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