Thanks Giving

Tis the week before Thanksgiving

and all through the house

its all about Christmas

according to my spouse

With Prime packages here

and UPS and FedX there

you'd think there'd be no worry

or nary a care

Old St. Nick

and his crew of eight

had better get crackin'

or they're going to be late

Black Friday is nigh upon us

though if the ads are true

Black Friday was last Monday through Thursday

and this past weekend too

So cook that turkey

if so inclined you must

but stay out of our way

as we shop 'til we bust

So, Thanksgiving is late this year, leaving a week less until the much anticipated visit from the jolly old elf. Around our neighborhood Christmas trees are popping up in front windows, holiday lights are being strung, and those big blow-up characters, which seem to get bigger with each passing year, are, as the old pop standard goes, "Blowin' in the Wind". I'm always curious this time each year to see what's new for the Holiday Season. This year the answer seems to be "not much". If you've identified a new trend for this year's festivities please let me know and I'll pass on the word to Mr. Claus who I think is kinda just scratching those old white hairs trying to figure it out himself.

My better half and I were out a couple of days ago raking leaves for the umpteemph time this Fall. The trees, at least in my back yard, are not cooperating as there are still plenty of leaves up on the branches mocking us. At least the wind helps out. As soon as we raked up a pile of leaves the wind deposits an equal if not greater number in their place. That will get you into the holiday spirit real quick. Ho! Ho! #@%$! 

Our local Hobby Lobby is absolutely packed to the rafters with an infinite assortment of bits and bobs designed to get you into the annual ritual of spend, spend, spend. Drop the first two letters and wonder when will it end, end, end? Supposedly we all voted with our pocketbooks back on the 5th and if that is true I have no idea who is going to buy all this stuff. I mean, like, there was an entire aisle dedicated to all things Grinch and I'm thinking who needs all that lime green at least until St. Patty's day? 

We ventured to Lowes and Home Depot to see if they had anything exciting and new but sad to say it looked suspiciously like last year's leftovers. Or maybe it was stuff they ordered from China that hadn't made it over in time thanks to shipping delays, dock strikes and the like. I can hardly wait to pay twice as much next year (what with the promised tariffs) for the same stuff as is in the store right now. Thank goodness, for all the parents out there, there's no talk, at least not yet, of taxing a certain fat old man dressed up in red as he crosses (is Santa an illegal Immigrant?!) the border on the 24th. I guess he's ok (he must have an exemption CLAUSe) as long as he doesn't overstay his welcome.

Here in Colorado we've had our first real snows (the kind you have to shovel) and the ski areas are off to what appears to be a good start. Speaking of pocketbooks and Holiday shopping sprees there's actually a ski area on the market if you have a cool $100-200 million lying around looking for something to do. Eldora has changed hands several times in the last couple of years which seems undeserved as it is a wonderful little ski area. I used to particularly enjoy the night skiing there and if Mr. Nick has any spare time (perhaps after the Holidays and if he can get a Tourist Visa?) I'd encourage him to bring the Missus and the elves down for a couple of champagne Colorado powder turns. Me, the older I get the less I like the cold that accompanies the aforementioned curves in the snow. But what's a person to do? Can't even move to Arizona anymore due to the oven-like temps from March through October. But maybe our neighbors down south will at least finalize their vote count by the time Santa slides down the air conditioner vent come December.

Speaking of Arizona my wife and I took an early Fall trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons (I know, I know, its a non sequitur) which are among our very favorite places to go. I have yet to tire of finding new ways to explore these special places. This year we got treated (an early Christmas present?) to seeing lots of wildlife including grizzlies and that most elusive of all, unless you chance to run one over on I-70, wolves. You might have heard of the hydrothermal explosion that occurred back in July at Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone. It destroyed some of the infrastructure (think boardwalks) forcing the National Park Service to close the area to human activity. The good news is that a pack of wolves moved into the area soon after which could occasionally be seen from the nearby roadway munching on the local fauna. We were lucky to spend several hours watching a downed elk carcass disappear under the careful scrutiny of 5 or six hungry canines. I have yet to see a Colorado wolf with my own eyes so its still a very special treat to see one in the wild. Here's a quick video of some of what we saw as we explored these special places:

So here's wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, late though it may be

and don't trip over the turkey

in your rush to put up the Christmas tree...

