My first stop in LionsHead, which is the older part of Vail was
LionsHead Jewelers, http://www.lionsheadjewelers.com/

Besides for having the most beautiful jewelry in the world, they also have all kinds of mineral and fossil specimens from all over the world.
They were kind enough to allow me to take some pictures!

The first pic is an awesome display of Brazilian Smoky, Clear, and Citrine Quartz Crystals.

The next three pics are slabs all from the same Brazilian Agate.
It is said to be one of the biggest ever found and was found quite a while ago. The story goes the granfather did not want to cut it and neither did his son, but after they had passed on the grandson decided it was time and cut the agate into 31 slabs. The grandson did not want to sell the slabs individually so the owner of LionsHead got all 31 slabs. here are three.

A couple Amethyst geodes from Uraguay and a couple of store pics.

And finally,some fossils, from LionsHead Jewelers.
Very interesting!

Thanks, Dude!
On with the travelogue! Just one family's summer sight-seeing vacation in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Monday morning we were off on first big adventure! And since historic Leadville is only 39 miles and 60 minutes away, and it is home to the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, that was our first roadtrip.
About 5 miles west of Vail on I-70 is Hwy 24 East. Looks like the road runs more north and south to me, but they call it east and west. Anyway we took Hwy 24 East south from I-70 and about 3 miles down the road we could stand it no longer and had to pull over for pics.

First pic is my sister Debra posing, and the next picture is of the view behind her. The third pic is looking northwest up the gorge from where we are standing.
Note the railroad tracks running along the river at the bottom of the gorge. Those tracks run like that all the way to Leadville and beyond just to get ore from the many, many, mines.

One more little group of pics taken on the way to Leadville.
First pic was on a roadside display and the plexiglass cover is getting pretty degraded so it is hard to read. But worth trying.
The second pic is the valley mentioned in the description above.
Third pic is of my other sister, Tricia, and the last two are pics of what she is taking a picture of.
Ever since leaving Gilman we had been saying, "Should we stop here? Should we stop here?" We finally just stopped here.

Of course, after lunch it was time for the museum, first pic below, but will put my report and pictures from the museum in the "Museum Minerals" section below.
We all spent the rest of the afternoon at the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum. It is the main attraction in Leadville. They do a great job of showing someone who knows nothing at all about digging a mine into the side of the mountain what it is all about with several recreated "mines" and a coal mine. Excellent museum!

Before heading back I just wanted to drive out 5th Street. East or west out of Leadville, 5th Street takes you through the old mined areas for miles and miles. We went east because there are a few operating gold mines a "short distance" out of town.

Thanks, Scott, I'm glad you are enjoying them. You need to get out here sometime. This country is a whole different world than North Carolina. Different plants, different trees, different birds, and oh yeah, Mountains! Lots of mountains!
Just a couple more outings to share and the rest of the pics will go in the museum section. Tomorrow, Saturday, I will be spending the whole day at the Colorado School of Mines Museum.

Here's one of the spots I found to sneak away for a smoke. I used the smoking area provided by the resort the first night we got here. The next morning I went out with my coffee for a morning smoke and they had removed the standing plastic ashtray. I asked the maintenance man what happened to the ashtray and he pointed to this melted pile of plastic sitting in one corner of the parking lot.
So I almost burnt the place down my first night there.
That's when I decided to find my own spots, like this one.

Horsetail Grass removes toxins and other pollutants from the soil and is just pretty cool looking stuff.
First pic taken in the morning, last two in the late afternoon. This was a good spot.