Visited Apogee and drove by Estes

[Pat_B]

Took the family on a quick vacation to Colorado. Visited Tim & staff at Apogee and got the tour. Tim was extremely nice and showed us the whole place. Our kids liked his dog Pluto

Drove by Estes a few days later. I was last there sometime in the late 1970's and didn't remember that a state highway was in front of the place (might not have been there at the time). We had a few hours of travel ahead of us and it was getting dark. Drove through the parking lot and on a side street. Man, the place is a mess. The facility doesn't look to be maintained very well. I wish I would have taken some pictures in the rear but I had already dragged my family to enough obscure places in Colorado The buildings in the rear are in poor condition. Pretty obvious that they do very little production. I can't understand if they are for sale why they wouldn't increase their curb appeal a little more, unless they are assuming the operation would be moved elsewhere. Penrose sure is in the middle of nowhere. Spent the earlier part of the day looking at historic dinosaur quarries and almost getting killed on Skyline Drive in Canon City (a story for another time....).

 

[shrox]

Just 6 or so more hours and you could have visited Quest...look for the Mad Max car parked there.

 

[Pat_B]

I thought about it, but the family wouldn't have been too happy-- just had them at NARAM last month. Anyway, it's another 6 hours to Quest?? I love that part of Colorado and the whole four-corner's region. One of these days when I visit UT I'll stop by....

 

[powderburner]

Pat,

Do you and your crew enjoy camping & hiking, or are you the "drive-by" sort of tourists?

Have you been through Durango, and north to Silverton and Ouray?

 

[Pat_B]

My kids are 6, 9, & 12 years old (girls) and I try to get them out to do hands-on types of things. We own a popup camper and try to go on one long vacation each year. This year was our 'dinosaur' vacation. Hit a lot of the sites on the front range and found a private quarry where they got to find their own fossils (we homeschool). Anyway, this was a trip where we actually flew out to CO rather than using our camper just do to my wife's work schedule.

I've been to Durango many years ago and love that area. One issue with our camper is that we have to watch out for areas that have bears .

 

[RoyAtl]

Drove by Estes a few days later. I was last there sometime in the late 1970's and didn't remember that a state highway was in front of the place (might not have been there at the time).
....
The buildings in the rear are in poor condition. Pretty obvious that they do very little production. I can't understand if they are for sale why they wouldn't increase their curb appeal a little more, unless they are assuming the operation would be moved elsewhere.

You can easily take a "drive-by tour" Estes at https://maps.google.com . Type "Estes Industries" in the search box, zoom in, and then drag the tiny man on the zoom control onto either highway 50 or H Street.

The state highway was there (I think its one of the reasons they bought that property) but I bet it was just a two or three lane road back in 1968.