This n That

How's your January going? 

I was booting up my laptop to write this blog and up came the image selected by Microsoft that changes periodically showing me all the beautiful and spectacular landscapes from around the world that I'd like to visit. Today's photo featured a scene from Patagonia highlighting mountains and glaciers. Here in Colorado we have both of those things (though sadly fewer and fewer of the latter) but still the scene reminded me that I and my better half were supposed to be journeying far, far to the south at about this time to another land of ice and snow, mountains and glaciers, and even the occasional penguin thrown in for good measure. Yup, we were supposed to be freezing our tuckuses off in the far off continent of Antarctica. Passage had been booked with the good folks at Norwegian Cruise Lines (they really are very nice people - lord knows we've had enough conversations booking, rescheduling, and sadly, cancelling several cruises to know what wonderful people they are). Back in October (2021) we had cancelled our trip of a lifetime to that frozen clime due to concerns around COVID. More specifically our Port of Embarkation, Buenos Aires, Argentina, was being persnickety about not letting foreigners into their beautiful country out of an abundance of caution regarding that virus we've all come to know and love.

Unable to head south to practice our Spanish and Penguinese we opted to book a bicycle trip to Florida where we would tour the Florida Keys from Key Largo to Key West. I know, I know - Florida the sometime viral Capital of the U.S., really? What were we thinking? Well, when we booked the trip Omicron was still just the obscure 15th letter of the Greek alphabet and NOT the viral gangbuster it has since turned out to be. Things had appeared to be returning to whatever the new normal is (if you've figured THAT out let me know) and we felt what safer place could there be than on a bicycle pedaling through the fresh, and hopefully warm, January sea air along the southernmost leg of U.S. Highway 1, also known as the "Overseas Highway". 

And then, OMG, Omicron entered our vocabulary and yes, the east coast and Florida specifically regained their claim to fame as THE place to go if you wanted to experience this especially virulent, but thankfully less severe strain of good ole' C-19. The tour director reached out to let us know they were still planning on running the tour but with some new conditions: COVID tests when we checked in, daily temperature checks, no group meals or get-togethers, none of the planned excursions (visiting turtles, saying "Hi" to Flipper, glassbottom boats, etc.) and oh, by the way, if you came down with COVID you'd not only be asked to immediately leave the tour (as Shakespeare would say - "Post Haste") but be on your own to figure out how to get yourself back home. Visions of me and my sweetie (yes, Valentines is only days away!) standing on the side of the "Overseas Highway" suitcases in hand and thumbs extended came merrily to mind. Now if this doesn't sound like a great trip I don't know my Omicron from my Epsilon (the fifth letter.... well, you get the idea).

So we reached out and told the tour director, who was very nice (we're having so many nice conversations with so many nice people!) and said, unless we were mistaken, this didn't sound like the definition of FUN we had envisioned and that given all the new caveats and conditions we'd take a pass.  Which is why I'm sitting in Denver (Littleton actually) looking out at the snow that fell a day ago. Granted the sun is shining and the temps are climbing but palm trees and daiquiris on the beach it is not. I'd much prefer to be writing this from the comfort of a poolside lounge chair as the wind rustles through the hair I still have left, but hey, we play the cards we're dealt. 

To kind of bring this full circle, I just read this morning that the cruise ship we were on (the Norwegian GEM) when we Bon Voyaged from New York to San Francisco via the Panama Canal in 2020 just had to cancel a cruise mid-passage and was returning with several thousand disappointed travelers to whence they had set out (New York) due to an outbreak of sickness onboard that prevented them from docking at several Caribbean countries they had planned on visiting. Sounds dishearteningly familiar yet sadly unsurprising. At least they'll have the opportunity to speak with some of the very, very nice people at NCL that I spoke of earlier. As for me, the mention of the Norwegian GEM still brings back wonderful and unforgettable memories from a pre-COVID world so perhaps I'll take some time to revisit some of the videos we took during that glorious trip where mention of mask mandates, social distancing, and vaccinations were still the stuff of science fiction. Except for hand washing, or as they say in the cruise ship biz "Washy, Washy!"

I'll repost the first video from that trip below in case you're looking for a dose of shipboard fun in the sun. Just mix up your favorite umbrella drink, sit back and enjoy! And no, not a single Penguin to be found...

And if you're more the reading type just click here to see some of the accompanying blogs from that trip. Aaah, those were the days...

Welcome to 2022!

