The last official day of GSE tour of Colorado 2009

Emma says: A momentous day for the GSE team today as we finished our last day of official duties for the GSE trip. Our only real obligations today were to the Redlands Rotary Club for lunch, where we enjoyed our last presentation and some fabulous company.

Outside of that, we had the day to spend as we wish, which meant shopping in the morning followed by a bit of R&R in the form of bowling this afternoon, dinner at a local brew pub called Rockslide for dinner and then attending the Colorado Pro-Rodeo Association Finals this tonight.

So this is the end of our Colorado experience... We’ve driven across, alongside and through the Rocky Mountains, and we’ve rafted the Colorado River. We’ve travelled by planes, trains, and loads of automobiles. We’ve eaten the best that Colorado has to offer in fabulous Palisade peaches and Rocky Ford melons, and the worst in Rocky Mountain oysters. And we’ve eaten A LOT of Mexican food! We sampled many of the wonderful brews made in Colorado and some of the wine.

We mingled with celebrities in Telluride and then became self-proclaimed celebrities, gracing the front pages of many local newspapers and even appearing on a local radio station! Between us we’ve seen a bear, a skunk, some coyotes, and loads of deer and prairie dogs. We attended a film festival, 2 rodeos, and celebrity fly fishing tournament. We’ve fished (badly) and bowled (badly – for the most part). We made friendships within the team and within Colorado that I hope will last longer than the extra kilos I am carrying home!

I can’t speak for the team but this trip has definitely impacted on my life already. There is no doubt the vocational visits I’ve had here will influence my future career, and I have met some wonderful people and seen some amazing things in a place I may have not otherwise visited. The GSE program is truly a jewel in Rotary’s crown, and we are all very lucky to have been a part of this trip.

Words can’t express our gratitude to those we have met during our time in Colorado. Our host families, vocational counterparts, and everyone else who have taken time out to make our stay memorable, have all been brilliant. I have been constantly amazed at the lengths to which people would go to help us out and make things happen.

So as the GSE team head our own separate ways, we say a big thank you to Colorado and District 5470 for hosting us on this amazing experience. As Mandy says in her presentation, we believe we live in the best address on the planet, but after the experiences of the past 5 weeks, Colorado definitely ranks a close second!

Michael 17th August in Grand Junction

An early start with Grand Junction Sunrise Club for our presentation and after breakfast we went up to Colorado National Monument which preserves one of the grand landscapes in USA's west. This plateau and canyon country is brilliantly coloured with towering columns and deep canyons. Lunch was at the golf club and afterwards we were off to No Thoroughfare Canyon for a 4 mile walk. The sign said 1.5 hours one way - well we did it in 1hour! No wonder Angela has lost 3kgs, she was the pace setter! This walk was the ticket just to get our legs and heart working!
After all our eating and talking, back to our hosts for a change of clothes and out for another party, as usual the clouds built up and a lightning display but no real rain, the same every night. Food and drink was laid on for us, its a wonder we are not all a bit heavier, but some are still the same weight as we started or lighter.

Ang says: What a Shocker.... I think Michael was tired when he wrote this blog, I have added a picture for him.
Since I have been here I have wanted to go Ten pin bowling, today is the day Aussie's vs Yanks, hopefully we wont let our country down and Emma will have good news tonight when she reports in..

A special day for Rotary in Grand Junction

After our morning in individual vocation's we all meet at Rotary for lunch, this was a different day as we did not have to give a presentation instead we celebrated their birthday they had turned ninety, they had three members that have been in the club for fifty years, they had some stories to tell. This was a large turn out with many visitor's.

After lunch we visited Western Avation a non commercial airport that repairs and refurbish aeroplanes. It was interesting to hear how expensive the planes cost, one plane that we were able to look in was 18 million dollars and six thousand dollars a hour to run, well i wont be buying one for a while.

We all have a breakfast meeting in the morning and will be spending the evening home with our host families and enjoying their company.

UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!!! - Mandy - 15th Sept

Let me start this blog by pointing out that my Title is not referring to sights or anything like that. Noooooooooooo instead I am refering to the fact that this afternoon whilst at a winery I was not deemed to be over 21 unless I could produce my ID (which I could not as it was with the rest of my luggage which had been taken away.) So I had to sit an WATCH the other 5 people (including Michael - who doesn't DRINK) taste wine. While I sat in the corner sulking about not being able to try the wine, I was feeling torn over the fact I couldn't taste it but also that had to be asked for ID and they might actually think I might be under 21 - which under any other set of standards would be good. (Photo taken by me sitting sulking in the corner - it is of all the others wine tasting.)

Anyway I have been side tracked here (obviously I am still cut up about the experience.) The day was an early start - presenting at our Rotary presentation at Glenwood Springs 0700hrs this morning. We then quickly wetn home and packed out stuff. On the way out to Grand Junction we stopped off at Storm King Ridge (I think that is what it was called) - anyway about 18 fire-fighters died there. Great hike. We then moved onto Palisade - where we had lunch and did a tour of Talbots (family business which grows peaches, apples, pear, plums, grapes.) After that we moved onto a winery (which you have heard my version already).

We then met a number of Grand Junction Rotary members at Cliff and Teresa house for drinks and nibbles. Busy day of tours, Rotary meeting and vocational visits tomorrow so I had best finish up this blog for today. I have just worked out this ISN'T my last blog. @#$^&* - Damn it, I was sure it was - oh well you are stuck with one more from me.

