Sunday, May 31, 2009

Day One


Today, we cleaned the house, put up the paintings, bought our annual Rocky Mountain National Park pass, and took Maddy for a walk down by the river. Not much out in the way of wild flowers. As you can see from the photo above the dandelions are blooming and not a lot else. I spotted some Nelson Larkspur and early lupins, a few daisies and some alpine phlox. The river is high and I'm attaching a video (bottom of post). We also drove into the park and saw a herd of elk, still shedding their winter coat.


Somehow we picked up a nail in one of the tires en route, and this morning we had to pump it up with our bicycle pump so we could drive to the local garage to have it repaired. Otherwise, it is wonderful to be back here, where it is enough somehow to be outside, or even inside, looking at the views. We're very tired from the long drive and tomorrow, alas, it's time to get back to work.


Departure


We set out about 6:15 a.m. on Friday morning, intending to spend two and a half days en route but instead powered through on Day Two, stopped for provisions at the Fraser Safeway and arrived in Grand Lake shortly after 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Compared to last year's tornado adventure, this trip was uneventful, but there were some nice visual moments, including this one: our favorite town in Missouri. We've never taken that exit but love the name.

En route


A memorable sunrise just outside St. Louis on Saturday morning.
In western Kansas where we encountered the tornado last year, we found this dramatic double rainbow instead.

Wind Farm


And this eerily beautiful wind farm on the plains. These turbines are hundreds of feet tall and go on for miles and miles across the flat emptiness of western Kansas.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Countdown

Michael, Maddy and I will leave for Grand Lake early in the morning on Friday, May 29th. We'll stop just outside St. Louis that night and somewhere inside Colorado on Saturday night. Sunday morning, we'll drive through Denver, up Berthoud Pass, then on to Winter Park and Fraser, where we'll stop at the Safeway to stock up on groceries. With luck, we'll be at our Grand Lake home and looking out on the Never Summer Range, wine glass in hand, that afternoon. Can't wait!