Probably not a lot of folks sad to see 2021 fade into the history books. 2022, as does every New Year, offers a chance at new beginnings, a proverbial blank slate on which to etch the moments of life.

Along the Front Range of Colorado 2021 certainly left its mark on its way out the door. As the Denver Post today proclaimed in one of their stories, climate change met population boom with disastrous results.

The weather forecasts on the night of December 29th had warned of high winds along the Eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains but that in and of itself was not unusual. High winds here are not an unusual occurrence - they even have a name: Chinook winds. Generally they bring warmer temperatures to lower elevations and such was the case as Wednesday would see temps climbing into the 50's in Denver despite the calendar saying it was December and Christmas only five days removed. 

Thursday dawned clear and sunny and yes, breezy. The Denver area had not seen a white Christmas and the period from July through December had proven to be one of the driest on record with the metro area having received only an inch or so of precipitation for all those months. During breakfast my weather station was indicating barometric pressure of 29.44 which is relatively low and was supportive of the previous night's forecasts of strong winds. My wife and I discussed what we wanted to do for the day and since the temp's were relatively mild decided to take our two pups out for a walk. Given the wind forecast we decided to head to Bear Creek Lake Park a couple of miles away as it offers fairly sheltered walking through the trees. Unbeknownst to us, the combination of record dry conditions and exceptionally strong winds would result in the most destructive wildfires in Colorado history.

Driving north along C-470, the western part of Denver's circumferential highway, the winds were starting to howl and the minivan was being pushed all over the road. Big rigs and semitrucks were already slowing to a crawl and it wasn't more than a couple of minutes after we took the Morrison exit that the first truck was being blown onto its side bringing the highway to a standstill. 

Normally we start at the Skunk Hollow parking lot but I had a sense that given the winds the upper Big Soda lake might be something to see so we kept on going to the swim beach parking lot. The car was swaying from side to side in the wind as I parked and out on the lake the conditions took my breath away. Literally. Walking (more like staggering) to the concrete retaining walls around the beach the surface of the lake looked like it was boiling and it was indeed hard to breathe as the wind seemed to suck the air right out of your lungs. You could only face downwind as to look the other way was to get sandblasted. What seemed to be smoke turned out to be the surface of the lake vaporizing and carried high into the sky. Trees were swaying erratically in the strong winds and I thought to myself how fortunate it was that there were no leaves at this time of year or few limbs would be left. 

I hadn't set out to take pictures or make a video on this day but conditions were so extraordinary it wasn't long before I had my camera out trying to take as steady a shot as possible while leaning backward into the gale force winds and trying to catch my breath (Gale force winds are defined as between 32 and 63mph - a little further up the road north of Golden wind gusts of 115mph were being recorded). 

We quickly retreated to the relative shelter of the Cottonwood Trail. Even here it was eerie to hear the roar of the wind through the treetops. The dry prairie grasses were lying almost flat and as we walked occasional limbs, branches and other debris would tumble down from above. Clouds of flying dust flew overhead and to the north over Green Mountain we noticed a single solitary white cloud stationary against the azure blue of the Colorado winter sky. I remember wondering how any cloud could survive being shredded to bits in such horrendous wind conditions but it did, barely moving or changing shape through much of our early walk. 

As we followed the trail from Skunk Hollow several miles to Bear Creek Reservoir we alternated from the comparative safety of the trees to scrambling up and over small hillocks where we were quickly reminded and awed by how strong the wind was blowing. The waters of the reservoir, which sits in a normally sheltered depression, were in turmoil. Sections of the western shore were still frozen and in places geese were seeking shelter on the ice wherever they could find it. They were all pressed as flat as they could facing the same direction into the wind and you could see their flight feathers ruffling with every gust. It was amazing that they were not being blown backward off the ice into the lake but they remained in place. Farther out on the lake you could see random areas of calm which upon closer attention turned out to be sheets of ice that had separated from the shore and were on a perilous journey eventually to crash into the wave-tossed shoreline on the other side of the reservoir.

Making our way back the way we had come that same fluffy white cloud still hovered over Green Mountain. Only now there was an ominous dark billow beneath it streaming off to the east. It was at that point we began to realize that something was amiss. As we continued our walk it became evident that the dark billow was smoke and soon it stretched along much of the eastern horizon. Driving home the winds continued unabated and we passed several overblown trucks. One car had their Yakima roof container blown apart and the poor driver was desperately trying to collect his skis and other belongings from the windswept highway. From a neighborhood park we got a clearer view of the smoke plume streaming from the Boulder area and hurried home to turn on the local news only to find out conditions on the ground were far, far worse than the distant smoke plume would have suggested. 