Summer in the snowfields (Aspen, Snowmass...)

Emma says: A brilliant day for the team today. We started the morning with a vocational visit, and I was lucky enough to visit the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) which was founded by Amory Lovins who spoke at the District Conference on Saturday night.

RMI is a non-profit organisation which aims to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by promoting solutions which are economically attractive to governments and big business. They are also involved in consulting to organisations on sustainable solutions for towns and buildings. I had an incredibly interesting morning discussing some recent projects RMI have been involved in, including a recent green retrofit of the Empire State Building in New York and some energy efficient car designs. I was also lucky enough to get a tour of the home of Amory Lovins, which formerly doubled as the headquarters for RMI, and is considered a shining example of a green residence. The building contains all natural heating and is home to several banana trees which are now producing their 29th and 30th banana crops - not bad for a home located just outside of Aspen and subject to temperatures around 0C for a lot of the year!

For the rest of the day we were hosted by some of the guys from Snowmass RC who were a good laugh and out to show us a good time. Snowmass is just up the road from Aspen and the largest of the ski resorts in the area. So we bundled into 4-wd vehicles and headed to the top of one of the local peaks, known as Elk Camp, driving 'paths' that were near vertical at times. The view was spectacular, and provided a stunning view while we enjoyed a picnic lunch at 12,000 feet. I don't think I was the only one imagining the slopes covered in powdery white snow - I will definitely be back to this part of the world!

On the way down the slopes we stopped for another brief yet unsuccessful fishing attempt in a small lake (possibly time to give the fishing a rest!), then we headed into Aspen - woohoo! Aspen was great but our time there was brief. We got a tour of some of the local homes including that of Jack Nicholson. This town is beyond belief - US$4-5 million will get you the most basic property!

A quick drink at a local establishment, then the obligatory t-shirt run (and magnet for those at work who are wondering!), then we were back into Snowmass for a small reception with some more of the Snowmass gang. Having irresponsibly gourged ourselves on fabulous nibbles we then also had dinner with our hosts back in Glenwood Springs at one of the fabulous brew pubs that Colorado has to offer.

So with my gut aching once again from over-indulging, tonight I find myself packing for our trip to Grand Junction and the last of our stops in Colorado on what has been an incredible trip.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, not long to go now..
Today was rest day which means we have no rotary commitments and no GSE shirts Hey..
We started with the hot springs so I thought but everyone was waiting at the Vapour room across the road, well they found me so it doesn’t matter. The vapour room is a natural sauna it was so hot, I lasted 30 minutes before I had to get out, I thought I would lose all fluids from my body, the rest of the team was stronger than a I, some stayed and enjoyed a massage others went to the hot springs, this hot springs is the largest in the world. After soaking for a couple of hours we were then off to a treat not everyone would receive.
Steve the coordinator (Mandy’s host) for Glenwood Springs took us out in his aeroplane, this plane was built in 1968 and is a single engine that seated 4 people it was amazing, Steve has flown planes since he was 19 and was something to remember.
As the day rolled on we had a traditional thanks’ giving dinner at Emma’s host family, it had all the trimmings and I have all the pictures to prove it. The tradition is to feast until you can’t move a lot like Christmas except American’s do it twice, We were then given gift’s to celebrate the good friendships that we have made.
Early day tomorrow and we all have a busy schedule for the next week hopefully we will make it out alive

Michael 12th Sept. at Glenwood Springs

G'day, Well the day started with a hurry as we arrived at the 5470 District Conference early, but we were one short, we were introduced to the district. The team then went through the presentation to make some alterations to tailor it to the people at the conference and reflect what we had done and seen over the past 4 weeks. After lunch the team made a small presentation of Aboriginal paintings, banners , pins and District Governors present to both the District Governor and the Coordinator of our trip. Our presentation was not until 2.45 so a long wait, however the outbound team to Australia arrived and we had a long talk with the team. The presentation to the district was a breakout session and about 20 people came to see and hear us it made for a very informal session, with time to ask questions during our presentation and after to really get into GSE teams, what it is all about, and what we got out of our trip. An aside was being able to catch up with people we had staid with and to revisit through them our past 4 weeks. Home for a rest was the order of the after noon as we had the the formal dinner in the evening held at the Hotel Colorado, district presentations and a speaker Amory Lovins, he is the chairman and chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a MacAurthur Fellowship recipient, written many books on energy efficiency, renewable energy. His talk was on the global warming and energy efficiency in vehicles, electricity and industry and how theses will save industry money not cost more money and how governments should reward efficiency not wastefully practices. He was a fantastic presenter and the whole auditorium was captivated by his presentation

Friday Sept 11 (a day we all remember)

"MANDY AGAIN" I hear you say - well sorry (there is a sign in a Durrango shop which would make for a perfect response to any comments like that - and we girls like to use for each other when there is a little bit of whinging going on.)

Anyway I will get to what we have done today. Early start for everyone this morning - Angela was up at 0500hrs and the rest of us weren't too far behind getting up between 0530 and 0550. It was a cold morning - recording under 0 degrees Celsius.

