the air up there

Top of the World, Ma!

Last Sunday we decided to (finally!) drive up to the Alpine Visitor's Center of RMNP. We've been wanting to see the park up there since we first moved here, almost a year ago. Almost a year ago. Jeez.

Anyhoo, we left the house early enough to make it up there for lunch. When we left Longmont, we were at 5k feet altitude and it was about 85 degrees. When we got to the Alpine Visitors' Center at the alpine tundra level of the park, we were at 11, 796 feet and it was 60 degrees and windy.

Above Treeline

I found out that the high altitude affects me rather adversely. I thought I was gonna hurl, and fall down. I wasn't sure which one would happen first. Despite the spectacular scenery, I could barely summon the urge to even snap any photos, much less try to make them good, or interesting. Sorry about that. The rest of the family were all starving and wanting lunch. My stomach was growling but I wasn't about to put any food on it. Luckily for us, there isn't a picnic area up there, just a basic visitors' center and a foot trail leading higher. Yikes! A nice ranger said we could drive about 4 miles on, down to Lake Irene, where there are picnic tables at (thankfully) a lower elevation . He failed to mention the enormous number of mosquitoes living at Lake Irene.

all the photos are clickable

Despite the annoying mosquitoes buzzing all around, we settled at a table and tucked in to lunch. The change in altitude did help my nausea and dizziness enough to allow for some food consumption, which further helped me improve. And our trip had, happily and unexpectedly, coincided with the peak in wildflower blooms. I didn't even get photos of the most spectacular ones because they were growing from between the rocks along the terrifying highway. But I did snap these at Lake Irene.

Mountain Forget-Me-Nots, which apparently smell wonderful. Sadly, I didn't know that while we were there. They are only about 3 inches tall, and I didn't realize that it would be worth my while to lie on the ground and smell them.

Is that a mosquito? (above)

above: another flying bug

Below you can see Mr. Man & Rhubarb walking the trail around the lake. It was so peaceful and quiet there.


One of the reasons for our trip had been to look for pikas, but they only live at the alpine tundra level and I didn't think I wanted to go back up there. It is interesting , though, to see what the land looks like up there above treeline. It's like a different planet. You can see why they warn you about lightening because there wasn't anything around (besides us) taller than about 4 inches off the ground. On the drive home, we drove back up and past the Alpine Visitors' Center again. The next time we make this trip, I'm gonna need tranquilizers and a blindfold. While the scenery is spectacularly stunning, so is the likelihood of death in the event your car should leave the road. I did a lot of gasping, and demanding that the Man have BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL RIGHT NOW, STOP LAUGHING AT ME AND JUST DO IT! I did have the presence of mind to ask him to pull off the road a couple of times so I could grab some photos. As you can see, there were rain clouds moving in. What you can't see is the wind, which almost blew the camera out of my hands.

Some funny Norwegians had stopped nearby to take in the view and pretend to feed a chipmunk. They were shivering in shorts and tank-tops. It was cold up there! See their bare feet?

I love how tiny the trees look beyond the boulder.

bald mountains

One alpine critter I did manage to see is a Yellow-Bellied Marmot. They hibernate all winter, so this was likely our one chance this year. Unless I suddenly feel like I must brave the nausea and highway of death so I can see the elusive Pika. Anyway, behold: the Marmot. It was about the size of a fat miniature poodle. Also, see what I mean about the flowers?? They were everywhere! At this altitude the growing conditions are so harsh that many plants only grow a fraction of an inch each year. If you step on a plant while you're hiking, you could destroy decades of growth.

