Paradise Found

Five years ago, I married my first summer love, Doug.  It is funny how things work out.  Almost 50 years after we first met, we found ourselves very happily married.  I was the city girl, having spent almost my whole adult life in New York and Doug was the country boy having spent 25 years in Westcliffe CO.  Irony. Doug was always the cosmopolitan, urbane one, and although I always dreamed of living in New York, I knew my role was most likely to marry, take good care of a family, keep a nice house and raise good kids.  Just goes to show, you never know.

Believe me, I am not the outdoor type.  I have never camped, or hiked, or had a swim in a lake.  And I never plan to do any of these things.  But I did learn in my Summer out West was what the simple life is, and how hard families work in our country to keep their ranches alive.

A few months after we married, we decided  to spend the summer in Westcliffe.  In March of that year, Doug needed to return to Westcliffe to handle a property closing  and we thought it would be a perfect time – pre summer – for me to see what Westcliffe (or the West) is all about.  Doug left first and I followed, flying into Colorado Springs where he arranged for us to stay at the ever beautiful Broadmoor.  The original hotel was built in 1871 and through the years has remained privately held, although the owners changed every now and then.  A place with exquisite furnishings, several restaurants, ballroom, three golf courses, a man-made lake and pool (and at one time, even a zoo) , it is an old-world resort of true luxury.  We settled into our beautiful room, had drinks on our balcony followed by a delicious dinner, spent the night and the next morning we were off to Westcliffe, seventy-five miles away.

Doug was driving a car that was known as “Little Red”, a 1987 Subaru having over 200,000 miles on the speedometer.  A real ranch car.  When I got into the car there was reddish dirt on the floor – something I had never seen before – then again, spending most of my life in New York City, what would I know about dirt – or cars in general for that matter. .  I came to know later, that dirt on a car floor is a fact of life when  you live in the West.

We drove out of the gracious Broadmoor entrance and through Colorado Springs which is in the valley of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains – the location of Pike’s Peak.  Here I was in the West, driving on very flat land that was surrounded by majestic mountains.  For someone who has travelled a great deal all over the world, the American West was new to me – believe me, I was in awe.  Even in a small city such as Colorado Springs, life is very casual, but I was to learn more about casual as we got closer to Westcliffe.  As a note to remember, locals,  when travelling to Colorado Springs would always say “I’m going down to the Springs.”  I couldn’t understand this because Westcliffe is southwest of the Springs.  I came to know later, they were talking about coming down off the mountains to go to Colorado Springs!

As we drove closer to Westcliffe, we were parallel (and very close) to the Arkansas River with steep mountains on the other side of the road.  We were so close to the wild river that I was holding my breath. There were rafters that were experiencing a pretty rough ride, and I chalked it up to another thing I knew I never wanted to experience.

We made the turn at Texas Creek to Highway 69 which would bring us right into the center of Westcliffe.  Along the way I saw mountain sheep – the kind with the huge curled horns, lots of ranches on flat land and lots of cattle and cowboys riding horses!    Doug alerted me that we were finally coming into town and there we were.  We didn’t stop, but I could see it was a town with one main strip and no traffic lights.    We turned on to Hermit Rd., then a left on to Macy and another right to Schoolfield.  Please know that it is ten miles from the center of town to the ranch!  And there, up a driveway through open gates was Wolff Mountain Ranch – yes, that is the picture above.  The little ranch house sits on 160 acres of grazing land and hay meadow.  In back of the house were two very old buildings – both small.  One, I am told one was the cabin used by Jason Robards during the filming of Comes a Horseman.  Other movies filmed in Westcliffe, to name a few, were Vengeance Valley, Saddle in the Wind, Cat Ballou. How the West was Won and Continental Divide.  Take note, that there are no hotels of any size in Westcliffe, so ranches were rented for the actors to live in.  And of course, the townsfolk served as extras in the movies.

There was a huge amount of snow on the ground when we arrived at the ranch which was at 9000 ft.  And right in our back yard were the Sangre de Cristos.  I actually couldn’t believe how big these mountains were, or how beautiful. I really saw what was envisioned by the words “purple mountains majesty.”  True to the description, they  are covered with snow at their peaks most of the year and stand in quiet dignity.