We left Gunnison at about 0700hrs and after quite a few photo stops on the way we arrived in Glenwood Springs at about 1030hrs. On arriving at Glenwood Springs we had the great fortune to go white water rafting - which was sooooo much fun. Of course a couple of us - played hard at the rafting and suffered nearly deadly injuries (joking - I had a fingernail bend back quite a way and it was bleeding for the rest of the trip and Angela hit the deck on the rocks before getting in the boat - slippery shoes. But battle wounds always make you look tougher than the rest - of course that is after the event).

After rafting we all experienced hypothermia whilst sitting in our wet clothes having lunch -because all our 'after rafting warm clothes that we had set aside' - had been dropped off at our host houses so we had nothing to change into - (Steve you had to know we couldn't do todays blog without mentioning that!)

After lunch we went our separate ways - Angela did a vocational visit, Emma and Michael went off for a tour of some caves and I didn't do too much but relax. At 5pm Angela and I took the tram (gondola) up to Glenwood Caverns - adventure park. We went on some cool rides up there (a roller coaster type thing and a swing thing that you get strapped into and then you go back and forward over a canyon (this was definitely worse than the roller coaster thing.)

It was the opening of the District Conference at this location so we caught up with a lot of people we have stayed with or met on our travels, and we also participated in the flag ceremony.

Anyway we have a busy day tomorrow and I am sure you have heard more than enough from me it the last week (I think I have done about 4-5 posts on this current page which is just over 1 weeks worth of blogs). So it is Mandy signing off for at LEAST 4 more days.

My time in Gunnison

Ang Says: Vocation day again, I went to visit Six Points they have a thrift shop and have 15 consumers that access day options, accommodation, open employment and supported employment, this organisation is funded by Federal, State, local and donations. The case manager Pattie showed me that they charge by a unit which sounds like a lot of work for me, after spending the morning with Pattie I walked down to the main street to get a well earned coffee and rang my host mum Bev, Bev said she knew the place and was on her way.
The ongoing joke with the team is that I fall asleep anywhere, well this is not far from the truth, as I was sitting on the chair waiting for an hour for Bev, I was feeling sleepy and struggled not to fall asleep in the main street, finally Bev picked me up after going to every coffee shop in town....but that ok Bev struggles with the same problem.
We had lunch and spent the afternoon window shopping, the Tee shop was generous enough to give all the team members a couple of T-shirts compliments of the Gunnison Rotary club.
Tonight has been very entertaining as Dave and Bev have been wonderful hosts, Dave has a great sense of humour, he got me to try pinon nuts, I said Dave how can you eat these there crunchy, he said you have to crack them first ..Ha ha will have to try that on my team mates tomorrow..

Assessing - Colorado style!

Emma says: Due to a breakdown in communication (lack of cell coverage for most of us!) you are getting 2 blogs for the price of one! As Ang mentioned, today was a rare day apart for the team today as we all headed off for vocational visits.

My day started at 7am with an hour walk with my host Gail, around her home at Eagle Ridge Ranch. Gail and her husband Lee bought the ranch in 1993 and broke it up into 15 smaller parcels of land of about 35 acres each. Today it is still a working ranch owned by 15 owners each with their own parcel of land and residential site. A number of common amenities exist for the owners including two miles of live trout stream fishery on Ohio Creek, fishing pond, two mountain cabins, barn, corrals, and equestrian facilities. The ranch is conservation protected to preserve the integrity of the ranch, ecology, habitat and aesthetic values of the property. The ranch has been and will forever continue to be used for ranching and recreation purposes.

It truly is the most spectacular place and I have really enjoyed staying here.

But come 9am it was time for work. I spent the day with the County Assessors office Gunnison County and had a brilliant day (no, really!). I spent the morning in the office talking valuation with County Assessor, Kristy, and Assistant Assessor, Vicki. I learnt a lot about how titling records are kept in the County offices and also visited the Planning Department where I spoke to Neil.

After lunch with Kristy and Vicki (fabulous black bean tostadas!), I then headed off with Don and William who took me on a tour of some of the incredible properties in the county around the Crested Butte skiing area, while we discussed the common issues faced by those who value for property tax/rating purposes. It was a very interesting and indepth discussion. We also got to meet with John, who is involved in potentially developing part of Mount Crested Butte into an area called North Village. This development incorporates many of the New Urbanist principles I saw at work in the South Main development in Buena Vista (outside Salida). A really great vocational day

And I can't leave you without an update on the media frenzy surrounding GSE in Colorado. Another highlight of the day for me was being interviewed for the local paper - the Gunnison County Times. I spoke to Michael this arvo and he had the same experience, but Mandy and Angela were not interviewed (clearly they have been holding us back!). Anyway, the paper is published weekly so we'll have to wait til next week before we can see who made the front page! Still this is only small consolation after the humiliation of Montrose choosing to put a photo of a leaf on the front page of their paper during our visit (the leaf was beginning to change colour and therefore heralding the onset of fall...).

Off to District Conference in Glenwood Springs tomorrow with a wake up call on the wrong side of 6am - nasty!

Angela was going to say - BUT the USB won't work so MANDY says 09/09/09 (cool date)

Welllllllll this isn't exactly how it was meant to happen. Angela has given me her USB with her blog but it isn't opening on my computer for some reason, sooooooo instead I will talk out my day and upload her picture which hopefully she can tell people about tomorrow.

