Hiking

Teeny orange caterpillar of some sort.

We hiked about 6 miles, round trip, through part of Golden Gate Canyon State Park to Windy Peak. It was fun and difficult and very worth it.

:smile:

The spring, she is pretty. In May, she is so pretty. 

:sigh:

The winter, she stinks. In April, she stinks so much. 

Gratitude for So Much Luck

I have just spent the last 90 minutes prepping food for my work day lunches and reorganizing my refrigerator and pantry. I am tired and it's past my bedtime, but I am so grateful that I can do this. To have all this food and this space in which to prepare it -- it's so much more than so many have. I am so grateful.

We have just experienced torrential rains for the last 5 days. Thousands of people within a 50 mile radius have lost their homes to flood waters. They may be sleeping on cots or a damp floor in a shelter with a stale sandwich to eat for breakfast tomorrow. And that's nothing compared with the desperate, interminable poverty experienced by millions around the globe.

Yet here I stand in my comfortable kitchen, typing away on a $400 phone. My biggest problem is that I need to get upstairs to my bed. I need to go to bed so I can get up for my job and then go to school tomorrow evening. I have a job and I have a secondary education at my fingertips.

This is so much luck. 

Camping

Campfire.

Rushing water. 

Crickets. 

S'mores.

Ladder ball. 

The freshest of mountain air. 

An occasional train rumbling and screeching through the canyon. 

Levi's laugh that begins with an asthmatic-sounding grunt. 

Lance's guffaws. 

Ashley's giggle. 

Sisters and brothers and friends around a campfire, under a clear sky with music and full bellies.

An afternoon of wading in the Colorado River behind us, a morning of hiking to Hanging Lake in front of us. 

This is the life. 

Winter Won't Quit

I am sick of this. Truly.

Wind + Dirt + Traffic = Bad

Samuel and I are stuck on I-25. We were making great time after I picked him up from the ex-husband. Until we hit this. We have been sitting here for almost an hour. I have lost track of how many emergency vehicles have passed us in the median and on the shoulder. There was even a helicopter. I have mapped a couple of other routes to get us home but they would take at least 4 hours.

I have a hunch that we came upon this immediately after it happened. As soon as we were stopped I did a traffic check and the back up was only a mile. I am so glad we stopped to use the bathroom when we did. I hate to think of what would have happened if we'd been a mile closer.

Con. Den. Sa. Tion.

It never happens here. Except when we have a 30 minute typhoon.

Earth Weirdness

Last night we got home from the Astros' game about 11:00 and the kids went straight to bed.  I did too but I didn't sleep right away.  I have to catch up on Words with Friends you know.  That takes a while.  Plus, I just updated Angry Birds Rio and this requires that I attempt all levels as soon as possible.

So there I was, lying in bed freeing little birdies, killing marmosets and constructing words I didn't know were words until WWF came along.  I was just starting to feel sleepy and about to shut off my phone when my bed moved.  I am not kidding.  It was a very slow, steady movement back and forth, 3 times.  At first I thought one of the kids was climbing onto my bed.  They weren't.

And then.  Then.  Then my hyperactive imagination went straight to the Boogey Man.  Don't laugh.  I had this fear as a kid that there was a Boogey Man under my bed that would grab my ankles when I tried to go to the bathroom or something.  For that reason, I always leapt off my bed a good 2 feet or so when I had to pee in the middle of the night.

So what did I do last night?  I leapt off my bed, turned on the light and flipped up the dust ruffle, golf club in hand to smash the Boogey Man in the face.  There was no Boogey Man. Whew, I dodged a bullet there.

I lay back down wondering what in the world would have caused my bed to move like that.  And I had this fleeting thought, "What if it was an earthquake?  Is that even possible?" And then I laughed at myself. That's about as likely as the Boogey Man scenario, I thought.  And then I went to sleep.

But wait! We did actually have an earthquake in Colorado last night. Its epicenter was near Trinidad, which is one of the two towns where the ex-husband and I meet to trade off the kids. Apparently people felt it a good 75 miles north of here, even. So weird.  Maybe I need to re-think the likelihood of this Boogey Man.

And there was another earthquake, a bit bigger, near Washington, D.C. today. What must the incredible odds be of earthquakes as big as these in two places so unused to having earthquakes? In the same 24 hour period? I'm telling you, this is serious weirdness.

