Showing posts with label Morrison Colorado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Morrison Colorado. Show all posts

Sunday, August 9, 2026

The Fort in Morrison, Colorado


The Fort is a historic restaurant/steakhouse located at 19192 CO-8 in the Front Range town of Morrison, Colorado. 
It has become one of our favorite places to celebrate special occasions since we moved to Colorado!




As you can read on the sign above, The Fort was built in 
1962 by Sam'l P. Arnold and has an interesting history.
 Its adobe structure was built between 1961 and 1963 as a replica of the historic 1833 Bent's Fort located in La Junta, Colorado, along the Santa Fe Trail. The structure incorporates over 80,000 handmade adobe bricks. The building was originally intended as the Arnold family home, but during construction, rising costs prompted the decision to open the lower level of the building as a restaurant, while the family lived upstairs. 
The completed Fort Restaurant opened in February 1963, specializing in what the Arnolds called “New Foods of the Old West.”


The photo collage above shows the actual Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site. 
We visited it in 2017--you can read that blog post here.

Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site features a reconstructed version of the 1840s adobe trading post. Archaeological excavations and original sketches, paintings, and diaries were used to reconstruct the fort, to coincide with the nation’s bicentennial and Colorado’s centennial in 1976. The reconstructed fort and its setting along the Arkansas River allow visitors to learn about its role as a trading post for Native Americans and pioneers during its existence.


The interior courtyard of The Fort has an early western theme.


It is at 6,100 feet (1,859.28 meters) elevation, nestled among beautiful giant red rock formations.



There is a fun tradition at The Fort when someone is celebrating a special occasion: a buffalo hat is placed on their head and the staff beats a drum and cheers with a loud "HUZZAH!!"  In the photo above, my husband is wearing the hat at his retirement party.
There is also an official drink toast written by Arnold which you can read here.


From The Fort's website:

"The Fort’s menu was built on meticulous research into pioneer diaries, Native American foodways, and the meals of mountain men and Santa Fe Trail travelers, blended with Spanish and Mexican influences reflective of Bent’s Fort’s historic location. Sam Arnold’s research led to his acclaimed cookbook Eating Up the Santa Fe Trail, which became the foundation of The Fort’s cuisine. Buffalo, elk, quail, and other historic staples defined the menu, along with dishes such as bone marrow, tongue, and Rocky Mountain oysters. The Hailstorm—Colorado’s first recorded cocktail, served at Bent’s Fort in 1833—became The Fort’s signature drink."


All the food at The Fort is very Western gourmet and delicious!

You can see some of their recipes on their blog at this link.



The Fort has an assortment of private event rooms, and also an outdoor seating area with beautiful views.  We once saw a bride and groom arrive for their dinner party by helicopter!

Holly Arnold Kinney, daughter of founder Sam Arnold, purchased The Fort in 1999 and led the restaurant with a deep commitment to its history until her retirement in January 2026. Under her stewardship, The Fort earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places, and its land remains protected through a conservation easement held by the Colorado Historical Foundation.

 The Fort also hosts Entertainment, Historic Lectures, Cultural Events and Dinners, Murder Mystery Dinners, Wine and Whiskey Dinners, among other special events--check their website under the Happenings and Entertainment tabs to see what is available.


You can watch this YouTube video made in 2022 for The Fort's 60th Anniversary to see some of the history of the restaurant, some of the famous people who dined there, and interviews and TV segments filmed there.

It's been so nice to have this special place nearby to enjoy through the years! 

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Sunday, February 9, 2025

A Winter Visit to Red Rock Amphitheater With a Dear Friend


 Last March my good friend Rosemary visited us from New York, as her daughter had a business trip to the Denver area, so she decided to go along with her to visit us. My husband and I were thrilled to show Rosemary some of our local sights for the few days she was in Colorado.  First, we showed her some of the red rocks that are in our Littleton neighborhood. (All photos in this post will enlarge if clicked on)


Click on the photo collage to enlarge.

We then drove to Morrison, Colorado, where the iconic outdoor Red Rocks Amphitheater is located, nestled among red rock formations in the Colorado Front Range foothills. My husband and I have attended many concerts in Red Rocks since we moved to Colorado, and I've blogged about it many times. Most days it is also open for visits to its Visitor's Center Museum and many surrounding hiking trails. 




On this visit, we decided to take one of the trails to sightsee the scenery.


The elevation of this area is 6,391 feet---1948 m---so the views east show the Colorado plains and the mile-high city of Denver in the distance.


Looking even further east I could see the iconic white triangles of Denver International Airport in the distance.