So today again we said goodbye to our hosts - sadly again - thanks to Montrose Rotary club for great hosts and a great time. I personally learnt heaps from my stay and a HUGE thanks to Emily and her son Eric for talking to me last night about American football, American sports, college and American culture - which was really wonderful and I am so thankful for their time in talking to me about such things.

Anyway today we drove onto Gunnison and arrived at midday. We then moved onto our host address for a couple hours to settle in and have lunch. After lunch Michael, Becky (my host) and I made our way up to Emma's host (Gail and Lee). What a fabulous house - where we were able to fish (AGAIN no fish for me, Emma or Michael) but we certainly had some fun while we were out there- perhaps not all of the time was spent fishing.

After fishing we returned home and got ready for a night out up at Gail and Lee address at 1730hrs. The night was fantastic - pot lunch dinner which proved to have great food on offer again - LOTS of salads which was great.

Anyway Angela was with us on our travels to Gunnison she was also with us for Dinner - but in the meantime I believe she went on a 4wd drive where she came across snow (lucky bugger) - which is what the photo is of.

So sorry for the quality of my post - I am sure Angela's would have been heaps better - but I have tried to fill the gap, hopefully it will do.

Michael 7th & 8th Sept. at Montrose

Monday the 7th Sept. started at 9am with a long trip to Gateway a town started by the owner of the Discovery Channel to see an auto museum, the trip took us through Red Rock Canyon, this canyon is spectacular this cliffs on oth sides and a road and river sharing the floor at time the road is high above the river to give a vantage point to look down on the river. the Spanish were the people who came up from Mexico to explore the area. Then mining started in the area and water was very important and so an engineering marvel was created to allow water to be channelled along the sides of the cliff several hundred feet above the floor of the canyon it allowed the water to be quickly delivered to the mine site. Lunch was at Gateway then over to the museum to look at a fantastic display of vintage and classic cars. The return home was via whitewater.

Tuesday 8th Sept.

An early start for Mandy Emma And me as we went fly fishing in the Gunnison River which is at the bottom of a very very deep canyon, the road down was something else, but what a place, fast flowing river, very step sides. We did not have a great success at fly fishing but fish were caught. The presentation to the Montrose Rotary Club was interesting with technical malfunctions made for an interesting times but very well received, after lunch of to see some petrogylphs, with Dick Manhart. The Nth. Ute Indians lived in the area and recorded there Law and information on food and water by chipping designs into the rock, having the designs explained made all the difference to what we were looking at.

Late addition to Saturday Post - Mandy

Wellllllllllllllllllll we were on fire yesterday that is all I can say. During dinner I declared my intentions to go watch the 2300hrs Australian Film Samson & Delilah which was showing up in the Mountain Village - Emma said she would join me and it was a date. As our departure time drew closer Angela decided she would chaperon us up to the Mountain Village. After sorting out what we needed to do as far as tickets (which was wait and see how many festival ticket holders turned up before any purchased tickets could be made) we headed to the bar for a quick couple drinks. Welll the scout sensers where definately ON and who do we find in the bar the Producer, Director and stars of 'Samson & Delilah.' All were really nice people and we able to have a chat, and get a photo with them. AND they gave us free passes to the movie (BONUS - that saved us a couple $$$$$). Anyway Emma and I really enjoyed the movie and returned to the condo at 0130hrs to find Angela asleep on the couch (AGAIN!!!!!!). So after waking her up and having a chat the ligths didn't go off until around 0230hrs.

Close encounters of the celebrity kind!

Emma says: Not my turn to blog but Mandy and I have had a fun afternoon so I thought I'd share. Since arriving in Telluride we have been hot on the trail of the many celebrities in town for the annual film festival. Our venture out last night to the Opening Night Feed in the main street only increased our appetite, especially after my encounter celebrity film critic Leonard Maltin!

Anyway, as it turns out, our 'host' here in Telluride, Marilyn, went to high school with Helen Mirren's husband, Taylor Hackford. As it turns out, Helen Mirren is in town for the festival and was doing a 'conversation' session here in town today. So Mandy and I trundled into town with Marilyn this arvo and hung around the local courthouse where Helen would be speaking. It was a very exclusive affair with only 90 places available and most of these went to patrons of the festival. We were lucky enough to have a contact that couldn't get us into the event but got us close enough to get some photos (see right) and to get an autograph each! Helen Mirren was lovely and very accomodating - and Mandy and I were stoked!


To top it off after our first celebrity encounter, Mandy and I went for coffee with Marilyn further down the main street. Here we ran into Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame (the group that sang 'Puff the Magic Dragon'). A quick photo and another autograph later, we let him go, content with a good afternoon's work on the celebrity hunt.

Tonight, the team are enjoying a night in with Ang cooking us a roast chook - yummo! We need all the energy we can get as we've heard that Nicolas Cage is in town so he is our target for tomorrow!

Tomorrow afternoon we leave the bright lights of Telluride bound for Montrose...

Hello Telluride - we have arrived - and it is our rest days!!!!!!!

