A "goose chase"

On our last day in Colorado, Paul and I headed up to Boulder for lunch with Keith and John. My sister Jenny was anxious for us to see a "point of geological interest." She gave us directions to the corner of Baseline and Broadway and was very mysterious about what we'd find there. So we parked and walked around. The first place we came to was a little fire station with a little green shed behind it. That didn't seem to be the spot, so I called her. She asked if I could see a bank. Paul leaned out into the road and did, indeed, see one catty-corner across the very busy intersection.

We headed over and found what John later described as the "Mason-Dixon" line for the Kansas and Nebraska Territories. It marks the 40th parallel, which was surveyed when the territories came into being. After reading The True Adventures of Lidie Newton by Jane Smiley this winter, I know a bit more about the conflicts between slave holders and abolitionists in Kansas territory prior to the Civil War. Here I am, talking to Jenny on the phone, letting her know we did find the large rock that marks the spot. So glad I brought my phone along as this was, indeed, an interesting spot.