As I write this I can only shake my head at the capriciousness of Mother Nature. This morning we woke to a mantle of white that was two days too late. While I shoveled snow this morning hundreds, if not thousands of my fellow Coloradans were wondering if they still had a home to return to. 

The following video is a snapshot of the wind event that would end up causing such extreme fire damage just 30 miles to the north. It will be a long, long time before I can hear the roar of the wind and not think back to this day.

Tidings...

 

"Its December the 24th, and I'm longing to be up North..."

So sings Neil Diamond in his version of 'White Christmas'. In Denver the temps have been in the 60's over the last few days and on the Winter Solstice it was probably as warm here as in Phoenix. In the mountains its a completely different story. What would the Holidays be in Colorado without a snowstorm to snarl all those travelers heading to grandma's to sample some homemade pumpkin pie.

I'm staying put for Christmas which seems to make sense given our newest iteration of Covid. Omicron (really, who comes up with these names?) has swept in faster than Santa on his sleigh and it didn't even need ole' Rudolph to lead the way. My wife and I are supposed to head to Florida for an organized bike tour in January and the last thing we need is to catch something named after the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet. The naming system used by the World Health Organization supposedly makes public communication about the virus easier and less confusing which I guess is true because most of us are still scratching our heads trying to figure out how to properly pronounce it. 

But its Christmas (or Kwanza, Hanukkah, Pancha Ganapati (Hindu), Modraniht (Saxon), Saturnalia (Roman), Yule (Pagan), Soyal (Zuni and Hopi), etc.). Suffice it to say there's a whole lot of us celebrating something this time of year and whatever it is that's special to you and yours I'll simply say "Happy Holidays". As I write this I'm looking out the window and its actually starting to rain which is definitely not what one would expect in the Mile High City the day before Christmas. Maybe there really is something to all this hoopla around climate change? Just saying. 

Anyway, I'll leave you with the following 'Christmas Postcard' sampling some of the sights and scenes of the holiday season:

Hopefully you've created some happy memories of your own this season. Since I started with a song lyric I'll just close with another: "We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!" which hearkens back to the grand old year of 1500 which I don't think had any Greek letters featuring prominently. It did however have many Christians in Europe believe that the apocalypse was due to occur though a mistaken misinterpretation of the Book of Revelation. Aaahhh, the more things change...

Thanks...

 Got an email from LinkedIn asking folks to post something about what they are most thankful for this Thanksgiving 2021. My list is way too long to list here, but thankful I am nonetheless. 

Of course there's a lot to not be thankful about as well and that list in this still-in-the-midst-of-a-pandemic is perhaps equally as long so this year I guess the scales of what to be thankful for and what to not be so thrilled about are about equal. I'm a Charles Dickens fan(atic) and this year reminds me of his opening paragraph to one of my favorite novels (if you don't recognize these remarkable, and timeless words I'll tell you which novel at the end of this post...):

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

Ultimately we are all lucky to  j u s t  be  a l i v e. The Oxford Dictionary defines 'alive' as "living; not dead". "Not dead"... I think that is the worst definition of ALIVE one could possibly come up with. Being alive is so much more than simply being "not dead". Look up synonyms for the word though and you start to get the real sense of what being alive means: 

synonyms of alive...

I look at those around me - friends, families, acquaintances - and its these synonyms that start to flesh out the character of those I have come to know and love in all my years on this tiny blue dot. And it is these characteristics that I find myself still seeking out in those I interact with. Yes, sometimes I'm disappointed but perhaps what I remain most thankful for is that more often than not I find people that are "not dead", but truly "alive" in every sense of the word. As you gather with those most dear this holiday season I hope that is also true for you. 

...On a far less serious topic, my better half gets a bee in her bonnet this time of year to partake in the time-honored tradition of craft making and I find myself pulled into the endeavor. This year she/I/we along with my mother-in-law made plaques representing the changing of the seasons and here's a quick snapshot of our efforts:

Oh, and those words from Mr. Dickens? They're from his novel A Tale of Two Cities. I'm not sure if its still a must read in High School/College English classes but if you're looking for a great classic to curl up with by the fire when the snow (eventually) flies I'd give this one a big thumbs up. 

From me and mine to you and yours, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

I’m a Maxanista!