Mandy reports: Thursday 3rd and Friday the 4th September. Well what a couple to terrific days. We are having sooooooooooooooooooooo much fun it is not funny. So let’s get back to the days. Thursday was an early start for some (me and Angela in particular…… 0550 holy moley that is early for me.) Anyway back to the story, we had to be at the Durango to Silverton train station at 0745hrs. There we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts and Roger and boarded the train to our next stop Telluride. Our train ride was about 3.5 hrs and we so some amazing sites on the way – truly breathtaking in the pass. But disappointment again – NO BEARS. I swear there aren’t any bears in this country!!!! Apparently everywhere we go bears have been in the town the day before, but we see no evidence of this in our travels. Anyway we leave evidence of our visit to Durango and Ignacio in the Southern Utes Times and possibly the neighbourhood newspaper in Durango. After getting off the train we were met by the delightful members of the Telluride Rotary club Marilyn, Fred, Al, and Joe in Silverton. We had lunch at the Handlebar Restaurant Saloon. Very decent food and local brew beer was had by most in attendance. We then took the rough road through the Ophir pass into Telluride – spotting a couple new native animals on the way.
Our first night in Telluride was jam packed. First we went to the Sheridan Opera House where the Telluride 2009 Outstanding Citizen of the Year Awards was awarded to Marilyn Branch. We celebrated her as the successful recipient. We then moved onto give our Presentation to the Telluride Rotary club, where we learnt a few NEW facts about in our presentation and were asked a few questions at the end of our presentation which was good. We then moved onto the Museum where we were able to look and sit in a Tesla (electric sport car) and an ancient Puebloan rug (1200 years old). Then onto dinner at a Mexican Restaurant Emilio’s (or something similar) where the margaritas flowed and very nice Mexican food was had. I (we) had a great night, with great people – in particular having lots of conversation (in particular give some media advice) and deals with our new Aussie friend Matt (from Strath). Oh happy birthday mum – I am glad I remembered and got the time right to sent a text.
SO where am I up to – the girls had a sleep in on Friday – NICE. We didn’t get up until close to 0930hrs. Then we lazed around in our PJs until about 1030hrs (we like to make the most of our rest days). After coffee with Marilyn at Cowboy Bills we had sent out feelers for how we could go about getting into the Telluride Daily Planet newspaper and set about our strategy for getting into the paper. Strategy was achieved and Sunday we should see the effort of our hard work pay off and be on the front page again!!!!! Emma and I got to do some grocery shopping and visit Jerry (who were now know was assistant director/ director on the movie Grease and more recently X-Men and Ray - but more importantly is president of the Telluride Rotary club) in the Information Centre of the Telluride Film Festival and then to the farmers market. Lunch we had with Marilyn at La Marmotte (again fabulous food – strongly recommend this place.) We ate great food and listen to Marilyn talk about her history as a wedding planner in Telluride and listened to the acoustic guitar player and singer at the restaurant. After lunch vocation visit for me (sorry Angela and Emma who had to tag along) we visited the Marshall’s Office in Telluride and spent some time and spoke with the Sgt on duty (thanks Dan). After this we went out separate ways for an hour of so before reforming as a complete group for the Opening Night Feed for the 36th Telluride Film Festival (a HUGE thanks to Marilyn and Jerry for organizing this for us.) Some of us made their marks on the celebs such as (Sandra Karradine and Leonard Maltin). We then had dinner with Penny and Bill (who are hosting Michael on our rest days). Plans are set in place for another busy day seeking out fun and celebs tomorrow (thanks again Marilyn) –stay tuned there could be some big names to come…….. Cheers Mandy

By Ang

Apart from my host mum making me get up at a ridiculous hour this morning, I have had an amazing day.
Thanks to a fellow Rotarian, our history begins with the Southern Ute Reservation, Long before the arrival of the settlers, the Ute Indians roamed over a vast section of Colorado, Utah and Northern New Mexico. The Ute tribe are the oldest continuous residents of the States. Today they govern themselves and own 500,000 acres of land, these people have shown that they have the strength to survive and have prospered; they have taken the responsibility on and have achieved amazing things, We were very lucky to be invited to share their passion with them. Some of the Ceremonials that they still practise today are the Bear Dance& Sun Dance.
We enjoyed a tour of a State of the Art Facility, with education and health at the top of the list, they also have a Casino with all profits going back into the community.

After our presentation today at Pine River Valley Rotary Club we were able to enjoy a couple of hours spending money shopping in the main street of Durango, (girls will be girls) not all the presents were for family.

My favorite place that we visited today was Strater Hotel, for those people that know me you can understand why!! This wonderful hotel has been in the Baker family for 83 years and Ron Baker has run the hotel for 26 years, this hotel owns the worlds's largest collection of American Victorian Antique's in the world, this hotel has also been catering for the Rotary Club for 80 years amazing Yeh??

After the stimulating conversation Ang needed a drink.

And then off to a Pot luck dinner with the three Durango Rotary clubs & another presentation, they sure have kept us busy whilst we have been here, thanks for all the efforts to the Rotarians in Durango I myself have loved being here......

GSE Team does Mesa Verde

Emma says: After several front page appearances in papers across the Southern Colorado region, the team were a little concerned when we arrived in Durango to the news that we were unlikely to hit the front page here unless we committed a crime. While this course of action was deemed a little too drastic, it seemed we needed to spice things up a bit. It was clear the standard '4 people in a row' group shot was getting old and we needed to jazz up our image. With this in mind we set out for our day of touristing in the spectacular Mesa Verde National Park.

