Changes

This is our parent's original home in Cripple Creek...

And here's a picture I took yesterday of where it once stood.  Change is inevitable, but driving by there still gives me a pang.

A few years after gambling was legalized in Cripple Creek, their old house was torn down to make way for a giant casino called The Wildwood. The sleepy, semi-derelict mountain town my parents choose for retirement was gone.  They moved to a new house in another part of town, but we all have fond memories of their original home in the bird-filled meadow.

When Coloradans voted in 1991 to allow gambling in three mountain towns, they were led to believe that "limited-stakes gaming" didn't mean Las Vegas style casinos.  The state would supposedly use the tax revenue from a few slot machines for historic preservation, and Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek would be revived.

Of course that tuned out to be nonsense, and outside money soon poured into these small towns. In Black Hawk, there was plenty of room to build, and big glitzy casinos erased the historical town.

Cripple Creek Bennett Avenue
(yesterday)

I think Cripple Creek fared better. Much of the credit goes to our Dad and his colleagues serving on the City Council in the 1990's.  They put into place strict regulations to preserve the historic structures and prohibit new outdoor neon lights.

Along Bennett Avenue, the crumbling brick buildings were gutted, expanded and joined to create picturesque gambling "storefronts."  Once you step inside however, you'll find yourself in a cacophony of lights and noise like a miniature Las Vegas casino.  It's a jarring juxtaposition behind the facade of an old Cripple Creek.

The Cripple Creek marketing campaigns show beautiful young people, but the typical Cripple Creek gambler is a senior citizen and conservative player. Sound familiar?

Well, I'm drinking coffee and watching the snow flurries this morning.  It's much prettier than the fog and cold drizzle we had yesterday.  The top of Pikes Peak is getting good dump of snow, which should be a spectacular sight when the weather finally improves and sun comes out. That will happen (of course) when I leave on Saturday.