I’m good at a few things, average at most, and downright lousy at some. Shopping prowess would definitely be included in the ‘lousy’ category and I’ve been quite happy with that utter lack of skill for the last, oh, sixty-four years. Recently however I’ve been receiving one on one instruction on the finer points of spending money on things I absolutely don’t need and didn’t even know I wanted by a young lady in her late seventies. I’d challenge anyone to match the consummate skill of this lady when it comes to cruising through stores and snatching up bargains. Santa needs to hire this shopping phenomenon especially this year when most of his deliveries seem to be sitting idly in the middle of the ocean waiting for ports to clear up enough of a backlog to get them unloaded. 

Watch out TJ Maxx... here they come!

This lady happens to be my mother in law which means she is the mother of my dear wife who is no slouch when it comes to shopping herself. I guess she learned from the best. Sunday morning I got another Master class from the two of them (heaven help the retailer when this tandem duo steps through the door) as we attended the Grand Opening of the new TJ Maxx in Silverthorne. Perhaps you too were there - it did seem that not only all of Summit County was there but much of the front range as well. The parking lot was stuffed beyond capacity which in my book is the perfect reason to head in completely the opposite direction but if I contributed anything at all to this outing it was being lucky enough to score a parking space where we didn’t have to hike in from, like, Utah. 

We knew about the Grand Opening  after seeing signs announcing the coming event when we stopped into the  shopping center a couple of weeks ago to have lunch at one of our favorite mountain eateries - the Sunshine Cafe - and noticed a lot of work going on at what had been an empty store front after the Office Max shut down months ago. Hopefully the extra ‘X’ in the newest Maxx will bring better luck than the prior purveyor of office supplies had. And if the crowds on Sunday are any indication they’re off to a good start. Just getting into the store was no mean feat but we surfed the wave of humanity and made it through safely. Once inside there was no hesitation as my wife and mother in law were off like greased lightning. I had no hope of keeping up but gave it my best shot until I saw my nemesis out of the corner of my eye. 

Shopping Nirvana (at least in my book)

Like I said at the beginning of this blog I’m good at some things and one of the things I’m best at is spotting a cozy bench or chair in a store. And this one, miracle of miracles, was unoccupied! Heck, I thought, what better vantage point to watch two Masters  and thousands of their fellow aficionados do their thing than perched on a comfy nice new red bench that looked like it was placed there just for me. Well, tell you what, it wasn’t unoccupied for long and before you could say “I’m a  Maxanista” I had made myself at home as the hordes around me surged back and forth, to and fro, all around me. I was an island in a storm of shopping craziness and I could only watch with eyes wide open  at least until my eyelids grew heavy, my eyes glazed over, and I was caught, I admit it, napping. Now napping and shopping don’t go together in my mother in law’s vocabulary and I’m sure she would have given me the evil eye of all evil eyes if she had seen me but she was nowhere to be seen having disappeared into the shoe section ("Aren't those white boots topped with the white fur just adorable?"). 

Hard at work, bags only half full

Now I have to admit, the new TJ Maxx in Silverthorne really does have a comfy bench and I thoroughly enjoyed my shopping-inspired siesta but way too soon ("Really? We've been here for two hours?") I was being rudely awakened and told to get with the program. Kudos to my wife and mother in law though - they made good use of their time while I was busy catching ZZZ's. By the time I awoke they had filled their TJ Maxx shopping bags to the brim and were ready to get in line to check out. The lines for the registers stretched all the way to the back of the store at times, which kinda upset me. What with a 30 minute wait to give TJ Maxx all of our money was there any good reason to wake me up so soon? OK, I do tend to be a little grumpy right after nap time. So I made the same Executive Decision any four year old would make and stayed planted right where I was but eventually the line did actually move and it was time to bid our Grand Opening TJ Maxx Adventure adieu. But wait, right next store the Sierra (formerly Sierra Trading Post) store was also having their Grand Opening so guess where I was headed? Yup, to look for a new bench... 

Just in time...

Even though the calendar says November I'm not quite sure I'm ready for the cool (cold?) and cloudy weather that has descended upon us in the last couple of days. How about you? It did give me the perfect excuse to huddle with my laptop and put together the last of my Fall trip videos to round out those on Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks as well as Earthquake Lake. The video below captures some of the Fall colors and gorgeous views we were able to see during our mid October travels through Grand Teton National Park.  Thankfully we had wonderful weather, a far cry from the gloomy skies outside my window as I write this. I've seen this part of the country in the middle of summer a couple of times but always count myself lucky to be able to visit later in the year when the days still get warm but the nights are cold and make you glad to have a warm sleeping bag or lots of blankets. Oh, and the summer crowds are just a distant memory which makes spending time with the local moose population a more intimate treat. 

