The weather in Colorado is unpredictable. And mostly changing really quick... For example the snow can come fast and rashly. But the sun the next day can melt it out. And the next day the roads are clean and dry again and luring us to go to the mountains... The only question is where? And Central City is one of the best places to go if you want some coldness during hot summer days or coolness during the Winter... And this is not about cool weather (in the Winter it's always this way) but about cool place to be ;)
This is a World stereotype that says the casinos are everywhere in
the USA and many people think you can gamble wherever you want. In fact
there weren't any casinos in Colorado before 1992 (that was a huge
surprise for me when I found out). And this year dramatically changed the history of
Central City and Black Hawn. Both towns, actually, were fading and
their history was boring and simple - they were dying... But once
gambling was allowed, both of them found a second life and now, 30
years later, they are thriving (maybe the reality is not that simple, but... who cares about that?).
Just 40-60 minutes to drive from Denver and you can spend some time
losing your money. But at least you are having some fun, right? That is
why the people are always there, day and night, weekdays or weekends.
So one day two days after a snowfall we drove up there but... we had no
plan to gamble ;) For us it was more interesting to look around...
And that's the reason why we are rarely going to Black Hawk - this
is not much left of the old town. But Central City is a different story.
It still looks as it looked a 100 years ago (or, at least, close...).
Main Street is built up with the houses erected there in 1901-1905 after a big fire destroyed most of the original town.
There were stores, businesses and hotels at that time but now most of
the buildings are occupied with casinos, souvenir and antique stores and
the restaurants. Yeah, you can just take a step inside and start
playing if you want.
If you turn from Main St to the left, you can find some really old
buildings there - Opera House, old Police station, stables and Masonic
Lodge (still working, by the way) are still there and this street
doesn't change much after over 100 years of existence.
When you are tired climbing steep streets, go back to Black Hawk. And the best area is just between two of the towns. Small and colorful houses look really attractive and nice. So, let's walk along them and enjoy the view.
Some of the buildings in Black Hawk originate from the same time -
the railway station and a few brick buildings. They were converted into
casinos in the 1990th but still look authentic from outside, so we had a
good time exploring the streets and looking for some history.
It was a really nice March Saturday and we liked it a lot. Later we
came back here many times but didn't spend that much time exploring and
wandering around. But that was our first time and it made it really
memorable. And, just for a record - we didn't gamble so our wallets returned back home unhurted ;)
Pictures were taken on March 29, 2009.
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