2/29 Monday

Happy Leap Year!  We went to the recycling center today to get rid of a bunch of cardboard that Louise had accumulated and then we went on a driving adventure.  We drove south to within 10 miles of the New Mexico border and turned east at the town of Romeo.  When we got to the town of Manassa, we discovered the Jack Dempsey Museum.  The Manassa Mauler as he was known was born here (the very small house where he grew up is now the museum, but unfortunately it was closed on Mondays).  He fought his way to the heavy weight championship of the world in 1919.  We continued on until we got to San Luis.  This is the oldest town in Colorado.  It was founded in 1851 by 15 New Mexican families who were given a land grant by the King of Spain.  We had lunch in a small cafe and then set out on our goal.  Louise is trying to walk 16000 steps per day and heard about this shrine on the top of a Mesa.  When we started up, a dog joined us.  We tried to get him to go home, but he continued to follow us.  A man nearby said not to worry, he would return on his own.  Well, he followed us all the way to the top and escorted us down.  The Mesa was about 500 feet high and we followed switch backs all the way up.  This Stations of the Cross Shrine was built in the late 1980's by the townspeople and there is a lovely chapel at the top with great views of the valley.  When we came down, we looked in at the information center/town hall and the clerk told us that Bam-Bam (the dog) is the unofficial mayor of the town and regularly escorts people to the shrine.  We returned home on a different route and passed by Fort Garland, a late 1800's frontier fort where Kit Carson was the scout.  We will come back here for another field trip.  We had dinner, Fusilloni Al Forno, cleaned up the kitchen and went into the hot tub to soak before bed.  The hot tub felt strange to us as ours is inside and this one is outside so your body gets nice and warm, while your face is cold - strange sensation.  Well, tomorrow is back to work at the ReStore.