July 29, 2008

Thank You Miss MaKayla, our daughter Jill’s co-first grade teacher, for recommending we a visit Burlington, Colorado to see the Old Town Museum & Emporium. Old Town is a collection of 20 historical building authentically refurbished and furnished with turn-of-the-century artifacts. Each building had a Digitized Voice Module to provide an audio history personality. The buildings included a Train Depot, Law Office, Bank/Land Office, Barber Shop, Cream Station, Blacksmith Shop, General Store, Barn, Sod House, School House, Church, Doll House, Manor House, Soda Fountain, Saddle Shop, Carpenter Shop, Jail, Saloon, Burlington Blade Newspaper and a Texaco Service Station. The blacksmith shop, sod house, general store and newspaper were our favorites. This is a fun place with lots to see. If you stop here allow lots of time.

This is one of the many beautiful carriages on display.

This unique piece is a Wooten Desk. The wings have slots and drawers for mail. There are over 100 pigeonholes for filing papers. The doors can be closed and locked for security. The price for a desk like this, depending on the model, could cost up to $750 in the late 1800s.

This gas pump at the Texaco Service Station was in excellent condition. I’ll bet my brother-in-law Bill would like to have one like this pump for his collection.

This engine drives the power shaft that is mounted above to run the different machines in the blacksmith shop.

The above two pictures were taken for my Brother-in-law Bill. He wants to build an overhead shaft like this in his shop. It looks like an easy gadget to install. When will yours be ready, Bill?

Next we went to see the Kit Carson County Carousel that was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 by the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. This carousel was carved in 1905 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. It features 46 hand-carved animals and a Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ. It only cost 25 cents to ride this magnificent carousel so of course we took the 4-minute ride.

This is Carousel Park next to the fairgrounds. The large building in the rear on the right houses the carousel.

This Wurlitzer Organ provided wonderful music while we enjoyed the ride.

Charlotte picked one of the tamer horses to ride.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at the Vault Creamery in Goodland. This new business, just three days old, was extremely busy serving ice cream and handcrafted sodas. The temperature is supposed to be 100 degrees for the next three days so this place should have a line out the door from opening till closing.

The owner made all the counters, cabinets and wall trim in his woodshop next door. The door behind the counter is a large vault that remains from when this was a Post Office in its earlier life. Hence the name “The Vault Creamery” is appropriate for the business.

We met a man outside the store who could have or should have been the town historian. He was on hand to give us all the information concerning this building. He also wanted us to see the unique bathroom in this shop.

This bathroom was designed with both grownups and little people in mind. Note the difference in the size of the toilets. There is also a smaller sink for the kids.

This is the typical small town business that we love to visit. The ice cream is great, the service is fantastic, the people are extremely friendly and the prices are very reasonable. We wish them much success with their new business.