Enjoy Meandering The Streets Of Breckenridge, But Mind The Meters

Breckenridge is a great place to visit, and I just love walking up and down Main Street, which is filled with 19th Century homes and commercial buildings, such as the one in the photograph on the left. And there are flowers and trees everywhere in that town. But make sure you pay for parking. They are pretty vigilant up there. When my sister Susan and I drove up for Oktoberfest, I paid for parking at the payment station and again at a different station when we decided to have lunch at the Gold Pan Saloon. When we returned to the car, the parking guy was scrutinizing the receipts on the dash, which showed we paid but was not in his system, due to the fact that I paid on a different block. All was well, since I printed out the receipts and put them on the dash, but I was pretty impressed with how closely they monitored the parking. When we drove down Main Street in Breckenridge just a few days ago on our way to Boreas Pass Road to check out the colors, I saw the same guy, ever vigilant, going from car to car. Talk about dedication. The moral of the story: always leave the receipt on the dash, even if it is optional. Never, and I mean NEVER, trust technology.

In any case, the Gold Pan Saloon, seen in the photograph on the right, started at that site as a tented structure called Long's Saloon back in 1861, with the permanent building erected in1879. In fact, this bar and restaurant has the longest continuous liquor license west of the Mississippi, which is saying something. The place was fairly empty when we arrived, but soon filled up with both visitors and locals. And was everyone there celebrating Oktoberfest, dressed in traditional Bavarian costumes? No - they were watching the Denver Broncos play the San Diego Chargers on the television. And of course, the Broncos lost to the Chargers at the very last second. Makes you want to head back to your remote cabin in the mountains and never return, doesn't it? At least until the following Sunday, when the Broncos play again. That's Colorado for you.