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Flattops

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I went backpacking in the Flattops Wilderness.  We took a day off work so we could get an early start and not have to `deal with the crowds of people.  We planned to take a trail that was recommended to me when I called the ranger station to get ideas.  I prepared meals ahead of time and packed up all my camping gear.

The trip started off with a cow traffic jam as we were driving to the Flattops.  I think this road may see more cow traffic than road traffic.  We got to the wilderness area and found a car camping spot for the night.  We would head out on the trail the next morning.

Little did I know we would not have to worry about crowds of people.  Either the area is far enough away from Denver or just not a popular spot.  Or the mosquitos killed all the other people.  I haven’t seen that many mosquitos in one place since I left Florida.  We had to re-apply mosquito repellant every few hours and even then, they never went away.

There were signs at the trail head that sheep farmers were grazing their sheep and we might encounter sheep.  It warned not to approach the sheep especially since the sheep dog might not like that as it is protecting the sheep.  About an hour or so onto the trail we heard a weird sound.  We weren’t sure what it was.  We came across a big field of rocks and the sound got louder.  Pretty soon we realized the sound was the sheep.  The rocks moved as they were not rocks at all, but sheep.  As we came closer, they became very interested in us.  Some of the sheep stopped what they were doing to come toward us and check us out.  So much for not approaching the sheep.  The warnings said nothing about the fact that the sheep would most likely approach us.  It was a wonderful little break from the hiking to watch the sheep watching us.  We never saw a dog, though.

We came upon a lake with some good camping spots nearby so we decided to set up camp there for two nights and we would day hike the next day from there.  We started a fire as soon as we had set up camp in hopes that the smoke would chase away the mosquitos.  It really didn’t.  We explored a nearby basin and decided to climb to the top of the basin the next day.

The wild flowers were blooming like crazy.  The only other time I had been to the Flattops, I had experienced wildflowers, the volume and brightness I had never seen before.  I counted the number of different flowers I saw on the way up.  I lost count somewhere around 50 different types of flowers.  Mother Nature is the best artist I know.

The day hike to the top of the basin the next day was great.  The hike out on the last day wasn’t too bad either.  We heard the sheep again, but didn’t really see them.  Despite the mosquitos, it was a beautiful weekend and we only saw 4 other people the whole weekend.  I’d highly recommend some hiking in the Flattops Wilderness.

Silverton Wedding

On 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 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 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 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_10192420190712_10283920190712_10301520190711_18002720190711_18012320190712_10535120190712_11143020190712_11005520190712_11150620190712_11172520190712_111847

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Parade

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Town of Granby does the only 4th 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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Eleven Moose

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’ve been seeing moose on at least every 3rd hike I’ve done.  I went from seeing no moose to seeing them all the time.  The National Park is a great place to see moose.  They are often just by the side of the road.  If you are driving through and see a bunch of cars pulled over, you can bet it’s a moose.  There’s a chance it’s elk, but it’s probably moose.  Sometimes it’s difficult to even drive through the park because of the traffic jams created by people just stopping on the side of the road.

My friend Katie and her mom came up to visit.  We bundled up and set out to see if we could find moose in the National Park.  I think I saw 4 of them last time I was there.  We didn’t get far before there were cars pulled off on the side of the road so we stopped and sure enough, moose.  Then a little farther down the road I saw something move and pulled over.  Moose.  Before long, I was the car that signaled to the crowd to stop here and look at the moose.  The next traffic jam was actually a herd of elk.  A short elk-break before we went back to moose.  After that it was two moose, one idyllically standing in a river next to a cabin.  It seemed so posed, like a painting, like the moose was paid to stand in a diorama.  Then there was the moose standing in water where the light was just right to see an almost perfect reflection in the water.  On it went, moose, moose, elk, moose, moose.  By the time we counted 9 different moose, it was getting comical.  At about 5 moose we tried to guess or call what the next moose sighting would be – two moose, mamma and baby moose, close up moose, road moose, etc.  By the time we left the park it was 11 separate moose and hundreds of elk.

