OK, what was so different about Colorado "back when?" (Denver: motel, trip)

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Well, no, I don't qualify. If first generation doesn't qualify, then my kids can't have them either. Apparently one's parents have to be from CO for you to be a "real" native?

i wonder what actual natives feel about all this. as in those with more asian (from bering crossing ancestors) than european heritage.

[suzco]

I've been reading some of the other western state boards, to hear what's being said. Check out this thread on the Nevada forum Lander County, NV. Is this preferable to what's happening in what used to be remote Colorado? Jazz Lover, your opinion?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by suzco

I've been reading some of the other western state boards, to hear what's being said. Check out this thread on the Nevada forum Lander County, NV. Is this preferable to what's happening in what used to be remote Colorado? Jazz Lover, your opinion?

Interesting thread over there in NV. I just had to add my two cents.

[suzco]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Gee, I guess you all won't be applying for a set of these then ( http://www.revenue.state.co.us/mv_dir/formspdf/2836.pdf ), which the State of Colorado was convinced to "sanctify" a number of years ago . . .

And, no, I don't qualify for them--I'm only a first-generation Colorado native.

Pioneer plates . . .
As far as I knew, when the pioneer plates were first issued, your forefathers (foremothers?) had to have been here before 1900. Reading the requirements now, your ancestors had to be living in Colorado 100 years ago; so now I'm qualified as a pioneer. Interesting. They came in 1906, from very foreign shores. Pioneers? Hardly. Refugees? Unquestionably.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by livecontent

I become Executive Chef at the Hilton Harvest House, the next year, 1980. Every weekend, there were parties in the gardens behind the hotel--Friday PM being a big day and when there was a football game--it was chaos. Newsweek or Time, I cannot remember did an article about the parties, telling about all the beautiful girls in danskin tops where dope was traded freely. ----- The next weekend, the local Boulder airport was packed with planes from all other the country, flying into to experience the events and the place was packed for weeks and weeks with jetsetters, yuppies and the leisure crowds from the world.

I remember those nights at the Harvest House very, very well.
But the years I hung out there were '76-78. Also the Mezzanine at the Boulderado. And Tulagi's. My danskin top was plum. Good times.

That native pioneer license plate cracks me up! And they say that Southerners are obsessed with who "their people" are. My mom was born in Denver but I am not sure her family is traced back that far.

[esya]

I don't know; it seems to be a lot more crowded everywhere. Me and my then-boyfriend went camping everywhere for years without reservations, without leaving midweek, and without planning. My favorite part of camping was waking up at dawn and bathing nude in the icy mountain stream. I just can't see that happening now without a long hike into a remote area.

I also supported myself for several periods with half time jobs washing dishes and doing contract cleaning in Boulder. I am just not sure you could do that now, either.

Once we took a canoe trip down the Green River from Green River WYO to the junction with the Colorado; we saw one other boat in four days. Now you couldn't do that now, for sure.

[esya]

Yep, we took a suburban over Engineer pass back when several of my friends were CSM (Colo School of Mines) students. We called it the "meatwagon" and instead of a bumper it had a 2 by 6 tied on the front, which of course started dragging before we got over the pass, and we had to keep stopping to tie it up.

I also remember my first summer job up in Slater, Colorado (a post office with ranches around it) and the long long drive up there in the spring, the lodge having a bat in my bedroom the first night, flying around my head. Also the first sight of the signs to the F.M. Light store, and another time taking the greyhound all the way up through Kremmling to see a cowboy boyfriend. I still think of that stop in Kremmling when I go through there--it was just the middle of nowhere back then, even more than now.

[esya]

Ok, I am hogging the conversation here, but I have to tell a "Native Pioneer" story I heard just last week. The guy who told it was the grandson of a Jewish immigrant. The grandfather came out with TB, and they think he died right after he got here, because they knew he came out, and that was all they heard from him. But the children of the grandfather immigrant were not born here, and neither was the grandson. Later, other family members came to Colorado and researched the grandfather's name and finally found him--not from the burial records in one of the two Jewish cemeteries, but finally from the City of Denver death certificates.

Well the guy telling the story married a real pioneer granddaughter or great grandaughter, only she didn't have any records to prove it. It really bugged the wife, because she wanted that license plate. So finally, for her birthday, he want down and on the basis of his own deceased Jewish grandfather, got her Colorado pioneer license plates.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by esya

Yep, we took a suburban over Engineer pass back when several of my friends were CSM (Colo School of Mines) students. We called it the "meatwagon" and instead of a bumper it had a 2 by 6 tied on the front, which of course started dragging before we got over the pass, and we had to keep stopping to tie it up.

I also remember my first summer job up in Slater, Colorado (a post office with ranches around it) and the long long drive up there in the spring, the lodge having a bat in my bedroom the first night, flying around my head. Also the first sight of the signs to the F.M. Light store, and another time taking the greyhound all the way up through Kremmling to see a cowboy boyfriend. I still think of that stop in Kremmling when I go through there--it was just the middle of nowhere back then, even more than now.

Funny you should mention Kremmling. I got stuck there one time in the 1970's in a horrific snowstorm--in September. A co-worker and I got what was probably the last motel room in town--all of the roads were closed in every direction. This "motel" wasn't really a motel, but a "motor court" of the type built in the 1920's or 1930's. It hadn't been modernized since. It had the original bath fixtures, carpeting, brass beds, the whole nine yards. The only "modern" touch was the television--itself a relic of the early 1950's with a round picture tube. It was a Super Crosley if I remember correctly (the Crosley Company was better remembered for building the first American subcompact car from 1939-52). We had to rebuild the wall heater in the room (also original) to get heat. As I recall, there was about a foot of snow on the ground in town by morning, and summer hadn't even officially ended yet--it was somewhere around September 17th, so summer had a few days left. Like you and your trip, I never drive through Kremmling that I don't think of that memorable trip.

[DOUBLE H]

With all the problems they are having in Fairplay with the ground blizzards, it reminded me of the Top of the World Cafe there. This was back in the early '70's. The only place to sleep there was on the floor along with about fifteen other people. We were lucky; at least there was a lot of food to eat. Ever been in a ground blizzard? Picture yourself in a bottom of a huge mixing bowl with the blender on medium to high speed and whipped cream is being blended. It is beyond bad.