Well, we’re back! Our new flights out to Colorado (on American Airlines) worked fine; we got in late Monday night and were entertaining visitors at our rented AirBnB home by Tuesday morning… Emmi and Kyle came over with Iris, and we ate cookies and made lunch and dinner and played with the baby; it was a wonderful day. Our big Beef Bourguignon Christmas Dinner was on Wednesday, and the rest of the week (Thursday and Friday) was more hanging out and cooking and eating, and just enjoying being together.
Our trip back was on Frontier — yikes! — but things went smoothly this time: we were in the air a little after midnight, and on the ground in Phillly by about 6:00 or so. One last breakfast with Ben in Center City and then we took the train back to Landsdale, where we’d parked the car. We were home just before noon.
I’ll post more about our trip (including pictures) when I get the chance, but in the meantime Happy New Year!
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 EarringVeterinary Emergency Group ConferenceChris And MeThe REI MothershipSunday In Confluence ParkMe And The FaceColorado State CapitolDenver City HallNose And Carrot?Denver Map (Sanborn Map?)Le Meridien Rooftop BarThe Rockies From Our Hotel WindowGiant Blue BearRockies From The Train
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…
OverviewPike’s Peak From The RearFossil Weathering ResearchFossil Redwood StumpFossil Redwood StumpFossil Redwood StumpsFossil Redwood StumpThe Back Of Pike’s PeakAnneThe Big StumpSemi-Arid PlantFossil Redwood StumpAcross the FieldThe largest Fossil Stump, MaybeGround Squirrel HolesPasque FlowerHow To Find StumpsDesert FlowerAnt Hill (Thatching Ants)Fossil PlantsFossil PlantsFossil Fish And InsectsFossil InsectsFossil InsectsThree Connected Redwood Stump FissilsKyle, Anne And EmmiPredator (Coyote? Bobcat?)ScatTiny WildflowersGround SquirrelSawmill TrailHigh PlainsKyle & EmmiWildflowersWildflowersInsect DamageAnne And Burnt TreeAnneMeDesert Ball CactusPike’s Peak From Sawmill TrailElk Damage To BarkSawmill TrailAnt 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.
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 WarblerAudobon’s Ivory-billed WoodpeckerAudobon’s (imaginary) Sea EagleChihuly ExhibitStudy For A David & Goliath, Very Clockwork OrangeUndated Tin FrameLegend 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.
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 GodsAnne At Garden Of The GodsMe At Garden Of The GodsKyleEmmi & AnneKyle, Emmi & AnneKyle And The Rock FormationGarden Of The GodsKyle, Emmi & Anne At Garden Of The GodsRock FormationsHiking To The Next FormationRock FinsPike’s PeakKyle With The Rock FinKyle And EmmiRock Fin Up CloseAgainst The DayUnstable RocksRock FormationsAnneA PigeonJuniper BerriesKissing CamelsRock CarvingsKyle, Emmi & AnneThe ScotsmanScotsman TrailKyle And The ScotsmanYou Are HereColorado SavannahArid Landscape And Pike’s PeakSemi-DesertPrickly PearsAnne And EmmiThe Hole In The WallMore 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 RockKyle And EmmiKyle & EmmiBalanced RockKyle At Balanced RockKyle, Anne & Emmi
And finally, one last shot of Pike’s Peak, from our table at the pub where we had lunch:
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.
EgretEgretFlowersBlossoms (Apple?)Nesting CormorantsBlossomsNesting CormorantsA BirdStriking A PoseBeautiful PlumageTurtlesTurtles On A Log
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 FlatironsAnne At The TrailheadBoulder (And Denver) In The DistanceBlooming PlantBluebell Road And The FlatironsMore BlossomsAnne On Mesa TrailWalking On The TrailVistaMore SlabsMetro Denver In The DistanceA Pothole In The RockVistaLooking At The MountainLooking At BoulderTree TrunksMountain Peak Above The PinesA 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 & KyleFlowersTulipsFlowersInside The FlowerMore TulipsBlue Flowers And BeesBlue 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 RockMeAnneSome Slanted RocksThe StageAmphitheaterLooking DownThe Stage From The TopDenver In The DistanceVistaLife Amidst The SlickrockJohn Denver
And finally, here are a few photos of a robin eating berries at Belmar Lake this morning:
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.