Mesa Verde was home to the Ancient Puebloan people about 1,400 years ago. They originally built their homes on top of the mesa, but at some point during their 700 year stay in the area they built dwellings in caves within the steep walls of the canyons. The park now houses about 4,500 archaeological sites, of which 600 are cliff dwellings.

Our morning was spent exploring the visitor's centre, museum and gift shops. After lunch we were privileged to receive a private tour from Larry Wiese, the superintendent of the National Park. He showed us some of the earliest Puebloan dwellings which were dug into the top of the mesa and gave us a history of the people in the area. He also took us to some vantage points were we could get better views of the more elaborate cliff dwellings, such as Cliff Palace and the Square Tower. Each dwelling represented the home of one or more families, with some constructions similar to the apartment blocks of today.

Our final tour for the day was also our most challenging, with the tour of the Balcony House also known as the "Indiana Jones Experience". Like most of the cliff dwellings, the Balcony House is located in the walls of the canyon, high above the ground. Not surprisingly then, our tour involved climbing a 30 foot ladder to reach the dwelling, but once there, we also had to crawl through a tiny tunnel to manoeuvre our way out. Then there are some death defying steps carved into the rock face to make your way out of the dwelling and back to the top of the mesa.

I found the day at Mesa Verde to be a brilliant day out - very educational, extremely beautiful and mysterious. And I think you'll agree, our group shots are clearly worthy of the Durango Herald's front page! We'll keep ya posted...

Michael 31 Aug 09

Been of line for past 3 days I was fortunate to be hosted by Dick and he has a cabin out of town, it has no computer or TV very peaceful. so what has happened, Sunday we went to Princeton Hot Springs in the morning only 15 min. walk from the cabin, Angela and Emma arrived a bit later in the morning with Dick. Mandy was out with Kym the DOW officer till about 12noon. After lunch Mandy had arranged to go out again with Kym to release two young Coyotes back into the wild and invited all of us to go and see the release so I went the others stayed in the pools. It was fun to see the young Coyotes taste freedom and to fine their way around the wide open spaces, we took Mandy home and Kym and I went out to check on hunters, as hunting season with bows had open on Saturday, while out we got a call from a member of the community that a deer was injured and required Kym's assistance on the way to the seen we came across a large black bear, what a magnificent animal and to see it in it's natural environment was special the deer's out come was not so good unfortunately. Monday saw us have a quiet morning and a presentation to the Salida Rotary Club at lunch time before a 4hr road trip to Durango. The trip took us up over Wolf Creek Pass about 10,000ft. with magnificent views of both sides of the Great Divide. In Durando we meet our host at a hotel in the main street, two actors reenacted an old shoot out in the street very entertaining and a good introduction to this very old town.

Mandy's experience on Friday/ Saturday

As Angela and Emma have already detailed we arrived in Salida on Friday. On being greeted by out hosts we were all then off to our respective vocational activities. I was off to the Buena Vista Prison, which may seems like an unlikely place for me to go - but in fact was a very good experience. Whilst at the prison I spent time going through Intelligence within the Prison systems, focusing on gangs and the systems for sharing information. Unlike Australia prisons in Colorado have their own Department of Corrections Investigators who investigate any offence which impacts on the prison systems eg corruption of any public officers providing information to inmates, assaults, threats and criminal or internal matters they investigate and forward the file to respectively to either the District Attorneys or Management. The actual systems in the prison are similar to that of what I have experienced at home - it is simply the databases and sharing of information which is very different. Whilst at the prison I also got to have a tour - not what I had expected to do and so as I am walking past many convicted men in my slightly heeled shoes (clip clopping down the corridors) of whom I had just seen the list of paper which had their gang listings, thinking "hmmm is their enough guards here if something goes wrong? And - I wished I had wore flat shoes." Anyway nothing remotely scary happened and I was fine. I ended my tour by calling into the programs area of the prison and got to hear about schooling and educational activities that are offered to the prisoners. In the prison I visited there were about 1500 prisoners and it was a medium facility. Department of Corrections employees are State employed and so this was one of the first areas I have visited which means the employees can move around from city to city or town to town without leaving their agency and starting from scratch.
Friday night we were part of the Celebrity Fly-fishing charity event which the Rotary Clubs of Salida and Buena Vista were involved in organizing. It was a good night - where Angela ended up with many cigars - which were part of the packs we were given. We left the event just before it ended and were able to visit a local pub with my host Ernie and watch the Rockies were play San Fransisco
I also got to experience a roadside caution for a traffic matter on the way to the prison which was kind of funny to watch.
Saturday we went to quiet a few place today - including Independence Pass, Leadville, Turquoise lake. We were pretty tired at the end of the day from traveling around but we ended the day with attending a Double Haul Cookout. Tomorrow I have a early start as an additional vocation visit with the Department of Wildlife. I will be starting at 5.30 AM (eeccckkkkk - but it should be good.) I will catch up with everyone else later in the day for some hot spring relaxation.

Stop the press!

Emma says: While the New York Times hasn't come calling just yet, the team is creating quite a media frenzy wherever we travel in Colorado.

Our first brush with celebrity occurred in the small town of Rocky Ford where we made the front page of the Rocky Ford Gazette. We have since been interviewed by staff from the Canon City Daily Record, the Florence Citizen, and the Mountain Mail - with all GSE feature editions due to hit newstands next week!

