Denver's Cowboy Poetry Gathering occurred in early January and it was a lot of fun. A few years earlier we had attended a Cowboy Gathering in Elko, Nevada. Ecko's event lasts a full week. We stayed there in our trailer and our water lines froze. Denver's Cowboy Gathering lasted only for a weekend, and we stayed in a nearby hotel. Denver had great entertainers. There is poetry with a western theme, singing, cowboy music and some comic acts thrown in.
Also in Denver in January is the National Western Stock Show which includes a wonderfully entertaining professional rodeo. This western rodeo is held inside Denver's Coliseum. For years now, our Denver Rodeo Association selects one night and we all go together into a reserved seated section....about 80 of us there. Everything from bareback bronc riding, to riding bulls, to roping acts. A terrific evening.
Ah, yes .. did we say the word "SNOW"? We knew when we moved here, we would be having snow. And here are some photos of a decent snowstorm. The scenery is beautiful, and we certainly can use the moisture.
Our first rodeo of the year was in Phoenix, Arizona. The Phoenix rodeo was held this year in a beautiful round arena in the western end of Phoenix. Previous years their rodeo was held at RawHide, which is a re-constructed old western town on an Indian Reservation. Then RawHide became too expensive, so they moved their rodeo. The Phoenix rodeo took place in the middle of February and we drove down. Also visiting Phoenix at the time, were our good friends, Peggy and Alan, from Evanston, Illinois. We were very fortunate to get to visit with them.
For the past few years, Frank has been attending an antique telephone show in Abilene, Kansas. Shown here are some of the antique phones people bring to show, as well as trade or even sell. Some of these antique phones are very rare. The 2nd and 3rd photos are of Frank's display of 1970's TouchTone multi-line phones, and a few items he was trying to sell.
In May we decided to attend the Rodeo Board Meeting/Rodeo in Palm Springs, California. It was nice being there in the spring with all their blooming flowers. After the rodeo we headed north to Los Angeles, and stayed in Hollywood. We took an afternoon walk down the Hollywood Walk of Stars. This collection of stars goes on for very long blocks....and there are hundreds of stars.
Another reason for our visiting Los Angeles, was we wanted to return to the Autry Museum. The Autry is beginning to house some of our rodeo archives. It is a beautiful museum.
Frank wanted to attend a second antique telephone show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We drove there because of all of the equipment Frank wanted to put on display. After the telephone convention, we had the opportunity to visit some of the collector's homes. It is truly amazing what some folks have collected over time. The photos with what looks like vertical gray mailboxes, shows a working mechanical step-by-step switch which was the way all phone calls were routed before the invention of the modern computer systems. One gentleman even had several pay phones in his yard. His home had two sets of basements, jammed full of telephone equipment. After visiting Pennsylvania, we drove back to northern Virginia is visit a few friends.
Shown here are some of Frank's phones in our home. He has a room with shelving where most of the phones are stored when not in use in the house. Also shown here is some card dialer phones. For frequently called numbers, you punch out holes in a card, place the card in a slot, press the button and the card is slowly ejected while it dials the number. This was a speed dial system invented before we had electronic memory dialing.
Our friend, Glenn, from Arlington, Virginia came to visit for a few days. Frank drove Glenn up to the top of Mt Evans, at an elevation of 14,265 feet. It is amazing that Colorado has 52 mountains over 14,000 feet.
