Silverton Wedding

On July 27, 2019February 24, 2020 By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, Uncategorized1 Comment

I have a couple of friends that planned a themed destination wedding. It was old west themed and planned to be in Silverton, Colorado. This group of friends never does anything half way and this wedding was no exception. Plus, if you ask this group of people to dress up, they will do it up right. If you don’t ask them to dress up, they just might anyway.

We started a couple days before the wedding with anyone that was able to go to Silverton early going 4-wheel driving. The area around Silverton is covered in 4-wheel drive only roads. I assume a lot of these roads were old mining roads. They are steep, treacherous and lead to some of the most beautiful overlooks in the state. The mountains near Silverton are unbelievably steep, rugged and gorgeous. We had maybe 15-20 vehicles from razors to jeeps to personal trucks. It was a full day and so much fun driving down narrow dirt roads, stopping at ghost towns and stopping at the tops of mountain passes.

The day before the wedding a bunch of us went hiking. We hiked up Ice Lakes Trail. We didn’t make it to Ice Lakes, but saw many waterfalls on the way up. A couple of us hiked up a beautiful high alpine meadow where you could see waterfalls all around you.

The town of Silverton is an old mining town. It pretty much still looks like it did back in the mining days. Now it is overrun with tourists every summer. Most of them are up there to go 4-wheel driving. But some people come up on the train from Durango or drive over for a day from a neighboring town.

The wedding was an old rustic lodge up a beautiful canyon near Silverton. The road was rough and the lodge had minimal parking so they shuttled us up in atvs. The outdoor wedding overlooked the river winding through the valley below. It was a beautiful ceremony and followed by a great dinner, drinks and wonderful conversation. Everyone was dressed in old west attire and it appeared the all had a magical evening. I am so glad I got to be a part of this weekend!

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Riverside Camping

On July 25, 2019February 2, 2020 By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I was going to a wedding in Silverton which is a long drive from where I live. Silverton is also a very beautiful part of the state. So, a bunch of us decided to make this a long weekend so we could spend more time there together. The last two nights I shared a hotel room with a friend, but the first two nights I decided to camp to save money.

I arrived the first night around 3:00 pm and pulled into the campground I had reserved a spot at. The sky was dark and threatening to rain. The whole campground was muddy. After I checked in, I drove over to my camp spot on the river. The camp spot was a small area with gravel and a picnic table. If I had to pick my own spot, I’d never pick a spot so close to the river. The river is flying by at quite a speed. The water has over spilled the banks and is rushing through the grass and reeds on the side of the river. The edge of the water only about 5 feet from where my camp site is.

Maybe it won’t rain and the river will stay where it is. I pitch my tent, set up my sleeping pad, sleeping bag and pillow. Then I head back into town to meet friends for dinner. By the time dinner is done, it is pouring rain. Maybe the rain will let up. It doesn’t. I go back to check on my tent. My tent is fine and everything inside appears to be dry. It’s hard to tell, because I’m no longer dry just from walking from my car to the tent. The river has not reached the tent. Whew.

I go back to town to hang out with friends. But I cannot stop wondering if my tent will be in the river when I get back. By about 10:00 pm, I decide to go back to camp and try to sleep. On one hand, sleeping next to a river is relaxing. The sound of the water puts you to sleep – nature’s white noise machine. Everything is dry when I get in the tent. I wake up in the middle of the night expecting my sleeping pad to be floating. It is not. I’m still dry.

Morning brings blue skies with white fluffy clouds. I can’t use my picnic table because it’s soaked, but it’s not in the river. The river does not appear to have gotten any closer to the tent. The second night was similar to the first regarding rain, but it was easier not to worry about me and my tent floating away.

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Hector and the Search for Happiness

On July 15, 2019February 2, 2020 By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Tonight, I saw a very wonderful movie, Hector and the Search for Happiness. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It combined some great humor, travel and some points to ponder about happiness.

Are you happy? Where do you think happiness comes from? What do you need to be happy? If you are not happy, why not?

Some quotes from the movie that I liked:

“Making comparisons can spoil your happiness”.
“Many people only see happiness in their future”.
“More important [to question] than what we are searching for is what we are avoiding”.
“Avoiding unhappiness is not the road to happiness”.
“Happiness is feeling completely alive”.
“Listening is Loving”.
“Happiness is a state of being”.
Is the point to feel only happiness? No, it’s to feel all the emotions.

Wildflowers

On July 12, 2019January 31, 2020 By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, Uncategorized1 Comment

I went hiking in Aspen with some friends. It was like walking through a botanic gardens. The flowers seemed perfectly and purposely placed. Even the rocks seemed to be placed purposefully. There were waterfalls and fields with waving grass. We also hiked up to some old cabins that looked very picturesque. This blog is less words and more pictures. Enjoy the pictures. 20190712_101924 20190712_102839 20190712_103015 20190711_180027 20190711_180123 20190712_105351 20190712_111430 20190712_110055 20190712_111506 20190712_111725 20190712_111847

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Parade

On July 4, 2019January 27, 2020 By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Town of Granby does the only 4^th of July parade in the county. Since I live right in town I walked down to where the parade was. I expected to see some people. I was surprised by how many people were there. I didn’t even think that many people lived in the county. The streets were fully lined with people. It was what I expected a small-town parade to be x5.

It started with fighter jets flying over the town. I didn’t expect that. Then it was the police, the fire departments, and floats from local businesses. Everyone in the parade was throwing candy to the kids. Someone handed out otter pops instead of candy. The parade kept going. It was so much longer than I would have expected. I think every group and business in the county was represented except Search and Rescue – not sure why we weren’t there. There was a big rodeo in town so the number of horses in the parade was impressive.

One of my favorite parts of the parade was watching a mentally handicap girl enjoy the parade. Each float or car delighted her. She had trouble getting the candy in the streets. One of the other kids standing nearby saw this and every time he got a handful of candy, he would put half of it in the candy bag she was holding.

After the parade there was a little festival in the park. Small town fun!

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