The Motherlode...

We went to lunch at the Elk Creek Mining Co. Bar & Grill.  They have this burger called the mother lode, and they challenge anyone to eat 2 and 2 orders of their buffalo chips in 45 mins or less and your meal is free!
If you like meat you may be up to the challenge...I think my son JT could easily get his name on a plaque. 

Do you think you could eat this meal in 45 minutes or less???  Two Motherlode Burgers with 2 sides of Buffalo chips!  Not me I had the daily special and on  Thursday it comes with a $4 Mojito! 

so far there's 3 plaques, with 13 winners since 2008...

$4 Thursday Special Mojito Mom stuck with her favorite, coffee. 

Elk Creek Mining Co Bar & Grill in New Castle

the Basalt Chamber of Commerce is in this old RR Car

A few days later we took a drive east back towards Glenwood Springs and picked up hwy 82 south  through the town of Basalt and then onto the Frying Pan River Road, one of the prime fly fisheries in this area.  

not even the weekend yet

it was kinda overcast and it sprinkled on us a bit
 the road follows the river...

And then once we got up higher we took a dirt road off the main road to a spot where we had hopes of having a picnic...we love picnics cause it's a way for us to get out in nature and Mom can be included.

... it drizzled so we hung close to the van and ate...which was okay as we soon had some, uninvited but a 10 on the cute scale, company

and he brought some friends....

and they brought some friends...

Steller's Jay

"Hey, get back here with that bread!"

...back on the drive we found all kinds of   "aww" moments...like someone's hollyhock flowers

and Mother Nature's flowers adorned the Reservoir...

Ruedi Reservoir 

 My camera is still having problems the lens seems stuck a little and that is why the black circles are in the corners. Sometimes I take the time to edit them out and sometimes I don't...this is the Apsen Yacht Club Marina in the corner of the lake below...

We stopped at this day use area to use the facilities...a family was there paddle boarding...or something similar!

I think a couple of the kids had some problems!  LoL

got mud?

and they walked barefoot on gravel...OUCH!

We turned around in the settlement of Meredith....at the Post Office my sis retired from , it's extremely quaint...

then it was time to head home...

roadside pine siskins

...add our names to the mother-lode plaque of wonderful day trips!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Photos for this post from Google photos jthic Frying pan 2017

There's Gold in them there hills and reds, and greens ....

I'm very far behind in Blog reading and blog writing so forgive me..if I have a connection I'M so worn out  I can't type,,,if I'm all full of energy there is no connection!! SO one day Ill catch up..

I left y'all hanging At John Days National Monument....and on the second day of my explore there I headed to the Painted hills after a good but cold night on Baker Mt in the CG.  I took Hwy 26 West to the Painted Hill Unit OH and did I mention you get 3 stamps for your passport book with John Day..Probably did I just love the whole stamp thing its kind of like a geo-cache find! 

where I met a couple from Easley SC!! We both pulled into the parking area at exactly the same time LIFE is amazing..THE painted hills was my fav of the 3 units...I mean look at this! 

and this...

and SO much more....

Casey approved

the color is just vibrant...

then there is some various types of mounds...this is a clay soil when it gets wet it sort of dries with a hard shell and so it looks solid but it is very fragile..

the trees are amazing dead or alive!

some roadside sunflowers attracted some Pine siskins...they were so hungry they didnt mind a photo opt for me!

I visited the Painted Hills on Sept 18th so you can see Im way behind "real time" Im having a major adventure!!

I stayed on 26 West cause this nice fellow told me If I was headed to Mt Hood just stay on 26! So I did..

And I stopped that night near the town of Prineville, OR at he State Park on the Reservoir there...its very low as I could see every dock out of the water!! This was the dawn view from my campsite..ole Casey has me out early to get his walk in...we caught someone else having an early breakfast..

Flickr ate my photos

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.