When we got back to Boulder, where we planned to eat at the wonderful Sherpa's Adventurers restaurant, it was 95 degrees. Just imagine, if you will, closing your car door at a windy 60 degrees, and opening it an hour or so later at 95 degrees and horribly sunny. Gah! it was an oven down there. But the restaurant is air-conditioned and we were all happy to have gone. We felt, for awhile, like we were on top of the world. Our little portion of it, anyway.

big doings

This last weekend was so much fun. Our friends Andrea & Shane(who just won a big art prize. Yea, Shane!) invited us to have Saturday night dinner at their house in Denver. Also in attendance were Ked & his girlfriend Tara, and Andrea & Shane's friend Lao. The house is a cute bungalow in an old downtown neighborhood, very charming. Our dinner (delicious Pad Thai) was prepared by a friend of Andrea's who came over just to make the food, and then left. She had other plans for the evening, but sweetly offered to come cook for us. How great is that? The pad thai was awesome. I brought dessert: lemon cheesecake squares & homemade ginger ice cream. The ice cream was nice and spicy! We stayed up very late talking, drinking wine, laughing. It was wonderful. You might well wonder what the girls were doing while we were enjoying adult conversation. Shane had tuned the TV to the Cartoon network or Nick Jr. or something, and the girls watched ALOT of Spongebob Squarepants, and Ruby read an American Girls book during the commercials. They were amazingly low-maintenance and happy-go-lucky. Lucky for us!

We finally got home and put the girls to bed sometime between 11:30 and midnight. On Sunday we decided to drive up the mountains, RMNP or thereabouts. We ended up at Lily Lake.


We had packed a picnic, so we ate lunch before our hike. There were ALOT of chipmunks darting around. Their preferred spot for begging is right on top of your shoe, then they dart away super-fast.




After lunch we decided to hike up the higher-altitude trail to reach the lookout point above the lake. In the photo below, you can see (just above Lyra) some of the rock formations which look like a stack of pancakes turned on its side.


It isn't a long trail, maybe a mile and a half or so. But we had already travelled from 5k feet in Longmont to about 8.9k feet at the ground level of Lily Lake. The trail we chose went higher, rather quickly. We took it slow except for Lyra, who insisted upon racing ahead. You know, there is a thin line between fun family hike and death march and, according to Ruby, we crossed that line early on in the hike.




We reached the lookout, and the view was certainly worth the climb.






We saw tons of little flowers along the way, some growing right out of the boulders, others growing in the sandy soil and gravel along the trail, and still others growing in a marshland beside the lake.

conifer blooms

There were just a few times when Ruby decided to join in on the fun. This was especially true after I offered to pay the kids a penny a shot to let me photograph them.

a water bottle lid helps to display little bunny teeth

Apparently this lake is a great place to catch greenback cutthroat trout, which were once believed to be extinct but have returned in abundance. It is believed they may actually benefit from global warming. Go, nature!


In the end, what really served to coax Ruby out of her sour mood was an early dinner in Estes Park at Smokin' Dave's Barbeque. After my big plate of St. Louis style ribs and red beans and rice, I'm off meat for awhile. But it was awfully nice to see Junebug back to normal.

what I am is a dirty list-maker

1. Why does Firefox keep crashing on me??

2. I heard this guy on Bob Edwards Weekend yesterday. More alarm bells.


This guy's book scares Michael Pollan. Holy Cow!

3. We celebrated the 4th by going to our quaint little 4th of July picnic downtown with our friends Erin, Liam, and Nathan. Nathan is Liam's uncle, and the current love of Lyra's life. The last time she saw him (maybe 2 months ago), she literally wailed inconsolably when he left. When I told her on Friday afternoon that he would be joining us, she said "Who's Nathan?". Anyway, after she had re-kindled her affections, we listened to the local symphony orchestra playing the usual round-up of patriotic tunes, plus (go figure) Star Wars and The Phantom of the Opera, after which canons were fired. Fun! Sometimes when I look around here I realize that we really and truly have moved to the Heartland of America, all Norman Rockwell and shit. Which is heart-warming and nice alternating with conservative and scary. The rednecks have different accents, but they are still rednecks. Which makes it sound like we didn't enjoy the picnic, which is not at all true!! We totally did. Partly because, unlike Texas, it was about 90 degrees with a cool breeze. Delightful! Everyone was very friendly. I saw a Labradoodle (adorable. I totally want one.). We will for sure go next year.