Winter

Winter has finally arrived. It took a while but it made it and it is not messing around.  We had a high today of something ridiculous like 14F.  Crazy.  These are icicles on the bumper of my car.

I'm sending this from my car while the windshield thaws out.  There is actually frost on the inside of the glass.  Brrrr.

IloveColoradoIloveColoradoIloveColorado.  I really, really do but there are times here that I must remind myself of that over and over and over again.  It's not unlike dealing with a truculent child.

Cost is Disproportionate to Value

This sticker cost me $285.51.

Colorado National Monument

Breath-taking. Spellbinding. Mesmerizing. Magical.

Palisade, Colorado

Oh, what a weekend! There aren't words for most everything we did and saw and ate and drank. So I'll post photographs with some brief explanations. Keep in mind that the pictures can't possibly do any of the subjects justice. It was magical.

The bed and breakfast where we stayed --
 a charming Victorian that has been stunningly renovated and is run by the sweetest couple.  We had fabulous breakfasts every morning and relaxed in the heavenly hot tub in the evenings.  We can't wait to go back.

The view from the backyard.

Our room and bathroom. Told you it was stunning.

The winery across the street.  We had a personal tour with the winemaker and his wife.  That man is a viniculture genius.  He really knows his stuff.  I learned a lot about wine and how to better appreciate different varietals. They liked us, too because they invited us back that evening for an Independence Day celebration with some of the best food I've ever had.  We're talking roasted pork rib quesadillas with cherry jalapeno salsa, green salad with mandarin oranges and white wine dressing.  Oh, man.  It was tremendous.

The town is small so we did a lot of walking.  The railroad tracks run right through the middle of town so we had to wait on a train.  In case you didn't know, it's rather loud.

We saw some interesting signs.

And some interesting plants.  I still have no idea what this was.  It almost looks like a fungus that has overtaken the the tree but I can't be sure.

One of our favorite places to eat, ever.  They serve the best Greek gyro I've ever had.  I might change my mind if I have a real gyro in Greece some day but since that's not happening any time soon I'll keep going back here.

This particular day, however, I had a garden veggie sandwich with sweet potato fries.  It was so good I'm still thinking about it.

We toured another winery.  This one wasn't as interesting because the tour was given by an employee of the vineyard.  I know it's not possible to tour with winemakers all the time, but it does add a nice personal touch when we can.

Scrap metal sculptures outside another winery.

Awards won by our favorite winery.  I loved every single wine I tasted at this place.  It's called Garfield Estates and they are fabulous.  Paul joined their membership club and I won a free bottle of wine when I entered their drawing.  Yay!

We also ate at the Palisade Brewing Company.  They're an interesting place.

The brew delicious beer and serve delectable French dip sandwiches.

On the way home we stopped at Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs for lunch.

I had a veggie burger that was To. Die. For.  And, of course, more sweet potato fries.  For the record, Palisade Cafe and Grill makes better fries.

We lunched on the patio by this fountain.  The weather was perfect.

After lunch we walked around town a bit before getting back in the car for more driving.  Glenwood Springs is a great place to vacation.  This pool is fed by natural hot springs.  I'm dying to go there and get in it some day.

There are both Hotel Colorado and Hotel Denver in Glenwood Springs.  I don't think that should be allowed.   It's too confusing.

I'll give them a pass though, because Hotel Denver is attached to Glenwood Brewpub that makes more good beer.

More sights in Glenwood Springs.

  And then we got back on the road for the rest of the drive home.  We saw thousands of dead trees like these.  They're being killed off by the bark beetle.  It's a sad but necessary part of natural forest life.

The Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel.  Did you know that it's 1.7 miles long?  It feels like it, too.  Funny tidbit -- that car in front of us has a license plate that reads HRVRDMAN and the plate is inside a frame that says 'Harvard Alumni' on it.  Um, you think?

On the other side of the tunnel we hit this.  Record-breaking holiday traffic.  We sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic for 2 hours.  It was bad.  It was maddening.  It was hot.  It was yuck.

I left out a big section of our trip.  On July 4th we went up onto the Colorado National Monument, took lots of pictures and had a picnic.  We watched the fireworks down in Grand Junction.  I'll put that in the next post because there are almost as many pictures of that as there are of the whole rest of the weekend.