We enjoyed all the sights along the trail...



...until we wound around to steps leading up to the amphitheater's stage area.





There we could stand on the stage and see the two giant red rock formations on either side of the seats, which are named Shiprock and Creation. 

One of the most interesting aspects of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre is its exceptional natural acoustic qualities. The rock formations create a natural sound system, providing unmatched acoustics for concerts and performances.





Driving out of the Red Rocks Amphitheater Park area we passed many more beautiful natural red rock formations that were formed around 160 million years ago!



Rosemary was amazed by all the beauty of the red rock area, and we were looking forward to showing her more of our favorite places--see more in my next posts.


PS: Thank you so very much for all the kind comments on my prior post about my husband's surgery. He continues to do well and is getting back more of his strength all the time.  I'm happy to be back blogging again! I missed you all!

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Monday, February 21, 2022

Colorado Front Range Favorites with Friends

 


As I mentioned in my last blog post, we had friends visiting and staying at our home last weekend.  They flew in from Pennsylvania on Saturday, and we caught up after many years of not seeing each other. I went to high school and nursing school with my friend Pat in Brooklyn, New York, and was part of her wedding party, so we go back a long time! She and her husband Dennis now live in a suburb of Philadelphia. They flew out to Colorado to go skiing in Steamboat Springs, Colorado but wanted to adjust to the altitude at our elevation for a few days and it was the perfect time to catch up with us!




We live only minutes away from Red Rocks Amphitheater, so it is always a place we bring visitors. Since moving to Colorado we've attended many concerts at Red Rocks, one of which you can read about here,  It is a magnificent outdoor music venue!  It was built into the natural formation of rocks along the foothills of Morrison, Colorado, in the years 1936- 42 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which you can read more about in this post.   We visited the amphitheater's indoor museum and reminisced about the many musical groups that have performed there over the years.  The list grows longer every year!





The city of Denver, Colorado, can be seen in the distance from Red Rocks Amphitheater.  Even though it is situated on the relatively flat prairie, twelve miles (19 km) from the foothills, it is a mile high (5280 feet or 1609.344 meters) above sea level! 






Pat and Dennis standing in front of the northernmost red rock of the amphitheater, called "Creation Rock."


More views of the interesting red rock formations around the area.



We then drove over to the nearby town of Golden, Colorado.




Golden is a picturesque town with many shops and restaurants,




It is also home to the Colorado School of Mines, which is a top-rated science, engineering, and research public university.  In the past my husband and I visited the interesting geology museum located at the school--you can read about that here.



Golden is also the location of the Coors Brewery!  This is a statue of the founder, Adolph Coors, Sr., and a plaque about him on the main street of Golden, Washington Ave.  Please click on the photo collage to enlarge the photo to read the plaque, and to see a view of the brewery from Lookout Mountain.  Unfortunately, the wonderful Coors Brewery Tour was not being conducted during our friend's visit. The website said it was being upgraded.  My husband and I have brought many a visitor to the tour.  You can see a blog post I wrote about the tour on this link.



We walked along Clear Creek in Golden for a bit.  It was one of the first places gold nuggets were found and the location of the most intense early mining activity during the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859.





Our next destination was a drive up Lookout Mountain in Golden!  It is a winding, switchback drive up and up to its summit at 7,377 feet (2,249 m).  I blogged once about driving up during a snowstorm--here.  




The views from the top are beautiful!

This view is looking northeast, where North Table Mountain can be seen, as well as the suburbs of Golden.  We once climbed to the top of North Table Mountain which you can see on this blog post.




This view is direct east with Denver, Colorado, in the distance





This view is looking west at some of the Rocky Mountains in the distance.





Buffalo Bill's grave is located at the very top of Lookout Mountain. If you enlarge this photo by clicking on it two times you can read the plaque that tells the story of why Buffalo Bill is buried here.  We did not walk up to see his grave, as there was a lot of snow on the path, but if your read this post, it will tell you more about Buffalo Bill Cody and show his gravesite.





We drove down the west side of Lookout Mountain and continued west at bit on the Lariat Loop Scenic Byway




At one point, traffic came to a full stop to allow a herd of elk to cross the street.  They all took their time and the head of the herd, a big bull, looked like he had been in many a battle during the rut, as his antlers were broken.





As we passed through Evergreen we could see the large lake was frozen and we saw ice skaters and ice fishermen who had set up their tent on the ice to fish.