 

Cruisin’ into the future

It’s fitting that we hold elections at this time of year (and no, this is not going to be a blog about who anyone should vote for) given that it’s a change of seasons. In my corner of the prairie we’re expecting a rain/snow mix this evening and if it’s more snow than rain it will be our first meaningful dose of the white stuff since the Spring which seems an eternity ago. Gone (just a few days ago actually) are the warm days with highs in the 80’s though I hear some parts of the country are experiencing abnormally high temps still.  We just came back from the East coast a week or so ago and we had very pleasant weather to the point that the changing of the leaves was far behind normal. In fact, we went back specifically to see the Fall leaves and though we saw some beautiful color the farther North we went it was surprising that when we got home to Colorado the leaf color show was more spectacular here than back East. In the High Country of the Rockies it’s mostly brilliant yellows on the Aspen but in the city there’s enough of a mix of trees that we get reds and golds in abundance as well. 

How’s your Fall going? Did you remember to change your clocks back last night? As I write this its pitch black outside whereas yesterday at this time (pre-time change) I was being treated to a beautiful sunset that more than complemented the colors on the trees. I mentioned its a change of the season and one that I’m looking forward to more than most is that two days from now it will be the end of campaign ad season. One of the local news anchors the other night was apologizing for the number and repetitiveness of ads but I also know the TV stations make a lot of money from such ads and this year they must be making an absolute fortune. I’m a registered Independent which means I’ve been getting hit from all sides soliciting my vote even though I cast my ballot as fast as I could after receiving my ballot by mail. I don’t quite comprehend how, at this late stage, anyone can truly still be undecided but apparently our destiny lies to some great extent in the hands of folks who can’t seem to make up their minds.

We were out with friends today and went to visit Buffalo Bill’s Grave high up on Lookout Mountain overlooking Denver. There’s a small restaurant, gift shop and museum as well and apparently the restaurant and gift shop will be closing by year end after many decades catering to tourists and locals alike hankering for some good food and great views. I don’t frequent graves, cemeteries, and the like, even though it was just All Hallows Eve, but when I do I often wonder what the folks buried there would make of the world we’ve made for ourselves. If they are truly resting in peace perhaps they would shake their heads and wonder what the heck is going on. I for one would be hard pressed to give them a meaningful answer.

Those of us on this side of the daisies have to keep on keeping on. Hope springs eternal and all that. I do believe that next Tuesday, regardless of who wins, the world as we know it will fundamentally change. And I hope it changes for the better. After all, it is a season of change.

I mentioned we had just returned from the East Coast. Part of my wife’s and my effort at keep on keeping on includes trying to take advantage of opportunities to see and do new things. My wife was born on the West coast and hasn’t had much chance to spend time back East.So when she found a great deal on a Fall Foliage Cruise from Boston through the Canadian Maritime Provinces and finishing in Quebec City we jumped on it. It was a wonderful trip aboard the Emerald Princess and I’ll share two videos below that give a glimpse of what this type of cruise looks like. It was very different from any other cruise we had been on and when we booked it we really had no clear idea on what to expect. 

So, if you’re in the Colorado area make yourself a hot chocolate, snuggle up on the couch while the flakes fall outside and take a trip to places you may know nothing about but, as we quickly found out, were well worth a visit!

Here is the first of two videos detailing our Fall Foliage Cruise:

And here is the second of the two videos continuing our journey through the Canadian Maritime Provinces  and Quebec:

Enjoy!

Its almost Boo! time...

The calendar says its only late August, but the kids are all back in their sometimes air conditioned schools, the Labor Day Holiday weekend is upon us, and the stores are already sporting their Halloween merchandise so I guess Summer must be coming to a close. Only sixty or so days until the big BOO Spectacular when my neck of the prairie can see its first snow yet the temps across the country are still setting record highs and yesterday when I was out mowing the lawn (who's seasonal awareness isn't great) it felt downright hot. Only mad dogs, Englishmen, and idiots like me are out in 96 degree heat but my grass keeps growing so I keep mowing.