I was also fortunate enough to have my own brush with media super stardom via Canon City's own KLRN radio station (apparently it has a rather large following from the inmates at the 7 prisons surrounding the town!). I made a brief but I would suggest memorable appearance on the morning talk show which featured the local County Commissioners (a group of elected officials charged with administering the county government in some states of the US).

Over the next couple of weeks our GSE tour will take us further into the mountains and closer to those areas frequented by the rich and famous, such as Aspen, Telluride and Durango. With our new-found celebrity status I think we will fit right in!...

Moving On

We headed west this morning to a beautiful little town called Salida, on arrival I was pleasantly informed that I will be sharing my host family with Emma.
We had one hour to unpack and get ready for our vocation day, I was excited to be in Salida as I was very interested in a shop called “THE MIXING BOWL”. Katy & Bob Grether (owners) have a young daughter with a disability; they opened this wonderful shop that sells kitchen ware so their daughter could have employment, this has been so successful that they now have a partnership with Starpoint and employ 12 people with a disability, of course I could not leave the shop without purchasing something and walked out with a great gift for my employees back home.
Starpoint also has a lot of history, I meet with Bill Davis, he has worked at Starpoint for twenty five years. Starpoint used to have a workshop but in 1988 closed this section down and started to integrate the consumers into the community, the community has been of great support. Everybody that I meet today had such a positive approach it was quiet refreshing.
For lunch my new host family treated me to a lunch at the Boat House this is right on the Arkansas River, it is a popular spot, when the river is high enough you can watch water rafting and kayaks whilst having a beer or two.
Tonight the team will be assisting the Salida Rotary club with their annual fundraiser. I am hoping it will not be all work and no play.

Highest highs, lowest lows...

Emma says: Today was clearly designed by someone determined to cure me of my desperate fear of heights! But overall a great day out in Canon City. We started out with a tour of the Holcim Cement Plant on the outskirts of a nearby town called Florence - who would have thought there was so much to know about cement! You wouldn't think this would cause too much distress for someone like myself but the tour was completed with a trip in an open air (and very jolty) elevator to the top of the highest tower in the plant, 340 feet or 100 metres above the ground. It was ridiculously scary but from the top you can see all the way to Kansas, or so I was told - I wasn't game to look!

Lunch was at the newly formed Rotary Club in Florence where we received yet another warm reception from the members (and another good feed!).

In the afternoon we were taken for a quick drive around a couple of the many prisons in the area before we headed up to the Royal Gorge Bridge for one of the highlights of our trip so far. The word spectacular does little to describe this beautifully breaktaking area. The brochure describes it as "the Grand Canyon meets the Golden Gate Bridge" - this may give you some idea of what we were witness too.

First stage of the afternoon involved crossing the 1,100 feet (340 metre) canyon in an aerial tram (much like the cable cars in Switzerland). Absolutely breath-taking views across the mountains and down to the Arkansas River below (once again, so I'm told!). On the other side Angela and Michael showed their bravery by taking a ride on the SkyCoaster. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it except to say they were harnessed in like you would be if hang-gliding, but attached to a long cable attached to a tower above. They were then released from a free-fall tower to swing at 80kph over the gorge (yep, 350 metres above the ground). Kudos to you both - you are much braver than I!

Speaking of bravery, after conquering the cable car, it was now time to cross the Royal Gorge Bridge itself. This was something that terrified me - mainly because the bridge was made of wooden sleepers (like a jetty) that allowed you to see through the gaps between them to the 350 metre drop below... I tiptoed gently across the half kilometre bridge like the slightest move would cause the bridge to crumble (a distinct possibility given how much Ive eaten on this trip!) but probably a little pointless given the bridge also hosted cars and they regularly rattled past us - much to my displeasure!

Finally we took the Incline Railway (like a funicular) down to the bottom of the canyon to see the Arkansas River close up. After the trauma of the day, this was much less taxing and I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Dinner tonight at a beautifully located private cabin on the very edge of the Gorge before stopping for a few well deserved drinks on the way home.

A special thanks to my fabulous hosts Pat and Elizabeth who gave Angela and I the grand tour today and who have been like a family away from home over the past couple of days!

Michael : 26th August 2009

Today Started with my first visit to a fire station, after the usual paper work got down to meeting the crew on shift. It happened to be a training day for Hazmat, so sat in on a classroom discussion for about 1.30hrs before the first job a young boy caught up a tree about 10mts up on a 50ml branch. successful outcome lunch at Canon City Rotary Club for our presentation then Bach to the station and a long and interesting talk about the differences between our two services. Later went on a call to for SOB job interesting to be on a rescue truck and have firemen actively treating the patient give drugs and then hand over to a ambulance crew for transport. Mandy spent the day at PD in Canon City had a informative time visiting most of the departments, Ang and Emma had time with their host in the afternoon and vocational time in the morning. This evening we went to Pat and Elizabeth's for Tea that a great night and Angela made Cowboys for all the hosts and visitors most have not seen or heard of Cowboys it made for a very enjoyable evening. Angela has been wanting to see bears, and every body saying they come out at night and raid the rubbish bins, so she has a cunning plan to hide out in the bins until they come out, just to make shore it will work she try ed the bins to see if she can fit, very funny to see her looking out of a bin.

