• Vacation Reading

    Posted on by Don

    Congratulations to my niece Olivia, who graduates high school today!

    Some books…

    I brought both The Dazzle of Day and Deacon King Kong along on this trip, and finished them both. Both had long ago become chores to get through (especially Dazzle), and both turned out OK by the time they ended (especially Deacon — Dazzle of Day was just unrelentingly depressing almost to the very end).

    Being on vacation meant that we had to visit a few bookstores, and that meant more new books:

    Thin Air, by Richard K. Morgan: I burned through this one in a few days, and finished it on the flight home. This was another in my long series of “bubblegum for the mind” sci-fi books, and it was classic Richard K. Morgan: a genetically modified super-warrior, washed up and gone vaguely rogue on Mars, gets himself involved in some serious interplanetary spy-soldier drama. Lots of hyper-violence, high tech, and cheesy sex… I already can’t remember the hero’s name, but it was a fun read while it lasted.

    Piranesi, by Susannah Clarke: I’d been planning to read this for a while, but put it off to read her first book (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which took me forever to finish) then other things intervened… But I picked it up in Colorado Springs, and am now about a quarter of the way through. I’m not sure what it’s really about yet, but so far it’s the journal of an earnest, somewhat naive (amnesiac?) young man named Piranesi, who lives in the ruins of a giant house, which seems to be the only thing in his universe. It feels like something sinister is coming down the pike, but so far the vibe is a lot like The Slow Regard of Silent Things, and the world-building — the part I like best anyway — is really good.


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  • Lay Your Head On Summer’s Freckled Knee

    Posted on by Don

    Morning weigh-in: 171.5#, 11.5% BF (not great, not terrible)

    Today was the first weigh-in since we got back from vacation, and it’s also the first “fast day” since before Denver — who diets on vacation? But now I’m back, and back in the groove.

    I got in a towpath ride yesterday, my first bike ride in weeks. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, and Spring (which had just been starting to happen when we left), was in full bloom along the towpath. All sorts of flowers (phlox, king’s rocket) along the path, with fully greened-up trees all around, blooming with flowers of their own and filling the air with perfume, just perfect as I rode along the sun-dappled trail with the water sparkling next to me.

    Anne went out earlier on a road ride with Julie, and reported that she could feel a positive effect from our weeks at altitude. I noticed it too: my perceived effort and my heart rate were both lower than I expected, and I seemed to be cruising along at a good clip too. Then I reached my turnaround, and realized I’d had a tailwind on the way out… Still, I felt pretty good considering my time away from the bike, and had a good overall pace despite the wind.

    Today was the CAT/Bethlehem Bike To Work Day festivities and short ride, and in a few minutes I’m bicycling over to a doctor’s appointment. Bike bike bike…


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  • Denver, And Departure

    Posted on by Don

    Well, we’re home. We flew to Philly yesterday and rented a car to get the rest of the way — hard to believe, but that’s probably the easiest way to get between PHL and here. We were home in time to vote, but there’s no food here, the grass was ( was! ) a foot tall when we drove up, and the car had trouble after sitting for two weeks — it sounds like something is broken and clanking inside one of the wheels, no idea how that could have happened just sitting there. But now the car’s been towed to the shop, the lawn has been tamed, my first load of laundry is done and I’m gearing up for a bike ride, my first ride in two weeks…

    Our time back in Denver after Colorado Springs was not too crazy, we just stayed in a nice hotel downtown and did some exploring: we saw the Denver Art Museum, and visited the REI “flagship store,” and watched the lunar eclipse from the fancy rooftop bar we could see from our hotel window. We’d returned the rental, so we did everything on foot, except for one time, when we rented those electric scooters we saw everywhere. (Sorry, no photos!) We did see Emmi & Kyle for dinner a few more times, and also managed to get together for an afternoon with my nephew Chris.