We were just up in the central Colorado mountains near Leadville and nighttime temps are creeping down into the 30's though I haven't seen any film of ice yet on the dogs outside water bowl. Three weeks ago we spent 10 days in South Fork, Colorado which is where Texans and Oklahomans flock to beat their sizzling summer heat. Not sure how that worked out this year as sizzling is still the adjective of choice for the temps we experienced while there. South Fork is closer to Santa Fe, New Mexico than Denver so for front rangers like my wife and I its quite the jaunt to get to explore a part of our home State that we don't often visit. What a real treat it was to see some new country and hear some new accents, y'all. And despite Colorado's ongoing love/hate relationship with Texas its citizenry overall appears to be rather nice and well, just friendly. Which makes sense I guess since the Texas State motto is Friendship. And for you Trivia lovers out there here's something new to add to your trivia collection: Texas adopted Friendship as the State Motto in 1930 and according to Ms. Google was most likely chosen because the name of Texas or Tejas was the Spanish pronunciation of the local Indian tribe's word 'teyshas' meaning friends or allies. And lest I leave out our good friends from the Sooner State, Oklahoma's Motto is "Labor Omnia Vincit": 'Steady work overcame all things'. I guess if I had my druthers, in this season of political sensitivity, I'd lean toward Friendship but to each State their own. 

Some of the original rail bikes...

While in South Fork, when we weren't brushing up on trivia, we did try some new things that we had not done before. One of these was Railbiking which puts you in modern, lightweight aluminum rail vehicles that you can then easily pedal down the tracks of abandoned rail lines. The company we railbiked with, Revolution Rail Co., operates railbiking opportunities in several States.  Railbiking was not only truly easy to do but it was a heckuva lot of fun. While new to my better half and I, railbiking has been around since almost as long as there have been,,, well you know, railroads. Those original railbikes looked much like... well you know, a regular bicycle, but with special attachments to fit on rails, They look a little sketchy if you ask me, nothing like the comfortable, and did I mention easy?, conveyance we rode in South Fork. The railbike tour was at our own pace and each person can pedal at whatever speed they desire. Heck, you can even stop pedaling entirely and let your fellow pedalers do all the work. Not that that's what I did. Not at all. You can see what our railbiking adventure looked like here:

South Fork offers lots of outdoor recreation to sample. We went paddleboarding on Big Meadows reservoir, did some regular mountain biking, and spent a relaxing day up the road in Creede, Colorado. In Creede we drove the famous (infamous?) Bachelor Loop, a historic 17 mile drive through the mining district above the town. Beware: the East part of the drive features a steep (very, very steep) four-wheel drive road not really suitable for regular cars. I of course didn't know that at the time I was coming

Creede's Bachelor Loop

down this (very, very) steep road having done the loop in a clockwise direction and I was glad to be in a 4WD pickup. Lets just say, if its pouring rain and the dirt roads start getting a little slick, you won't be going up or down this particular section, at least not by choice. Its a beautiful drive though and we eventually made it safely back into town so perhaps it was worth the white knuckles.

Creede's main street features eclectic shops and restaurants and is only about a half-hour drive from South Fork. From Creede you can continue west over Slumgullion Pass (11,530 ft.) to Lake City and beyond but that's worth a whole trip in itself. 

Given the hot temps while we were there, we spent as much time on the water as possible. Our railbiking outing offered a bike and raft combo package so we also were able to raft the placid (given that it was late July) waters of the Rio Grande river. In Spring and early Summer I'm sure the water flows a lot faster and offers some whitewater thrills but our trip was one of the last for the season due to falling water levels. Still, a nice float down a beautiful river beats a good day at work so who were we to argue? Here's a sampling of our Rio Grande experience...

South Fork, Colorado is a gateway town to other areas to explore. Drive just outside of town to the south and you'll climb Wolf Creek Pass which I've biked over several times thanks to now-gone events like Ride the Rockies. Once over the Pass you'll arrive in Pagosa Springs where you'll find, among other things, one of the southwest's great Frozen Yogurt shops, PS Froyos. On yet another 100 degree day it really hit the spot. 

