Crystal Mill near Marble Colorado is such an amazing, historical site. The mill was built in 1892 as part of a mining operation in the area. Its primary purpose was to provide power for the nearby silver mines, as well as for the town of Crystal. The mill was situated on a rocky outcrop along the Crystal River, which allowed for the installation of a water wheel to generate hydroelectric power.
The construction of the Crystal Mill was a remarkable engineering feat considering the remote location and the challenges faced during that time. The heavy equipment and materials had to be transported to the site using mules and wagons over difficult terrain.
I love taking pictures of some of the most beautiful places on this amazing planet. What was once a hobby has now become my second career path in life and I love it so much. It wasn’t always that way though. I grew up playing music in my teen years. Drums and lead guitar in various bands in Florida. After having a hit record in my hometown of Fort Myers Florida, I went to visit the local radio station that made our record so popular. I still remember seeing the DJ behind the glass spinning the records and I was hooked. I started hanging around the radio station begging them to let me on the air. I knew I could do this. Eventually the manager gave in and I was in hog heaven. I spent years in pop and country radio starting first as a D.J. Then in our mid-20’s both my wife and I had a life changing faith conversion. This eventually motivated us to start a non-profit organization in order to begin one of America’s first Top 40 Christian radio stations to positively impact teens and young adults in Fort Myers. That one station eventually grew by many more which took us to Colorado where I ended up starting 5 new radio stations throughout the state. When I stepped down as CEO in 2017, Way-FM was in over 35 cities. I retired early from radio after severe hearing loss came upon me almost overnight. This shattered by ability to enjoy music anymore which was so awful. The instruments and singing now sounded completely out of tune. It was so hard to deal with for a long time. Music was such an important part of my life up to this point and now I couldn’t enjoy it any longer.
We left Colorado and moved to Nashville Tennessee where our grown kids had settled. Not knowing what I would do next (I knew I could not return to radio anymore due to my hearing loss). One day some friends saw a few of my mountain pictures in our home and they said……”this stuff is good……people would buy these”. I didn’t believe them at first but I kept hearing it from other friends.
We were planning a summer trip with family heading back out to Colorado for a week. Without telling anyone in my family, I decided to bring a couple small canvas pictures on the trip. We were headed to our timeshare in Breckenridge and I had some pictures I took of Breckenridge a few years earlier.
One morning with almost zero confidence and a lot of fear of being rejected, I worked up the nerve to take a couple of my pictures to shops along Main Street in Breckenridge. To my shock and amazement the first gift shop said “YES, these are good. We want to buy some of these and carry them in our store”. They ordered 5 pictures which totaled less than $300 but to me, it was like I hit the jackpot…..which is weird because in my radio career I managed 7 figure budgets. I almost ran back to our condo to share with my family that the first gift shop I visited LOVED my art. WOW!!!!! I was on top of the world and a new career was born.
