Day 14: Second rest day in Frisco, CO

Today I spent another rest day in Frisco.  Before recounting my day, I want to tell you about the rather unique hotel I am staying in.  I am told The Block Hotel & Commons is modeled after a European Hostel.  I recognized bathroom fixtures of the same type as ones I saw at my daughter’s apartment in Zurich Switzerland.  It is built out of stacked shipping containers, although you only see evidence of that in some rooms and spaces.  The hostel model consists of small rooms with bunk beds and shared bathroom, or with an in-room bathroom, and numerous large common spaces and a common kitchen.
The main common area in the lobby

An upstairs common area

Some of the guests that are here for extended stays store groceries and cook in the common kitchen.  The hotel is adjacent to the Blue River and there are recreation paths on both sides.   I walked back to Enza’s for breakfast along the path and sat out by the river as I ate my breakfast.  
The path with Aspen trees along it

The Blue River
At 9 I met Ellen for a guided tour of the area surrounding Frisco.  We started by driving around the lake to the town of Dillon.  Here is a view of the lake from the side opposite where I was on Monday.  The low water level is not as evident here because it gets deep quickly.

Dillon lake as seen from Dillon
From there we drove up to the town of Montezuma, which is an old mining town that has a little bit of a “Deliverance” feel to it.  Then we drove up to Loveland Pass.  Curtis has ridden up to this pass, but I am glad I wasn’t riding. We got out of the car and walked up to an overlook, and I was winded just going up some stairs (note the altitude in the sign).

The top of Loveland Pass

The Rockies really are stunning.  In some ways they are similar to the Swiss Alps, but the altitudes are much higher because the valleys are higher.

View from Loveland Pass

From there we drove down the other side to the town of Georgetown.  This is an old west mining town nestled in a narrow V-shaped valley that has been meticulously preserved and restored.  The museum there had one of the earliest electric washing machines.
Electric washing machine from the 1900’s

We then drove to the Guanella Pass summit, which is above timberline and has lots of hiking trails.

Guanella Pass Summit

While we were up that it started to snow!  
After my tour I had a nice dinner in the town of Frisco with Curtis and Ellen at one of their favorite places.  Frisco is a small town, so in each of the three restaurants I went to with them, they were recognized and greeted by name.  I learned a lot about the area and life in a small town from them.  It was a very nice visit and a good two days of rest.
Tomorrow I set off again on my TransAm journey, rested and rejuvenated. Stay tuned…….




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