4. But, about what I just said regarding conservatives here, and rednecks, etc.? Well, Thursday evening, I caught up with my friend Kerry, and her friends Maaike & Pat, in Boulder where they had attended a conference. We ate at Centro on Pearl Street and drank Damselflies, yum! (Grey Goose pear vodka, fresh lime juice, fresh ginger, ginger soda + plum preserves) And! While we were eating, seated at a window table, we got to watch an (apparently) Almost-Independence-Day! bike parade which went right by our window.


(**Amendment: I think it was a weekly Thursday night Cruiser ride, made more festive because of the July 4th holiday atmosphere**) There were somewhere between 100 and 150 lighted & costumed riders who stopped traffic and flashed peace signs and sported tutus and crowns. Guess what, ya'll? There was even a picnic table on wheels. Basically there were 4 riders on each side facing each other, pedalling a table down the street. Can you believe it? So, as conservative as Longmont sometimes feels, crazy-assed Boulder is only 12 miles away. Thank God.

I could almost hear it whistling "je ne regrette rien"

Instead of simply adjusting the tally sheet on my sidebar, I thought today I would elaborate on my morning bike ride because it had a rather unusual start. Moments after leaving the street and entering the bike path, I witnessed a squirrel (daft, probably a close relation to a prairie dog) dash right in front of a car. Both car and squirrel were directly to my right and just ahead of me, positioned so as to afford the best possible view of the accident scene. It was quick and dirty, accompanied by a loud crunching sound. The driver did what little she could to avoid the collision but the swerve didn't work-the squirrel was already too close. I saw the squirrel working up to it just before. I could almost read its wee thought-balloons: "Not yet...not yet...NOW!". There were no other cars around. It could have waited 5 seconds to cross an empty street instead.

This made me start thinking about how the so-called circle of life has changed so much. How cars are such strange, brainless players in the circle. They aren't predators exactly, because they don't eat what they kill, and neither do their drivers. Surely the animals notice this. I wonder what in the world they think about them?

**UPDATE** As I was finishing this post, I heard a scratching sound at the window of this very room. I looked over to see a squirrel hanging on to the window sill. It peered in at me as it made a few confused passes back and forth before hopping up to the roof. I felt like it was saying "Yes, please tell our story to the World!"
I didn't have the heart to tell it that only about 4 people would ever read this.

finish this sentence

Friday was the last day of the school year for both girls, and Ruby brought home a huge amount of school work for us to sort into two stacks: 1. to be recycled & 2. too funny/cute/smart to throw away. Here are some examples of proverbs she was asked to finish. I'm only posting the ones she didn't know, and for which she invented her own endings.

"Children should be seen not playing."

"It's always darkest before morning."

"The pen is mightier than the pencil."

"A penny saved is good luck."

"Better safe than unsafe."

"Two is company, three is nice."

"The early bird gets luck."

"Don't count your chickens okay?"

Yesterday, to celebrate the beginning of our summer vacation, we went back to Sunflower Farm. It was warm and sunny and wonderful as always, if a bit too crowded. The piglets we first saw the day after they were born are now Babe-sized and way too cute, if dirtier than Babe ever appears to be. I also went for a long solo bike ride. You know what is fun? Riding a bike!

Happy Summer, ya'll!

getaway, part two

Friday night we ate and drank at Osteria Marco.

i love the lamps, and the green wallpaper in the loo.

more resting, then Saturday night we met up with Kris' friend Liz and ate & drank at The Ninth Door.

devils on horseback

cafe and postres

We rode the free shuttle back to the hotel.

Kris & Liz got all caught up on high school gossip

Sunday morning we ate Mother's Day Brunch at Rioja.

St. Germain cocktail complete with house-made grapefruit bitters and grapefruit gelee. Deee-lish!



and then it was time to go back to the airport. Now I'm verklempt, so talk amongst yourselves. Topic: Mother's Day getaway 2010. We're thinking a warm beach in a nation knee-deep in avocados.

