee is dangerous.

Farmers Market

Nothing says summer like a farmers market!

Wedding Dress Sale

With prices like this, perhaps Delta will become the wedding capital of the world!

North Bound

Perhaps the best way to enter Delta is from the South, in the early morning.

That Time of the Year Again

Not all baths in Delta are done on Main Street, but this one was……

The Shady Side

As the sun began to get hot, the majority of the people coming out for the parade chose the shady side of the street as a place to enjoy the show.

Deltarado Days!

Every summer, the town of Delta throws a party called Deltarado Days. I have not looked into the origin of the event, but it currently manifests it’s self as various opportunities to eat, dance, play games, square dance, watch horses, mules, donkeys, and mud volleyball, enter a coal shoveling contest, or enter yourself in a parade for no particular reason except to basically say “Hi, I am hear”. Now I am sure someone will take this opportunity to explain the significance of the event, and I am sure there is a good history, but it looked to me a bit like an excuse to have a good time, and there is nothing wrong with that. It appears that it was successful! The highlight of this years parade was the Delta High School Marching Band, and they did sound good!

Sailors Delight

Not a lot of sailing around here, but red at night still provides some delight!

Canoe canoe in a canoe?

Grand Mesa is the worlds largest flat top mountain, and its top is covered with lakes. Grab a canoe and get out of the heat!

Down in the Valley

The ride from the high country into Delta is sometimes just straight down.

Plateau in Pastels

For a few days, the smoke from the fires in South Dakota made its way to Colorado, and had an interesting effect on the sunsets.

Found It!

I knew there was a lake in here someplace!

Another Day is Done

We are blessed with very interesting sky in Colorado.

Goat Heads & Hitchhikers

Yesterday’s shot was somewhat costly for me. I was out riding my mountain bike when I came across the drive-in, so I rode in. There is a type of thorn in this area known as a Goat Head, and even though I attempted to stay on the gravel, a number of them jumped on for a ride. I got about a mile away from the theater when my front tire went flat. I attempted to pump it up thinking maybe I could get another mile, but that was an exercise in futility. There were so many of these Goat Heads in the tire, I knew patching it was out of the question, and my wife was out walking somewhere, so I decided to do the same, walking my bike home another mile or so. By the time I got home, the back tire was flat, and when I changed out the tubes, the Goat Heads pictured were still hanging on to the tire!

As I walked my bike home, dressed in only the finest bicycle rider’s get-up, I was passed by at least 6 pickup trucks that could have easily given my bike and I a ride home. Now I was not sticking my thumb out, but did suspect someone would stop. One guy going the other way did wave, but alas, I guess my black mirror wrap around sunglasses gave me a “shady look” (pun intended) to all the others. It was a good walk, none the less.

So here is my question to you: When was the last time you picked up a hitchhiker or stopped to help some who looked like they needed help? Do you still do it?

Películas Silenciosas

Delta actually has 2 Drive-In movie theaters, but this one has been closed for some time. I have been told that it did all the movies in Spanish, which does of course limit your potential audience somewhat. In the days of old speakers hanging on posts, perhaps 2 theaters was the best option if you had a large audience that would enjoy the movie more if played in Spanish. It seems to me that with today’s technology, they could just broadcast a 2^nd station over the car radio. I love our old drive-in and would love to figure out ways to help them increase their audience, lest one day the land is worth more than the revenue it generates, and another one fades away.

Shade

The temperature in Delta has been in the high 90’s for a while now, and the sun is rather strong at this altitude. Getting out of the sun is necessary, and it looks like these old pieces of equipment got an upgrade just for this reason. The cost of new equipment can be the difference between profit and loss, so you tend to see a lot of older equipment still in use around here.

Not So Excited

After a long day of fun, not everyone was so excited that the Newsboys were on stage.

Iron Stomach

No, Dad did not try this

Musical Crosswalk

Now we just need a “Sing” “Don’t Sing” light!

Newsboys

A new free outdoor Christian music festival has started up in western Colorado. It happened in Olathe (15 miles south of Delta) this past weekend, and the headline band was the Newsboys. The Newsboys have been around for over 20 years, and the interesting thing about them is that their fame and fortune have not gone to their head at all. Midway through their set, the lead singer came out and gave an absolutely wonderful 10 minute talk on why they do what they do. I recall seeing them a number of years ago, and the way they ended that concert was incredible. One of their songs has a chorus that goes “Glory, Glory, Halleluiah, He reins”, and they got the crowd singing that very well. One by one, the band members slipped off stage, until it was simply the crowd singing, with no accompaniment. That went on for another 5 minutes or so until it faded away. That was the end of the concert. No bows, no encores, just a time of worship, to the One who was worthy of worship. My respect for the band was set in stone that day. They did not disappoint this past weekend. Well done guys.

Immediate Termination

Now the real questions is; Who does the terminating, man or machine?

Columbine at Home

Columbine are most at home where the air is cool and clear……I like to visit their homes! This family lives in Yankee Boy Basin, where we went for the 4^th of July. Ok, tomorrow we will head back to Delta :)

Dignified

Running around the in the rivers and the dirt made for one messy dog, so this forced bath was required. It is hard to be dignified during a forced bath, but she did her best! Thanks for taking this little side trip with us to Maggie Gulch. If you would like to see the complete set of pictures from that trip, check out the slide show section on the left side of the main DDP page.

End of the Road

The road ended, so the exploring needed to be done on foot. The ridge behind is the Continental Divide, an imaginary line that divides all rivers in the US. If a river is west of the line, it heads to the Pacific Ocean. If on the east side, it heads to the Atlantic Ocean. Our water heads to the Pacific. The clouds put on a good show that day as well.

Dreams

The high country is covered with what remains of the dreams of many men. At over 12,000 feet the miners of the 1800’s were so confident of the amount of gold ore they could produce, that they built this stamping plant to crush that ore for transport. I have no idea if they were successful or not, but it is very interesting to see what remains of their dreams. Click on the image to view some of the detail.

From Whence Does it Come?

Around 12,000 feet above sea level, the air is cool, the trees are gone, the plants hug the ground tightly, and the rivers begin. Silver threads that bring life to the valleys spring up seemingly out of nowhere. When you look at one of these by it’s self, you think God has done a miracle just for me, bringing water from the rock……….but then you look around, and they spring up everywhere……and then they connect. Two small threads combine to form a larger one, again, and again, and again. Suddenly the miracle is not something for your own amazement, it is something that makes life possible……but we get to see where it begins, and that is amazing.

Left is Good

Yellow signs are generally thought of more as suggestions, and not all suggestions are listened to…..I would suggest however that you consider taking this suggestion. Oh, and stay between the lines!

Delta is a great place to be based from an outdoor perspective. In that winter, spring, and fall, the area around us that reflects the deserts of Utah is a great place to play, but come summer, it can be a bit warm out there. It was around 100 in Delta Saturday so our focus moved from the deserts of Utah to the Mountains of Colorado, and we ventured down to Ouray and Silverton for a day trip of 4 wheeling in the high country. The temperatures were pleasant, the sun bright, the flowers blooming. I want to give you a complete picture of this area, so over the next week or so, I am going to share a bit of what we saw on that excursion. I hope you enjoy the ride. I know I did!

Rojo

Today is theme day, that the theme is "Something Red". Yesterday we were in the high country traveling with Rojo, and Ol' Blue, and it struck me that Red & Blue make Green. We saw a lot of green on that trip! Zoom in & check out the bottom of the windshield.

Rojo is a old CJ5 some friends own, that my Dad claims was driven off a boat at Normandy, but I think that may be stretching it by a couple of years :)