The Wolff Mountain Ranch house was built in three pieces: the first part – the living room, a bedroom and what we called a baby room – is a structure that is the oldest building in Custer County, CO.  It has the original, very long. eight over eight  original windows all having tiny bubbles and ripples.  The floors are wide planks  showing numerous repairs that consisted of hammering tops of tin cans over the knots of wood that fell out sometime ago.  The large, bright kitchen was mid-century:  metal cabinets with a sink included, all in one piece. The appliances were quite modern (no dishwasher) and the floor is linoleum tile.  The kitchen, along with the laundry room was built sometime in the 50s;  and lastly, the bedroom with windows on every side, and a newer bathroom were built in the 60s  It was very plainly decorated – in the true style of a long-time bachelor – the main feature was a recliner.   My mind was already whirring about how I could make it feel like home.  Knowing we would be soon returning for the summer,  in the VW station wagon, there would be plenty of room for things like wine glasses, a set of dishes, silverware, a few lamps, cloth napkins, etc.  More about this in Part II.

Doug brought my suitcase in, opened it, and asked “where do you think you are going to wear any of these clothes?”  I almost started to cry!  They were the most casual of what I owned – Ralph Lauren boots, suede pants, cashmere sweaters and a nice barn jacket.  Luckily I did have a few pair of chinos and cotton turtle necks and that is what I ended up wearing for the whole trip.  Most definitely, you don’t need to get dressed up for anything, and a good pair of sturdy LL Bean boots can be worn day and night.

The first night on the ranch, Doug’s friends all dropped in – unannounced – which is very typical in Westcliffe.  From that first night, I learned to always make enough dinner for extra people!  The gang was interested in seeing who Doug had married  (a little intimidating)  but we had a wonderful time. One of Doug’s good friends – Ed Thorton – brought his viola and gave us a wonderful wedding gift – he played, so beautifully, “My Romance”.  For the rest of the evening, we all sat around the kitchen table listening to the entertainment, talking and drinking and celebrating.  A very memorable night for me.

The next day I woke up to a chilly house.  There is a different heating system in each area of the house – very typical in the west – as are pot belly or wood stoves instead of fireplaces.  The potbelly in the main room of the house was almost as tall as me!  The house soon warmed up and coffee was on.  Above the sink in the kitchen is a double window which allows a panormamic vista featuring  Westcliffe, in the valley of the Wet Mountains, and the south face of Pike’s Peak.  My first breathtaking look of a gorgeous, snowy morning in Colorado.  And did I mention that we didn’t have any access to cable TV?  Or the NY Times?  But we did have a radio with a great local station that played bluegrass or country and western while the ranchers were starting out their day, pop or jazz or rock and roll mid day and in the evening, classical and local and national news every now and then.  So who needed anything more?

We had a patio right in front of the kitchen looking down on the town, and outside of our bedroom another patio looking the opposite way to high mountains.  Even though there was a lot of snow on the ground, the sun was so bright and warm, we sat on the back patio most afternoons.  One day as I was sitting outside, I heard a very loud sound and called Doug.  I wasn’t sure what it was and as we both watched in wonder, a small river (not a creek) came rushing down from the peaks above our house, kept on going through the ranch across the street – and surely further.  It was so strong that a small dog would have been swept away!  Ah, the beginnings of Spring.

At night, we left all the window coverings up and as we laid in our bed, and looked upward, the stars were like I never saw them before – I felt as though I could touch them – so many more than I had ever seen; and along with the view we were kept awake by the coyotes, howling in joy of their new-found dinner feast.

Doug was the long-time, handsome and nice, single guy in town so it was big news that he brought home a new wife.  Even when I went to the small grocery store in the center of town,  the ladies who were at the check out counters were whispering and smiling.  A nice feeling for an older, new bride.

On Easter Sunday we went into town to attend Mass.  Albeit a small town, Westcliffe offers several different churches, including one called “The Cowboy Church” during Rodeo.    Westcliffe is a town where everyone goes about their business daily.  There is a small bakery, flower shop, the barber, a bowling alley and my favorite, the Village Shop – a real dry goods store.  Trips to Pueblo or Canon City for “big shopping” are planned events.  Void of hospital or pharmacy, there is a clinic that is opened on a part-time basis.  A hospital or specialist is fifty miles away.  Everyone knows each other in this small town and county – and even when you drive on the roads, everyone waves as they pass by.

For my first look at Westcliffe, I was happy to get acquainted with all of Doug’s friends, in particular, Ed, the fiddler; Johnnie Gust, the most talented and creative mechanical engineer ever, and his little  puppy, Mia; and the perfect picture of a real-life cowboy, Roy Diekman and his faithful pup, Bernard.  I really couldn’t wait to return, and return we did, just in time for Memorial Day.

Stay tuned for Part II

Till next time.

E