Oh yeah, we also went to the Hammond Candy Factory to buy peppermint pillows, elected not to attend the Chocolate extravaganza, but did see Baby Mama. Fun!

Now go wish Sinda a belated Happy Birthday!

getaway, part one

We stayed at the Magnolia Hotel. We shopped in Boulder at Boulder Bookstore and Prana, where Kris flirted with a girl from Tyler, Texas. We ate at Centro and had a really bad server named Ashlee.

nipples!

Suddenly a stranger appeared. Poking her head out of the bathroom stall she appeared startled to see a photo session taking place.




We rested, and we read.


to be continued...

art, tulips, nipples

Last Friday we received the exciting news that a piece of Ruby's artwork has been selected for the school district's annual Art Show. She is delighted, as are we, of course. There is a small opening night party to which we've been invited. This event will no doubt be interesting as the Art Show is to occupy the now-vacant J.C. Penney space at the World's Saddest Mall here in our little burg. This mall fascinates me because of it's haunting and half-empty decrepitude. Sadly for me, I will miss this petite soiree because I will be hanging up my photos at OZO coffee house in Boulder. What are the odds that Ruby & I would both be invited to publicly display our works at the exact same time and date??This all takes place on Wednesday. Now I need all of you to keep your fingers crossed that I sell enough prints to cover my costs of this month-long show. That's right, keep them crossed for the entire month of May. Thanks!

Now for the obligatory weekend wrap-up. Saturday was kind of cloudy and cold. I spent it running around picking up prints, shopping for cheap yet attractive frames, and buying groceries. Mr. Man and the girls spent it watching ET & The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Sunday was nicer, sunny and warmer, so we went to Boulder to stroll the Pearl Street mall where we saw scads of lovely tulips:



and some didgereedoo-ers:


I also added to my string of failed attempts to photograph the amazing nipples on the mannequins in the Prana store windows. Have you seen them? I swear these mannequins can lactate! Their nipples are huge and firm. Here is my lame photo but, I promise you, I will get a better one. It has become a mission.

quickie catch-up post

Lame, I know, but maybe tomorrow I'll put up a proper post. Maybe. The important thing is that tomorrow I will get my hair cut. A girl has to prioritize.

SO since my last post, all this has happened:

Thursday, Lyra's Paternal Grandma & Uncle arrived (To be clear, they are grandma & uncle to both girls). Birthday party ensued.

Friday, Ruby's school had a field trip to the Denver Zoo, where I was a chaperone. There were so many parents there that my "group" consisted of Ruby and her friend Mackenzie. Seems easy, right? Well, Miss Mac here is fast, and harder to keep up with than she looks. Poor Ruby, in her spf 5,000 and sunhat. But at least no major burns. whew!


Mr. Man brought the rest of the fam. there so we could all soak in the sun. For some reason it didn't occur to anyone to rub sunblock onto Lyra's ass crack.


Luckily, this shoulder ride didn't last long enough to cause any damage.

Saturday we had the birthday party at Sunflower Farm. So much fun! SO much cake (chocolate w/ chocolate frosting + strawberry cupcakes w/ cream cheese frosting).


So windy, especially right before we left. Saturday was a big day, and then the MIL & BIL kidsat so Mr. Man & I could have a date. Yea! We drove to Boulder to eat sushi flown in from Tokyo that very day. Al Gore would disapprove mightily, but then he flies around everywhere, right?

Sunday we drove to the mall in Broomfield to visit the Build-a-Bear Workshop. When it was finally time to take Isy & Stephen to the airport, I took the girls to Boulder to catch the tail end of Lyra's school's big 40th anniversary/birthday bash and fundraiser. I helped clean up while Lyra watched some Senegalese dancers and Ruby played with her friends.

I'm still tired.

a little patch of Heaven way out west*

Last weekend we discovered a remarkable place right down the road (literally about a mile away) called Sunflower Farm. It is an old rehabilitated family farm now open to the public for the purpose of edumacatin' the younguns. But the only thing my kids could say, after we got home, was "That was so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much fun!"-Ruby and "That was so much fun I thought I was gonna DIE!"- Lyra

Tipsy barn: No Entry!

