Home of: Robert & Leona Hemmerich

DINOSAUR | This week’s “home of” honorees are Robert and Leona Hemmerich. They have called the community of Blue Mountain east of Dinosaur their home for 16 years. Robert and Leona will be married 37 years in December.Robert is self-employed. “He installs, finishes and refinishes hardwood flooring. He also does wood doctoring in the Vail valley,” Leona said.Leona business partnered with Bill Mitchem in 2003 and they purchased the building for the Bedrock Depot in Dinosaur. “We started out with ice cream, coffee and gallery stuff, then we found out we were set up good enough to do sandwiches. I make the ice cream and the wheat, sourdough and potato rolls from scratch. The hot sandwiches are my own creation. We want our store and food to be unique and different from what you are going to find somewhere else. People refer to it as an oasis. We believe in offering quality at reasonable prices. We try to open up around May 1 and close the end of October. Occasionally we’ve been open the first week or two in November,” Leona added.Leona was the manager at the Colorado Welcome Center in Dinosaur for eight years, but quit in 2006 to concentrate on her business.Robert and Leona have two daughters. Their daughter Connie Zammit, her husband Charles and 1 1/2 year-old grandson Elliot live on an Air Force base in Florida where Charles is stationed. Their other daughter, Priscilla Rose, lives at home and works at CNCC.“We enjoy winemaking. Robert likes to hunt. We also keep busy with our horses, llamas, goats, chickens, geese, dogs and a 30-year old parrot,” said Leona.Leona likes “the openness of area. It always struck me that there was something special about the area and Dinosaur National Monument. I’m not a city person. I enjoy having my space and like being able to grow a garden.”