We had seen a mother moose and calf back in July and think we saw them again this trip as they were contentedly munching away on the trees behind a cabin in the little town of Kelly. And one morning as I was exiting the campground men's room I stumbled into another moose rubbing its massive antlers up and down on a tree not more than ten feet away. Fortunately he was preoccupied and I was able to back up to a safe distance from which to just stand and watch. Just me and a moose sharing the quiet of a Wyoming morning. We could both see our breath in the cold air but with the sun on the rise it was the start of another perfect Fall day in Northwest Wyoming.

Our next trip was set for January when we would head below the equator to hop a cruise to Antarctica from Argentina. Unfortunately the good folks in Argentina where the cruise would start don't have any more of a handle on COVID than we do here in Colorado right now so travel to Buenos Aires is off limits and alas we've canceled that trip until some future non-COVID date. Who knows when that will be, if ever, but one hopes for the best while planning for the worst. 

Instead of visiting penguins we're now planning on heading to Florida and the Keys for a bicycle trip with the fun folks at Senior Cycling who go by the moniker of "Fun Folks On Spokes". Its not exactly Ride the Rockies or the Triple ByPass, or my favorite Leadville 100, but who's to argue with cycling flat terrain at sea level while being coddled in a swanky hotel every night as you slowly (very slowly) meander across 44 islands and over 42 bridges between Key Largo and Key West in shirt sleeves and shorts (Key West averages daytime January temps of about 75 degrees - yup, no penguins). Instead of moose we'll have our sights on Manatees and dolphins.  

Well that's enough for now. It's Election Day and I hear tell some folks in Denver still haven't voted. I'm casting my ballot in favor of Flipper, Bullwinkle, and Gentle Ben this year. Anyway, grab a mug of hot chocolate, grab a blanket and curl up on the couch and spend a couple of moments visiting one of the prettiest places on the planet on a day that was warm and the sun was still shining...

A swing through Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park is one of those places I admit to being somewhat ambivalent about. It offers stunning beauty and natural wonders but also tremendous crowds and the sensation of being in a drive-thru wildlife attraction. On our way home from Glacier we stopped in the little town of West Yellowstone and had a couple of days to experience the best and worst that YNP has to offer. The weather was definitely showing the change of seasons with morning temps in the low 20's and made for some gorgeous morning views of the steam-shrouded geysers set against the backdrop of crystal clear Montana and Wyoming skies. Our first day in the park we cycled from West Yellowstone to Madison Junction and back and for most of the ride we were passing cars slowly creeping along the roadway. Not the most fun bike ride but still better than those stuck in their vehicles staring at a never ending stream of brake lights ahead of them. Still it was fun to pull into some of the turnouts along the Madison River and watch the early morning fly fishermen and women doing their thing. And on this day the fish were biting as we saw several trout  snap at the flies being cast their way.

Next day we got up even earlier and headed for the Old Faithful area. Most of the northern loop of the park was closed to traffic so we anticipated lots of crowds  but were pleasantly surprised to find easy parking and not-overwhelming numbers of folks flocking to see the park's most famous geyser erupt every 90 minutes or so. A lot of the geysers in the park seemed more active than I remember from our last visit and despite my ambivalence its hard not to be wowed when Nature puts on its geothermal show. 

Its also nice to stop in and visit the Old Faithful Inn though this trip we were not fortunate enough to stay there overnight. COVID precautions have toned down the experience inside the grand lobby considerably but gazing up at the magnificent wood ceiling so high above is still something to behold.  Gone is the ambiance of sitting in front of the roaring fireplace or listening to the live piano music lofting from the second floor but one can still mosey out to the upper outside deck and watch the geysers do their thing. The main dining room has switched to a buffet setup rather than the full service dining of years past but the food was very good and as always its fun to sit inside and look through the windows at the incredible scenery. 

Here's a short video of our Yellowstone stop. If you've been to YNP you'll likely recognize some of the locations and if you haven't been, hopefully it will whet your appetite to make a visit. From here we had one more stop to make before arriving home. We had spent a couple of weeks in the Tetons in July and were looking forward to a couple of more days there seeing what Fall was like.....