    For completeness, here the are photos from the final phase of our trip:

    Bird With A Pearl Earring
    Veterinary Emergency Group Conference
    Chris And Me
    The REI Mothership
    Sunday In Confluence Park
    Me And The Face
    Colorado State Capitol
    Denver City Hall
    Nose And Carrot?
    Denver Map (Sanborn Map?)
    Le Meridien Rooftop Bar
    The Rockies From Our Hotel Window
    Giant Blue Bear
    Rockies From The Train

    And that was our trip!


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  • Florissant Fossil Beds

    Posted on by Don

    Our trip today was up into the mountains, out near Cripple Creek to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. This was a place where, 34 million years ago, a lake/creek area was buried by volcanic activity — all these giant redwoods were buried to about 15 feet or so, and what was buried got fossilized while what was above rotted away. (All sorts of other plants, as well as fish, insects, and small mammals, were fossilized as well.) Fast forward to about 50 years ago, and this area was saved from development and the national monument was born…

    Overview
    Pike’s Peak From The Rear
    Fossil Weathering Research
    Fossil Redwood Stump
    Fossil Redwood Stump
    Fossil Redwood Stumps
    Fossil Redwood Stump
    The Back Of Pike’s Peak
    Anne
    The Big Stump
    Semi-Arid Plant
    Fossil Redwood Stump
    Across the Field
    The largest Fossil Stump, Maybe
    Ground Squirrel Holes
    Pasque Flower
    How To Find Stumps
    Desert Flower
    Ant Hill (Thatching Ants)
    Fossil Plants
    Fossil Plants
    Fossil Fish And Insects
    Fossil Insects
    Fossil Insects
    Three Connected Redwood Stump Fissils
    Kyle, Anne And Emmi
    Predator (Coyote? Bobcat?)Scat
    Tiny Wildflowers
    Ground Squirrel
    Sawmill Trail
    High Plains
    Kyle & Emmi
    Wildflowers
    Wildflowers
    Insect Damage
    Anne And Burnt Tree
    Anne
    Me
    Desert Ball Cactus
    Pike’s Peak From Sawmill Trail
    Elk Damage To Bark
    Sawmill Trail
    Ant Hill (Harvester Ants)

    This was a really fun and spectacularly beautiful way to spend the day, and afterward we stopped for a late lunch on the way home.

    This is our last night in Colorado Springs; tomorrow we head back up to Denver for the final leg of our trip.


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  • Downtown Colorado Springs

    Posted on by Don

    It was a bit warm yesterday so we decided to do some indoor exploration: we went downtown to the arts/historic district (Old Colorado City), got some lunch, and then visited the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. They had several exhibits going on, including one reexamining John James Audobon and his prints, and one room filled with Chihuly works.

    Audobon’s Yellow Warbler
    Audobon’s Ivory-billed Woodpecker
    Audobon’s (imaginary) Sea Eagle
    Chihuly Exhibit
    Study For A David & Goliath, Very Clockwork Orange
    Undated Tin Frame
    Legend of Our Lady Of Guadaloupe

    We finished our day with a visit to a coffee-shop/bookstore, where we all ended up getting several books.


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  • Garden of the Gods

    Posted on by Don

    Greetings from Colorado Springs!

    We got here Sunday, and did a little bit of walking around Monday, but things got real yesterday when we got up early and explored The Garden of the Gods. This is a spectacular park (and National Natural Landmark) on the edge of town, which features the same kind of up-tilted sandstone formations we saw near Red Rock. There really isn’t much of a narrative here, we just walked around, admiring the views and and taking pictures:

