Hotel Colorado, Glenwood Springs, Colorado at night

 

The Hotel Colorado was built in 1893 and is one of the oldest hotels in Colorado. Here is a little bit of its history from Wikipedia: Hotel Colorado. 

Established by silver magnate and banker Walter Devereux, construction began in 1891 at a cost of $850,000. Edward Lippincott Tilton designed the building as a replica of the Villa de Medici. Local materials used include cream-colored Roman brick and Peach Blow Sandstone; imported items included 12,000 yards of carpet and 2,000 rose bushes. The Hotel Colorado opened on June 10, 1893 to a program including a fireworks display, an orchestra in the ballroom, and dining at midnight for the 300 couples in attendance.

The hotel quickly became a popular summer retreat, earning the nickname of "the little White House of the West" after extended visits by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. The teddy bear is alleged to have been invented during President Roosevelt's 1905 visit when the hotel's maids presented him with a stuffed bear pieced together with scraps of fine material.

4-drawer National Cash Register

 This four-drawer National Cash Register (NCR) was probably manufactured about 1907. It is on display in the lobby of the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I think cash registers were designed to be more impressive than useful. 

Railroad Track Ballast Tamping Machine

 

I saw this machine in the railroad yard in Denver, Colorado. From the look of the ballast [gravel] behind the machine, it looks like it is being used to groom and tamp the ballast. There is a huge variety of railroad equipment used to replace what was previously done by hand. 

Folding Mobile Crane

 

This is a Liebherr LR 1600/2 mobile folding crane. It has a maximum load capacity of 600 tons. The boom is 156 meters long. I spotted this crane in Denver, Colorado. We are seeing a lot of cranes around Utah Valley because of the constant construction activity. 

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park

 Yes, this is the iconic Delicate Arch, the one on license plates in Utah. This arch has become as identified with Utah as Saguaros are identified with Arizona. You can see something of the size of this arch from the people standing nearby. This is not the best shot of the arch you will see. There are perhaps millions of photos out there showing the arch. Here is another photo showing the actual size of the arch compared to the surrounding area. 

Both these photos were taken under terrible conditions. Smoke from fires in California has been a fact of life in Utah for almost the entire summer of 2021. The light conditions are really bad but you take a photo when you are where you are at the time. Also, this is not the view usually shown of the arch. 

The Plaza East of the Aqueduct, Segovia, Spain

 

The main plaza in Segovia, Spain is to the west. This plaza is used primarily for car and bus traffic. The aqueduct runs roughly northwest and southwest through the city to the Alcazar de Segovia, the large castle on the end of prominent hill the city was built on. It is no wonder that Segovia is a major tourist attraction in Spain. 

Narrow Street in Segovia, Spain

 

When I visited Spain, everything was familiar after having lived in Latin American for years. It is interesting to explore the different items sold in the stores and in vending machines. The density of the population is much higher than it is in Utah Valley, for instance. You can see how the architecture strongly influenced construction in New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California.