A Visit To Central City

My sister Susan and I, along with her dog Blackberry, drove up to Central City yesterday afternoon. Central City and Blackhawk were both gold mining towns established in 1859, and located 35 miles west of Denver by way of Clear Creek Canyon. Gambling was legalized in those two communities back in the 1990s, which resulted in Black Hawk becoming a mini–Las Vegas, while Central City, due to zoning restrictions in its historic district, was not able to attract the larger casinos, and thus able to retain much of its 19th Century charm. The Teller House (on the right in the photograph on the left), and the Central City Opera House are two of the city's most historic buildings.

Happily, Central City still has some very nice Victorian era homes, and feels like a small, old-time mountain community. Black Hawk, on the other hand, also has some historic structures, but most are squeezed between huge modern casinos, detracting from the ambiance. While we were there, cars were lined up to get into the casino parking garages, while in Central City, the streets were mostly empty, with just a few people walking around, checking out the downtown shops. Of course, by then it was starting to snow, and pretty cold, too, which is always a negative to visiting tourists.

After touring Central City, we were planning on driving north on the Peak to Peak highway to Nederland, which was a popular town for hippies back in the 1960s (they are all still there, by the way, but much older). However, the higher we went, the harder the snow fell. After about 5 miles, the roads became snow packed, and so we decided to head back down to Golden, where it was much warmer, with no snow in sight. It is just amazing that Denver is suffering a major drought and has had virtually no snow in April, while just to the west, it has been snowing like crazy. That is the joy of living in Colorado, I guess.