 

Gut Bucket

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I had a friend visiting from out of town.  I live in such a beautiful place that sometimes it’s difficult to fathom.  Everywhere we go, we keep marveling at the beauty and remarking, “this is where I live”.

One night we went out to see a local band playing.  I know Brian, one of the guys that was playing in the band.  We got there and found the band packing up.  They were slated to play on the deck outside and it was threatening to rain.  Most of the band went home, but Brian and some of his friends stayed for on the deck for drinks.  It was summer, but very chilly out so the place had fire pits outside.  We joined them around one of the fire pits.  Everyone kept trying to get Brian to play his guitar.  He could play even if everyone else had gone home.

One of the guys, Ben, said he would join Brian with his gut bucket.  At this point we were cold and talking about going home.  I turned to my friend and said we couldn’t go until we saw how this played out.  We learned much about Ben’s gut bucket.  Such as he made it himself.  He doesn’t use catgut for the string as that is for fancy events such as weddings.  He uses other types of string that he can get a hold of like clothesline.  He was playing it at a different bar last week so it’s still over there.  The whole conversation we are trying to figure out what a gut bucket is – is it what we think it is – is it a metal bucket with a string attached to it?  We are both pretty sure that’s what it is.  Ben decides that he will go to the other bar to get the gut bucket and then Brian will have to play with him.  He takes off.  I ask one of the other guys if he will get lost and forget what he went out to find (there’s been a bit of alcohol consumed).  We all agree there is a 50/50 chance he’ll come back.  We decided to stick it out a little longer and wait to see if he comes back.  In about a half hour Ben is back with his gut bucket – it is what we guessed.  But, it’s in need of repair.  The string is broken and he doesn’t have another.  One of the guys goes out to Brian’s truck and finds an ice skate lace.  They work for about another 20 minutes trying to make the ice skate lace work for the string.  Ben and Brian start playing and we get treated to a small jam session on the deck.  It was totally worth the wait.  It never did rain.  Impromptu gut bucket concert on the deck.  This is where I live.

Snowball Fight

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I went snowboarding on Winter Park’s closing day.  It was a warm sunny day.  During lunch I sat outside the restaurant at the top of the mountain.  There are lounge patio type chairs out in the snow just outside the restaurant.  Most of them were full and all facing the short path from the top of the ski lift to where the ski run starts.  It was a rowdy crowd and almost all the chairs were full, but we managed to find a couple of chairs.  Some people are dressed up in silly costumes, some are stripped down to just a t shirt because it’s so warm.  All are fortified with snowballs.  So, after I see what is going on, I start making some snowballs because I feel that is my obligation based on where I am sitting.  There are about 30 people lounging and anyone that tries to ski by is at risk of a one-sided snowball fight.  I quickly learn that I’m not very good at throwing snowballs at moving targets, not a surprising discovery.  Of course, the three girls skiing in their bikinis get quite a large number of snowballs.  The ski patrol guy thought he should be exempt, but he wasn’t.  Women and children were not safe in this war.  Costumes got more snow fire.  People that tried to escape did not.  People that mooned us or egged us on got pummeled.  Some people figured out what was going on as they were coming up the lift or because they had run the gauntlet before.  They came with a snowball or two for us.  In times of little to no traffic the loungers turned to friendly fire.  But the ones that got the most snow fire were the ones who decided to leave the lounge chairs and take a run.  I think I hung out there for 2 hours before I took off.  My arm hurt the next day from throwing so many snowballs.

Cat Hats

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Japanese seem to love cats.  We went to a cat café which you paid to have coffee or tea and sit in a room full of cats that are so not interested in you.  In the stores you can buy cat hats.  There are all sorts of different ones you can buy.  I found many “gumball” machines with cat hats in them.  They are like our old gumball machines, but instead of getting candy or a toy, you can get a cat hat.  So, I bought one for my friends that I often stay with in Denver.  As you have already guessed, cats don’t like hats.  But, I assume most people like cats in hats.  No cats were harmed with the making of this blog, embarrassed, maybe.