Four Horns!

So many friendly ponies!

Not much talk about learning anything, just lots of debate over which part was more fun: the hammock to swing in, the old-fashioned, human-propelled merry-go-round, the baby goats, the bare-back pony rides, the hairy, fluffy chicken, or what? I see birthday parties and summer camps in our future, and possible volunteer opportunities for me. In fact, while we were there, it wasn't very crowded and was being "manned" by the owner/Mom of the farm. She approached me and 2 other women who were there at the time, one of whom was the owner's friend, and asked if we could help with a cow. She asked me if I like cows (!) and I answered that I think they are the most divine creatures on Earth. She explained that they had a first-time Mother cow who was rejecting her calf. They had been trying everything to get this cow to feed her baby and she asked if we would help her do this thing. So we said sure! We went to the barn armed with brushes with which to distract said cow while the Owner put the calf up to nurse. It took awhile for us to make it work, but the end result was that we managed to hold the cow up against the side of the barn while the calf had a good feeding, all without any of us (or the calf-poor dear, it was a flinchy thing!) getting kicked too much.

Success!

Here is the baby daddy. What curly locks!

We will definitely be back, many times. And the * from the title? It refers to a song (from the kid's film Home on the Range, sung by k.d. lang) which I find irresistible, much like Sunflower Farm.

misc.

Last night I shoved the last remaining pills down Emma's throat. One was a large tablet which the vet's office told me "she might want to eat it!" because, apparently, it is meat-flavored. Yeah, right. Dogs aren't stupid. And besides, this was a dog who lost 5 pounds because she ate nothing! Not even baby food offered on our fingers. For about 3 weeks I was responsible for giving her 9 pills a day, a combo. of 2 antibiotics + cough tablets + cough tablets with hydrocodone for nightime sleeping. Just stop and think about that. 9 pills a day. She grew very, very suspicious of me. Luckily dogs are, for the most part, very forgiving. So the fact that she is pretty much completely better and I don't have to administer the pills any more is reason enough to pop a cork.

Now, about Sweeney Todd. I liked it. It was time the play had a good updating, and I can't think of anyone better to do it than Tim Burton, unless it would be that guy who directed Pan's Labyrinth. As expected, the design was stunning. I don't know what he uses for blood, but it is beautiful stuff: surreal and so shiny. The next thing I noticed is that the Greek-ish chorus is completely gone! Gone! I kind of missed it, but I can understand why he didn't see how to work it in without it seeming weird. It works on stage, but not so much on film. I still maintain that Johnny Depp is too pretty for the role, but he did a wonderful job with it. His restraint is almost too much, you just want to see him lash out. And then when he does, he is magnificent. This is one of Depp's best roles. When he talks about missing his wife & daughter, you can see the memories in his eyes. I really felt him, emotionally, in a way that hasn't been true before. And I was pleased to see Mrs. Lovett's role is as significant as ever, especially after reading that it had been reduced. However, it took a while to get used to the fact that Helena Bonham Carter CAN'T SING AT ALL. Seriously. Johnny Depp barely sings and he sounds Operatic in comparison. She was very wooden at first. Her first song ( The Worst Pies in London) is so crucial, and she can't nail it because she looks almost embarrassed to be there. You don't even see her eyes, she's just looking down the whole time, not at the camera or at Depp. She's almost cringing. Like she's trying so hard just to avoid sucking, because she knows she can't possibly excel. Ok, all that sounds like I hated her. I didn't hate her, but it took awhile for me to warm to her in the role. By the end, I bought her completely. She's wonderful with Toby, but holds back a bit too much with Sweeney.

Now, on to the only part of the film I did hate: Anthony. I don't know who cast this kid, but he is all wrong. He can sing a little bit, but is an effeminate little fop who is completely NOT believable when he promises to rescue Joanna. Come on! He needs to be young and impressionable, but at least somewhat masculine. The kid ain't it. He's a little girl. Joanna would do well to rescue her ownself.