Having spent time in Pagosa Springs before we were looking for the road less traveled and found it further south out of town when we came upon Chimney Rocks National Monument. CRNP features the ancient homes and buildings of the Ancestral Puebloans who were associated with the folks living 100 miles south in Chaco Canyon. 1,000 years ago people built homes and Kivas, grew crops and raised families in this area. The half-mile walk to the top brings you not only to where you'll see the ruins but also spectacular views all around. On the afternoon we were there we had the ruins, and the well-informed interpretative guide, all to ourselves. The road less traveled doesn't get much less crowded than that. See some of Chimney Rock and our other excursions around South Fork here:

I know this blog has morphed into something longer than intended and for that I apologize. I hope your Summer has been as chock full of things seen and done as ours has. If not, there's still time. According to the calendar Fall doesn't begin until September 23rd so there's time to get out there and enjoy that still sizzling heat. Hot dogs anyone?

Midsummer Musings

How's your summer going? In my neck of the woods (actually a piece of the prairie) a three letter word about covers it - H O T. We're expecting record breaking temps in the low 100's for the next couple of days which I know is nothing compared to what some folks are dealing with. They say "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" and they can certainly keep their 115+ temps to themselves. And that's nothing compared to Death Valley just a couple of miles to the west where they've been seeing temps in the 120's. There was some speculation as to whether Death Valley's Furnace Creek would break 130 degrees but so far that doesn't seem to have happened and as I write this its only a balmy 116 degrees according to the National Weather Service device at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center. News reports say that visitors (many from Europe apparently) are flocking to the area specifically to experience what a Heat Dome (who comes up with this jargon?) can deliver. 

If you Google  the hottest temp ever recorded on planet Earth  you'll find that on July 10, 1913 it reached 134.1 degrees (56.7Celcius for our European friends) at the Furnace Creek Ranch which presumably had an accurate thermometer for measuring such things since the Death Valley Visitors Center wasn't opened until 1960. Interestingly the site I referenced  for the past several day's temps in Furnace Creek  makes a distinction between 'Hot' and 'Extremely Hot' somewhere between 110 and 114 degrees with 110 only being 'Hot'. I'll leave such nuances to those folks standing outside the Visitors Center today thinking to themselves "Hmmm, I'm feeling extremely hot at the moment..." before hopefully ducking back inside the air-conditioned comfort of the aforementioned Visitors Center.

Me, I'm just stupid. This morning I was up at the crack-o-dawn to go for a ride before it got too hot (is too hot just 'hot' or is it 'extremely hot'?). As they say, stupid is as stupid does and by the time I got home the mercury was already North of a hundred and not done rising as it was still well before noon. Some cultures have this thing called a siesta and I'm thinking of adopting that custom. Either that or I'm moving to Dawson City in the Yukon where its a chilly 68 degrees. BRRRRR. 

I've been to Alaska twice now and one of my favorite pictures about Fairbanks is the one showing University of Alaska students posing in swimsuits in front of the campus temperature sign when its 49 degrees..................below zero. Does that qualify as 'Cold' or 'Extremely Cold'? Is that a 'Cold Dome'? If I was one of these six intrepid souls I'd want to head South and get a pic next to the Furnace Creek Visitors Center temp sign (if they even have such a thing) reading 130 degrees plus. A whopping (that's another technical term I borrowed from the National Weather Service) 179 degree difference. Stick that on Tik Tok and smoke it.

Back in late April/early May my better half ( who has enough sense to get out of the sun when its still only 'Warm') and I ventured to Arizona and California with the express intention of escaping the Winter cold (though we never saw 49 below... darn). We were in the Phoenix area where it was already in the high 90's before foolishly continuing on to Palm Springs, California where, yup, it was already triple-digit temps. We then spent some time on the coast where they were having a cool and wet Spring with temps in the 50's. You can join us on some of that excursion in the video below. 

Wearing parkas and stocking caps is not what we went to California for but there you have it. Still the crowds were friendly, the traffic was at a standstill (30 mile traffic jam stop and go (mainly stop) leaving Palm Springs as the Coachella Music and Arts Festival disgorged its attendees back to La La Land, and the ocean was still mesmerizing as it's waves cascaded on the San Diego beaches which were closed to water contact while we were there thanks to a massive (another technical term) sewage leak.