Mandy : Tuesday 25th August.

Well today after spending a wonderful few days in Pueblo we woke up this morning all sad to leave our hosts and our respective team members’ hosts. It truly had been a wonderful couple of days doing things in our vocations as well as other things like kayaking, sailing, hiking, watching football practice, getting some great ideas from visiting the health care green certified building, and of course shopping. I had a fantastic visit and then tour of the Pueblo Police Department (current and future stations). Outstanding facilities are not to far away for them to enjoy. It was great walking through the building during construction with my hard hat and vest.
Anyway enough of the past, and onto what happened today after the farewells. Today we arrived in Canon City. Some facts for those of you who are not familiar with Canon City (as I have been told today – so if I am wrong I will pass on the comments to my advisor)
- Around the 1860 mining started in the area and around 1890 it became bigger with the discovery of gold
- In the district there are around 46, 000 people but that includes 9,000 prisoners
- In the City the population is around 20,000.
- I think there are currently 13 prisons operating in this area (a mixture of federal and state prisons.) The reason I say I think is I have been told conflicting numbers today by different people.
- There is a mountain that people say is an Indian princess (lying down) who was killed in retaliation.
- There are many dinosaur fossils collected from this area (I was fortunate enough to see some footprints today at Skyline drive.)
Today I went for a couple drives around the district (thank you to both drivers) I saw some amazing sites of the mountains, farming, wildlife (well at least one deer – thousands of those vermin called squirrels – but no mountain lions, bears or lynx - my fingers are still crossed that we will see these creatures.)
Following the drive we were treated to wine tasting at Abbey Winery (great place for all you locals and visitors to call into – some very nice wines there for you to pick up for yourself), so thanks to Canon City Rotary club for organizing this we really enjoyed the wine, food and hospitality.
I then parted company with my colleagues and went and spent several hours with some police officers and had a truly great time with them. I am very much looking forward to going back there tomorrow to spend more time with them. I am being hosted at the moment by the Chief of Police who has an extreme wealth of experience and knowledge so when I get any chance of free time we have been talking about career advice and tips – so you can imagine how pleased I am to be in Canon City.
PS – I have seen the first clothes line in USA, I thought no-one over here had them because everyone seems to have dryers - great surprise I was very excited to see it that I in fact had to take a picture of it. We have also only seen 1 dual flush toilet in the USA so that had to have photo taken of it also. I won’t see a water tank because we are told it is illegal to catch the water.

PPS -The dentists in Canon City are reported very nice and cheaper than Australia - as Angela discovered after spending some time in their office today... she can fill in on all the details (infection, and tooth can't be removed when there is an infection apparently).
(Well that fact session is over for today.)
Cheers Mandy

Enviromental Day

By Ang:Today was a vocation day, I was fortunate to visit Pueblo Diversified Industries were I met with the CEO Karen Little, Karen and I had a great conversation, I was also able to view the documentation process of the organisation, things were very similar apart from a few funding differences.
The afternoon was set aside for tours of the City County Health Department, this building has just been open and they have designed as environmental and user friendly as possible, it was great to see a large use of recycled products.
The next stop was Colorado State University, this is also a similar building and they have also installed 7,000 solar panels out the back of the campus that supports 10% of the university. All these buildings are able to get LEED certification; this allows them to get cheaper taxes and is a positive step for the environment, we all enjoyed the opportunity to watch a team practice American football.
As we headed home Holly my host was excited to see a new fridge and was relieved she no longer had to buy ice.
Holly has been a pleasure to stay with and has gone out of her way to accommodate the team with a experience of a life time.
Holly made arrangements for me to spend the evening with Emma and her host Jerry, we were treated to a lovely dinner at a Italian restaurant, my choice was not the best pick but “we live and learn” after dinner Jerry took us to a Irish bar and gave us good advice on how to make our first million, and it doesn’t come from the lottery.
Tomorrow we will be heading into Canon City and meeting with new people and experiences, there is still a long journey ahead of us and many more experiences to come.

"Rest" Day

Emma says: Our first scheduled rest day today and we unanimously decided we needed to get out and stretch our legs. We were also keen to burn off some of the many calories we have been ingesting - no danger of going hungry on this trip! Thankfully Holly, with some help from Pam and Lou, was brilliant enough to organise kayaking on the local reservoir this morning followed by a hike in the mountains this afternoon.

The Pueblo Reservoir is huge with a surface area of 4,646 acres, and judging by the number of people and boats there today it is clearly a popular recreational spot. However given it is a Sunday and the temperature soared above 100F, this is probably unsurprising!


We had a fabulous morning kayaking, swimming and sailing on Jeff's little boat, while enjoying some R&R and taking in the amazing views.

After working out our arms in the kayaks, we headed for lunch at Do Duck Inn - famous for pizza but we all opted for salads! Then it was time to head to the mountains to give our legs and lungs a work out.

The area we hiked in was where Holly grew up so we were lucky to have a local guide. The scenery was spectacular and I think we all appreciated the chance to get out and work up a sweat (did I mention it was over 100F today?). I think we are even starting to adjust to the altitude!

Back to 'work' tomorrow with our Pueblo vocational visits and then the GSE train rolls on to Canon City before we start the climb into the mountains . I can't believe that we're only a week in and just how much we've packed in already - and we've still got a month to go!