A word about Perelli: Sacha Baron Cohen was wonderful. He really couldn't have been better. Bravo! The same goes for Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, and the guy who played Beadle Bamford (he was Wormtail in Harry Potter. Oh, sorry! That sounds kinda nasty!) All were excellent in their respective, but decidedly disreputable, roles.

There were some things that were changed or left out, but nothing too important or annoying. Overall, I thought it was good. It was interesting to sit in a theatre listening to people say things like "Are they gonna sing the whole time?" and "OMG, I didn't know there would be so. much. blood!". I saw this film on Friday, then went back to the same theatre in Boulder on Saturday for The Golden Compass. Of the two adaptations, I would have to say that, in my opinion, The Golden Compass was more successful. It isn't perfect, and I do wish that Lyra hadn't done that "Aww, shucks" smile thing even once, much less twice. The incidental music in Compass was pretty bad, and the song played over the closing credits is truly appalling. I witnessed people leaving the theatre just to escape the song! But the film itself is mostly good. Nicole Kidman was flawless, except that I could tell she'd had some weird lip-plumping treatments. And, of course, Daniel was Daniel. Even the kids were good, except for the above-mentioned "Let's all congratulate Lyra!" moments. Both directors had difficult tasks with these projects. But if I had to choose one, I'd go with Compass.

A word about knitwear. It pissed me off that my first glance at Anthony in Sweeney Todd told me they'd used Noro yarn to knit his scarf. That sort of thing completely takes me out of the film in a bad way. It seemed inappropriate for the costumers to use a Japanese silk-blend yarn for him, even though he was a sailor who, perhaps, had just come home from The Orient. I had a somewhat different reaction to the knitwear in Compass. I'm bound and determined to make Lyra's beautiful hat from the second half of the film. I can't explain why Anthony's scarf was an annoying distraction, while Lyra's hat was fascinating. The scarf was very pretty, but it just seemed out of place. Lyra's hat was perfectly odd and charming, and just what was required.



Okay, enough for now. God, Jennifer, don't start me!

Now, I must go shower and dress to (yes, only now! Can you believe it has taken this long? And it is only 3 blocks away from our house!) go to the DMV to obtain a Colorado Driver's License. And then, maybe the Denver Nature Center. I hear they have tons of Dinosaur bones.

day 10

Today, I took the girls here (which is only about 4 miles from our house) to buy some goat feta and Queso de Mano. We ended up doing alot of this:






This is the one I wanted to bring home:


It was one of two kids with intact horns who were being trained to carry packs so they could be hiking companions. But the one below would probably have made a better pet. She was insatiably curious and friendly.

You can tell by the look in this Billy's eye that he is trouble.


But creampuff here? Heaven on cloven hooves. Can I get an Amen?


Flat. Out. Adorable.

Day 7: or Part the Second, in which the porn arrives

what Not to do at Bear Lake

Ok, you have to wait until the end of the post for the nasty stuff because I don't want that photo at the top of the page all day. Where were we? Oh yeah, we had arrived at Bear Lake. After a pit stop at the (dreaded but oh, so glad they are there anyway) trailhead restrooms, we set off on the like, 100 foot walk to Bear Lake. I thought it would be big because it gets so much press. But it seemed really tiny to me. Tiny but pretty. The water was amazingly clear.


After we looked at Bear Lake for a few minutes we headed up the trail to Nymph Lake. It was only something like half a mile up the trail to the left in the above photo with the danger:ice sign. But because we had gone from our normal 5000 feet elevation to the trailhead which is at 9475 feet, we were already a little out of breath. So that hike up to Nymph Lake (at 9700 feet) was a good workout. Here are some photos. One of the funniest parts about the trip was the joy the girls got from the small amount of snow on the ground. We keep telling them that they are gonna see lots of snow now, but they can't quite believe us yet. So they had to touch every flake they saw.