    Pike’s Peak and Garden Of The Gods
    Anne At Garden Of The Gods
    Me At Garden Of The Gods
    Kyle
    Emmi & Anne
    Kyle, Emmi & Anne
    Kyle And The Rock Formation
    Garden Of The Gods
    Kyle, Emmi & Anne At Garden Of The Gods
    Rock Formations
    Hiking To The Next Formation
    Rock Fins
    Pike’s Peak
    Kyle With The Rock Fin
    Kyle And Emmi
    Rock Fin Up Close
    Against The Day
    Unstable Rocks
    Rock Formations
    Anne
    A Pigeon
    Juniper Berries
    Kissing Camels
    Rock Carvings
    Kyle, Emmi & Anne
    The Scotsman
    Scotsman Trail
    Kyle And The Scotsman
    You Are Here
    Colorado Savannah
    Arid Landscape And Pike’s Peak
    Semi-Desert
    Prickly Pears
    Anne And Emmi
    The Hole In The Wall
    More Rocks

    Right about that last photo is where I somehow managed to change my camera settings to a sort of “focus” effect, which made these last few a bit odd but hey, these are the photos I got:

    Balanced Rock
    Kyle And Emmi
    Kyle & Emmi
    Balanced Rock
    Kyle At Balanced Rock
    Kyle, Anne & Emmi

    And finally, one last shot of Pike’s Peak, from our table at the pub where we had lunch:

    Pike’s Peak From Our Lunch Table

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  • Denver Days

    Posted on by Don

    Here are a bunch of photos from our first days in Colorado…

    Our first day in town we had some time to kill, but not a whole lot so we just went for a walk around the lake at Belmar Park. There were plenty of flowers and trees starting to bloom, and an enormous number of birds.

    Egret
    Egret
    Flowers
    Blossoms (Apple?)
    Nesting Cormorants
    Blossoms
    Nesting Cormorants
    A Bird
    Striking A Pose
    Beautiful Plumage
    Turtles
    Turtles On A Log

    That was Tuesday. Wednesday was a bit rainy, so we did some shopping, grabbed some lunch and did the museum thing at the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Arts.

    Art-Deco Radio
    Some Sculpture
    Sculpture
    More Sculpture
    Cityscape

    This museum was based on Colorado artist Vance Kirkland and his work, but had a whole collection of furniture and other decorative arts objects in various styles (Arts & Crafts, Bauhaus, Art Deco etc). The place was awesome.

    Thursday was nice, so we went to Boulder and hiked the trails near the Flatirons. We started at Chautauqua Park, and hiked over to the NCAR Mesa Laboratory (where we’d hiked on our last visit). Dinner was at a brewpub in Golden, a place called Cannonball Creek. They had some really good beer, and were in the process of winning an international beer competition while we were there — it was on the TV, some guy droning out the winners of all the various styles like the most boring Academy Awards ever, but the bar was going nuts like it was the Superbowl, cheering and groaning for local favorites or rivals, and they went absolutely crazy whenever Cannonball Creek won. We sat outside, away from the noise, and got nachos from the food truck.

    The Flatirons
    Anne At The Trailhead
    Boulder (And Denver) In The Distance
    Blooming Plant
    Bluebell Road And The Flatirons
    More Blossoms
    Anne On Mesa Trail
    Walking On The Trail
    Vista
    More Slabs
    Metro Denver In The Distance
    A Pothole In The Rock
    Vista
    Looking At The Mountain
    Looking At Boulder
    Tree Trunks
    Mountain Peak Above The Pines
    A Well-Earned Pint

    We got to see Emmi and Kyle on Friday, which was awesome — we hadn’t seen them in person for more than two years. The first thing we did together was go to the plant sale at the Denver Botanical Gardens.

    Emmi & Kyle
    Flowers
    Tulips
    Flowers
    Inside The Flower
    More Tulips
    Blue Flowers And Bees
    Blue Flowers

    Yesterday Anne and I did a little exploring between meeting Emmi & Kyle for brunch and meeting them for dinner. We wanted to get a hike in, someplace that wouldn’t be too crowded even on a Saturday, so Emmi suggested Red Rock Amphitheater and away we went.