What say we head back to the desert, this time to Lake Havasu where the lovely ladies in their bikinis could still enjoy actually getting wet in the cold but clean waters of the Colorado River. We were there during an event called Desert Storm which is a celebration of all things bikini with performance boat racing and expo thrown in. We're talking speeds approaching 200 mph (I'm talking about the boats not the bikinis) so it was really something to see.  Being humble folks of a more human-powered ilk we felt somewhat out of place and our Colorado license plates apparently (?) pegged us as Biden lovers (?) in what turned out to be very much a Trump stronghold with no tolerance for those not having yet drunk the Kool Aid. So it was fare thee well to the good folks of Havasu as we watched them fade from sight in the rear view mirror (figuratively and literally) as we made our way North through Vegas (ahead of the soon-to-make-an-appearance blistering temperatures) and into the cooler and more welcoming climes of St. George, Utah. 

St. George, if you've never been, is a beautiful, though no longer small (having been discovered by Californians as a relatively affordable place to retire) community adjacent to Zion National Park. Already crowded though it was still early season, we avoided the National Park where the tourists thronged and spent our time exploring some of Utah's State Parks which are equally beautiful but generally less busy. The Road That Beckons is often best when it's the Road Less Traveled and we found that to be the case in Utah. 

From St. George we continued North on I-15 and then East on I-70 where we spent several unplanned days in the little town of Richfield, Utah. What was supposed to be a one-night stopover turned into a three day visit as we fell in love with this wonderful town. Don't tell anyone, but if I was looking for a truly idyllic community to retire to, Richfield might top the list. It checks the list in terms of true affordability, a walkable downtown along with just a couple of big-box stores (Home Depot and Walmart), good restaurants, a College, and lots of recreational amenities nearby. Oh, and the high temps in the summer top out on average in the 80's and low 90's. Maybe I don't have to move to the Yukon after all.

Too soon it was time to head for home and what greeted us as we crossed back into Colorado? May.... snow showers. Welcome home.

Ends and Odds

I still like to see movies on the big screen and no, I'm not talking about the latest offering in the 90"+ category (TCL 98-Inch Class S5 4K LED Smart TV with Google TV (98S550G, 2023-Model), Dolby Vision, HDR Ultra, Dolby Atmos, Google Assistant Built-In with Voice Remote, Works with Alexa, Streaming UHD Television) from Amazon. I still like to head down to my local cineplex and watch on the really big screen the way that Hollywood and Ray Dolby intended. The notion of watching for free on Prime if I'm willing to sit through ads nauseates me especially when my better half is already paying $139 for said service.

My local Regal Theatre has come up with a clever gimmick to get patrons into theatre seats on perhaps their slowest night of the week, Monday. Once or twice a month they offer a Mystery Movie Night where for just $5 a person you can see a new release with the only catch being that you don't know what you'll be watching until the credits start to roll. A friend clued us into this and  we've now seen two excellent flicks: Ordinary Angels starring Hilary Swank and One Life with Anthony Hopkins. If you're looking for something a tad more substantial than Kung Fu Panda 4 then I'd highly recommend them,

Ordinary Angels is a true story based on the book by Sharon Stevens Evans about ordinary people rising up to save the life of a sick child. One Life is also about helping children but in a completely different context and the main character, Nicholas Winton, was actually featured on 60 Minutes several years ago so I was vaguely familiar with the story when the movie started but the story is so compelling that the ending still elicited strong emotions. Here too the movie is based on a book written by Mr. Winton's wife Barbara. I only mention the books as the old adage says that 'the book is better than the movie' and if that holds true I can't wait to read both. 

I did experience something completely new at last night's mystery showing of One Life that I hope is a one-off and not indicative of what is to become a new norm. There were probably thirty or so folks in Theatre #3 along with my wife, our friend and myself. As the previews started to show someone in the theatre thought it would be appropriate to light a joint and share the pungent aroma with the rest of us. I have seen patrons vape during theatre shows (not to mention a certain Colorado congresswoman caught in the act on camera) but had not had the pleasure of partaking secondhand in the ganja goodness in such a setting. I guess going forward they'll have to add the prohibition of smoking pot in movie theatres to the already present restrictions on cell phone usage. Either that or the lobby concession stand can start selling dispensary offerings along with their peanuts and popcorn. Regardless, the in-theatre experience for me is still a treat and to see two such outstanding movies for only $5 is a deal too good to pass up!

I can't wait until the next Mystery Movie and best of all during the month of March Regal Theatres is offering one every week. Hopefully see you there and if you have to light up please do so outside or in the lobby. I know you'll be hungry...