There is snow and ice on the shady outer edge of Nymph Lake. Do you see the rocks and branches which were thrown by people who wanted to see how far out the ice goes? It was hard to keep Sugarbear from testing the strength of the ice by walking out to those rocks.


As we walked around to the sunnier side of the lake, the ice thinned out. I like the leaves caught in the ice. Wish I'd thought to zoom in on them a little more.



There are also some giant boulders along the trail around the lake.

Sugarbear: from model & muse to Saboteur.

After awhile we decided to call it a day and head back down the trail. We started tallying up the wildlife we'd seen so far. Stellar Jay ( I got some nice photos, but they were b&w. Doh!), Magpie, Camp Robbers, Chipmunk or Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel (I still can't tell these two apart), and some kind of black squirrel. Here is a bad photo I took of one of them:


I was shooting at a long distance into a dark glade at a moving squirrel. Thus, the blur. I don't know what kind it is, but it sure was cute. We saw absolutely no Nymphs. But we did see deer and elk, lots of elk. Are you ready for the money shot? On the drive out of the park, Mr. Man pulled the car over so I could snap this :

This act took about as long as the average sneeze, so I was lucky to capture it. Click on it if you really need to see the pinky. This is for you Jesse, 'cause I know how much you enjoyed the grasshoppers. And Anthony, just because. Look, mammals this time! Movin' on up the food chain. I think that is as far as I want to go.

Day 6: Warning! This post may contain pornographic material. Also, this is only part 1. And I'll probably wait on the porn till part 2. So never mind.

First of all, can I just say the time change is killing me? It is dark here at like 5pm, and blazing light at about 6:15am. So that means Sugarbear sidles in to my side of the bed and asks to sleep with us. To which I always groggily and foolishly reply Yes. Then she proceeds to not sleep aggressively enough to wake even Junebug, who is still in her bed in the next room. Sleeping until 7am has become a distant, cherished memory.

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system, on to the real post. Last Sunday started out nicely, with some of these:

gingerbread pancakes

Then we headed out to RMNP again, this time hoping to see Bear Lake. We've heard it is a great destination but the late summer crowds had kept us away until now. This time the park was refreshingly lacking in its usually traffic. There were plenty of people there, don't get me wrong. Just not the throngs we've seen before. Also, lots of Elk, as you shall see later in this post.

By the time we got to Estes Park it was close to lunchtime, because it takes us fucking forever to gather all the crap we won't need, but must take just in case. So we stopped for lunch at Smokin' Dave's BBQ. Mr. Man had heard good things about it, and it is right on the way to the park.

Here is my plate of pork ribs, spicy red beans, and sweet potato fries

And Mr. Man's plate of pulled pork, slaw, and some other kind of pork. You know this place has to be good because there is bbq sauce splattered onto the light fixture above the table.

Here are our plates afterward. Mr. Man decided he didn't need to eat the giant slabs of white bread because they were not meat.



So we stuffed ourselves with pig. Oh, and also chicken. Junebug had chicken tenders that she said were just as good as the ones at Brentwood Tavern. High praise indeed. Sugarbear deigned to eat a few sweet potato fries and that was all. Here is what she thinks of our food:

After sedating ourselves with this, the opposite of high-energy food, we headed into the mountains. We drove to the Moraine Park museum because Junebug was gonna keep nagging us until we went. If a building has the word "museum" in its name, she can't wait to go there. Which is all well and good but this one has small, old, and decrepit written all over it. Which, now that I think about it, sounds kinda cool. But, whatever, it was closed for the season, thank God.

So we headed off to Bear Lake. We didn't have to park far away and take the shuttle, we could park right up close because there were so few cars. The Bear Lake trailhead is also the trailhead for Nymph Lake, Dream lake, Emerald Lake and some other stuff. And to end Part 1, I leave you with this photo. Check out the elevation. No wonder Sugarbear & I were were both feeling kinda pukey on the drive home.

Next time, porn. For real.