When we returned to our community, we stopped to show our friends what remains of the Bradford Perley House.  The first occupant, Robert Boyles Bradford, built this house in 1860 and set up the Bradford Wagon Toll Road to convey miners and settlers from Denver, first to "Bradford City" and then into the foothills to what is present-day Conifer, and then to the mining camps in the mountains, to Tarryall, Fairplay, Leadville and eventually to Breckenridge.  You can read more about Bradford and see more photos of the house, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places, on this blog link.

It was a very full, fun day and we returned to our house to watch the Superbowl! We had some dips and crudites and chips, and then for dinner during halftime we had an Italian-style feast of eggplant parmigiana, sausage and meatballs, chicken cutlets, and a salad that I had prepared ahead of time.  

In my next post, I'll show you more favorite and beautiful places we visited the next day with some more surprise wildlife that we encountered.

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Sunday, August 30, 2020

Back to School!


Do you remember the song School Days?  Written in 1907 by Will D. Cobb and Gus Edwards, its lyrics are those of a couple looking back sentimentally on their childhood together in primary school.
"School days, school days
Dear old Golden Rule days
'Reading and 'riting and 'rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hickory stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful, barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate, "I Love You, Joe"
When we were a couple o' kids."

This tune echoed in my mind as we drove up to see an old one-room schoolhouse that is in Morrison, Colorado, on the other side of the foothills from where we live.  Medlen School consists of a one-room schoolhouse, a teacherage next to the school where the teacher of the time lived, two outhouses, and a water pump.  It was a charming relic of the past when the area was sparse with settlers but education was still considered important.
I nostalgically remembered my early school days that were held in a four-story building in Brooklyn, New York, during the 1960s, that held many more conveniences.  As a member of the baby boomer generation, there were almost 60 children in each of my classes throughout the eight years of primary school! 



Medlin School, located at 8579 South Turkey Creek Road (CO Road 122) south of Morrison, Colorado, was built in 1886. The schoolhouse was originally built as a log cabin but later received clapboard siding in the early 1900s. The schoolhouse was restored as an example of a 1920s schoolhouse museum by the Jefferson County Historical Society.



The Medlen School closed in the 1950s, and in 1953 it was given to a group of local citizens. The structure and outbuildings became the property of the South Turkey Creek Community and functioned as their social center.  The Medlen School was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015 and was restored as a museum. The Evergreen Mountain Area Historical Society offers an authentic "Medlen School Days" experiences for school children who have completed first through fifth grade, to experience a typical country school with several grades; to learn “the four R’s” – reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic and recitation – just as children of the 1920s did; and to participate in the games they played, the songs they sang, and the fun they had. Unfortunately, those events had to be canceled this summer due to the novel coronavirus epidemic, but hopefully will be restored someday soon.

There are many other rural school buildings still standing in Colorado, and they can be viewed on this link on the History Colorado web site



The area where Medlen School is located remains somewhat rural in nature, dotted with ranches and an occasional house. The air was still somewhat filled with a smokey haze from the four large wildfires that are still burning in our state. The Pine Gulch fire on the western slope is now officially the largest fire ever in Colorado's history.  It has burned 139,006 acres of land north of the Bookcliffs near Grand Junction and is now 77% contained.  God bless all the firefighters, over 900 total personnel who have come from several states, to fight this fire that has been burning for a month. Since its start, numerous homes and cabins have been evacuated, but to date, the fire has only taken one structure, an old abandoned building. 



My grandchildren began their new school grades for the year last week.  They were very happy and excited, as all children should be to go back to school! The youngest begins kindergarten and the oldest begins Middle School. The first two weeks are remote instruction at home, and then they will begin in-school instruction.  We are all hoping for the best for this new school year. although we know there may be many challenges ahead due to the pandemic and they may return to remote learning. What are your school plans this year? 
Stay happy, safe, and healthy!

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 I'm linking this post to some of the following blog events:

 Mosaic Monday, All Seasons, Blue Monday, Through My Lens Monday, Little Cottage Link Party, Hearth, and Soul Link Party, You Are the Star Blog Hop, Inspire Me Monday, Home Matters Linky Party,  Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Travel Photos, Happiness Is Homemade, Over the Moon, Create, Bake, Make,  Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, Tuesday Turn About. Tuesdays With A Twist, Let's Keep In Touch, Wordless Wednesday on a Tuesday,  Party in Your PJ's, Wordless Wednesday, Nanahood WW, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Wednesday My Corner of the World, Wonderful Wednesday,  Little Things Thursday, Thankful Thursday, Thursday Encouraging Hearts and Home,  Thursday Thinking Out Loud, Friendship Fridays, Friday Features Linky Party, Skywatch Friday, Pink Saturday

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