Breckenridge Day 11

Saturday 4th February
Today has been sunny and bright, though very cold. It has been 20 degrees F, which is just under -7 degrees C. As it was so nice and sunny, I decided to go for a walk. The pavements are piled quite high with snow, but the sun has melted most of the snow and some of the ice on the roads.

This is the scene outside the Inn, which is a historic building dating from the 1860s.

As it was such a lovely day, the horse and buggy was out, hoping somebody would want a ride.nI was waiting for the bus though, which I caught up to the village, then I walked back to the Inn, very slowly.
Breckenridge is a town which had a lot of historic wooden buildings.

There are also statues all round the town. This one commemorates the donkeys used by the gold prospectors.

There is also a town clock.

I crossed the road, and went to look at the snow sculptures. Every year, Breckenridge holds this international competition, and people come from many different countries to carve amazing sculptures out of huge blocks of snow. My favourite was the bear with the salmon, though he didnt win any prizes. One of his paws has dropped off too. You can see the very artistic entry from Finland just behind him.

One of the reasons I liked the bear was that the back of the sculpture was also very interesting, with a baby bear and more salmon.

My hands got very cold, since I had to take off my gloves to take the pictures, and I took lots. There were many fewer sculptures than there were when we were here two years ago though. I imagine there isn't so much money to finance trips from other countries.
After I had admired all the sculptures, I walked back to Main Street and continued back down it towards the Inn. The road up the hill from Main Street is very steep, and I made the mistake of walking on the side which has no pavement. The snow was piled high, and I waded through it up the hill, having to stop many times to catch my breath. I was completely out of breath when I got back, and had to rest on the sofa for quite a while before I felt able to climb the stairs back to our room. Once I got there, I had an hour of the oxygen, and was reassured later to see that my blood oxygen level was 95%. Obviously, I must be getting better, though I am still very breathless and still coughing and sneezing a bit.
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