    Red Rock
    Me
    Anne
    Some Slanted Rocks
    The Stage
    Amphitheater
    Looking Down
    The Stage From The Top
    Denver In The Distance
    Vista
    Life Amidst The Slickrock
    John Denver

    And finally, here are a few photos of a robin eating berries at Belmar Lake this morning:

    Robin
    Robin Eating Berries
    Robin Eating Berries

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  • Greetings From Colorado!

    Posted on by Don

    And Happy Mother’s Day!

    We’ve been in Denver since Tuesday, but a COVID exposure scare — someone who’d been in physical proximity to us texted to say they’d got it — well, that kept us laying low until we tested negative.

    Since then our days have followed a pattern: we occupy ourselves with hikes and coffee shops in the morning, then meet Emmi & Kyle for the afternoon and for dinner. Today we all leave together for a long weekend in Colorado Springs.

    Stay tuned for more, especially pictures.


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  • Flexibility Cycling

    Posted on by Don

    Bicycling doesn’t usually do much for flexibility, but flexibility sure came in handy on the recent Road Scholar ride…

    Monday: We switched back to the pre-Ida routing for this trip, doing the Lehigh Towpath from Bethlehem to Easton, rather than the relatively unscathed portion of the D&L from Lehighton to Cove Road we used last year. (I think that the D&L has a better surface overall between Lehighton and Cove Road, and was better even before Ida trashed the towpath, but everything else about the ride — the vibe, the points of interest, and especially the scenery — are all so much better on the original Bethlehem-Easton route.)

    Posing At the Mule Barn
    At The Mule Barn
    At The Mule Barn

    These were some shots at the Mule Barn (Lock #44, Freemansburg) on Monday’s ride.

    That decision worked out pretty well, and since Genesis Bicycles (our old destination on this ride) is closed now, we didn’t bother to do the last part of the original ride — we got picked up at the Forks of the Delaware rather than do city riding through Easton.

    Tuesday: The weather forecast started looking pretty bad for later in the week, and I think everyone was thinking the same thing: let’s switch the Tuesday and Thursday rides, so if Thursday is a washout we still get to do the Lehigh Gorge ride, which is supposed to be the last ride and the highlight of the week. There are usually a lot of moving parts to the Road Scholar logistics, especially when it comes to coordinating transportation, and changes like these are sometimes hard to pull off, but there were no other programs this week that needed transportation. The transport guys managed to shift the dates, and Tuesday was a great ride down the river to Jim Thorpe, on the last beautiful day of the week.

    Lehigh Gorge Scene
    At the Waterfall
    Posing With Lock Construction
    Inside Lock 22
    At The Waterfall
    At The Trestle
    The View From Nesquehoning Trestle
    Posing At The Trestle
    The Crew At The Trestle

    Here are some photos from Tuesday’s Lehigh Gorge ride.

    Wednesday is usually a short morning road ride, to lunch in Delaware Water Gap and an afternoon of free time for the participants. But, the morning weather looked so bad, and we’d already had such good luck messing with the previous day’s schedule, that we decided to mess with this one as well — the afternoon was supposed to clear up a bit, so we started later and had our stop lunch before the ride. This also worked out well: the rain had stopped even before lunch, and though the roads were a bit wet we managed to have a pretty decent ride. (Everyone seemed to ride a bit stronger too, probably from the extra nutrition.)

    Rainy Morning at Shawnee
    At The Top Of The Hill
    The End: Loading the Bikes

    I didn’t take too many photos on Wednesday but here is one each from before, during and after.

    Finally, Thursday. The forecast was still bad, so bad that the final ride (Allamuchy) was canceled. I didn’t even go in, and Midge and Andrea came up with substitute, indoor activities, yoga, a visit from the bird rehabilitation people, etc. This worked out so well I wish we’d been able to do it last year — the year we walked around Jim Thorpe in a downpour. Again, the bosses managed to move the logistics of travel and activities around to make this work. I am not usually a flexible person, physically or mentally, but this one time: Flexibility FTW!


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