Arapahoe Glacier Trail

We just got back from an AWESOME camping trip. We only went for one night, but it was amazing. We camped at the Rainbow Lakes Campground in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, less than 2 hours from our house.

Today we hiked a good portion of the Arapahoe Glacier Trail. It was amazing! We started at 10,000 feet, and hiked until we got to 12,000 feet; we went a total of 8 miles. As you can see, we had a perfect day.

I will post more of these photos soon, but for now -- I wanted to put a little eye-candy on the blog.

more GGC sights

Although Tom and I have been to Golden Gate Canyon before (several times), we had never been on the Elk Trail, on the west side of the park. It was gorgeous.

I don't know what kind of plant this is, but Mark pointed it out -- because of its very impressive symmetry.

the most impressive lunch in the group

Some of the people on our hike today were friends from our "gourmet potluck" group. This was one of the fabulous gourmet peanut butter sandwiches that was happily devoured.

Panorama Point at Golden Gate Park

Today we joined a group of friends to do a long hike at Golden Gate Canyon State Park, to celebrate the summer solstice. There were 12 of us in all; hopefully Mark will send me his group photo from lunch time. We hiked 11.5 miles, ranging from about 8,600 - 9,200 ft in elevation. It was a spectacular day.

my hommage to aspen continues

I enjoyed all kinds of Aspen glory today. I can't wait to come back here in the fall.

talk about awesome

We hiked a couple of different short trails this day. This view was available almost from the moment we left the parking lot. Between the light breeze and blue-blue skies, I don't think the day could have been better.

we can't wait to come back with friends

This gem of a spot was less than 1/2 mile from the car. For relatively little work, I think these are some of the best Divide views we've had.

bluebells

Tom and I discovered some wonderful trails about half way up Flagstaff mountain last week. Of course, I had to stop for some wildflower pictures. I'm pretty sure these are bluebells.

GO YEAST!

Two of my favorite uses for yeast. I have been

working toward my perfect bread and feel like I

am almost there. This is a sourdough boule

using all home grown yeast.

Tasty.

Summer Beer!

I currently have nine breweries that are

thirty minutes or less from the house, as if

that wasn't cool enough boulder liquor mart

can get me what i want from the other fifteen

brewers across the state in just a few days.

This is a Colorado kolsch from Steamworks in Durango.

Tasty.

spring hiking

Anyone looking for real estate? I bet this place is cheap!

Tom and I went hiking last week, west of Idaho Springs. It seems that each year I have made the mistake of suggesting a hike in June that starts over 10,000 ft. Maybe next year I'll remember that in June, these hikes are still too snowy to get too far!

We only made it about 1.5 miles up the trail. Partly because the snow became too deep to hike through (we had on boots, but weren't packing snow shoes), and partly because when you go straight up a hill starting at 10,000 feet -- it's slow going. We probably topped out around 11,000 feet -- and I'll tell you: the air is sure thin up there. Of course, this didn't prevent Tom from fishing...

Marsh Marigolds

It has become my custom to amuse myself by taking a bunch of pictures while Tom is fishing. (Either than or I sit & read. In this case, it was cloudy and cold enough that I didn't want to sit still.)

So I was happy that I had remembered to bring my "Colorado Trees & Wildflowers (a pocket naturalist guide)" along with us. I was able to easily identify these as Marsh Marigolds. They were everywhere, and fun to photograph.

2/11/1995 - 6/3/2010

I am very sad to share with everyone: Sable died this week. We found out last week that she probably had a GI-lymphoma, and this week we had to have her euthanized after she developed an intestinal obstruction. As you can imagine, both Tom and I are broken-hearted. Although we/I always knew this time would eventually come, I was certainly not prepared for this.

We are both missing her terribly. I find myself doing ok during the times I'm distracted (mostly at work), but the house definitely feels empty without her. She was such a wonderful friend for the last 15 years.

Sable was originally born, I believe, behind a dumpster at Harvey Mudd College. She had similar markings, and the tell-tale extra toes, of her mother. (I have no idea who her father was!) When Sable was 5-6 weeks old, I believe that her mother dragged her out to the parking lot in order to save the rest of the litter -- I suspect that Sable was the runt (most of her life she weighed no more than 10 pounds). It was raining -- so Sable crawled up into my car engine to stay dry. Imagine my surprise when I drove to work -- and she was still in the engine! Amazed that she had survived, I just had to keep her...

In the beginning, Sable got shuttled around quite a bit. My brother kept her for one summer (while I was in NH), and later on she stayed for another summer with my parents. She lived with me in 4 different places in San Diego and 3 different places in Philadelphia. Ironically enough, she finally hit her stride when we landed in Phoenix -- she LOVED the heat.

All in all, this little kitty (who did not like the car, or her kennel) travelled a lot of miles. The first time we went to Alaska we did not take her with us. A friend was house-sitting and taking care of Sable, and reported that she cried non-stop until we got back. So after that, we took her on all of our travels... so she had been to Colorado before we moved here, and she ended up travelling to Alaska as well. Everywhere we went, we let her go outside right from the get-go: she never got lost, and never ran away.

No matter where we were, she was an incorrigible beggar, and a lover of all protein products. It would be difficult to identify her "favorite" food; she loved salmon (especially fresh, raw salmon that Tom would fillet for her), tuna, chicken, pork, ice cream (only vanilla, please), cheese, steak... you name it. She also loved playing with strings and rubber bands. She was very opinionated, and usually had very little difficulty expressing herself. She loved to be outside -- and loved to sleep in the sun (or near the fire).

Here are some of my favorite photos of her. They are probably already on the blog elsewhere, but I think they're great pictures.

This photo was taken when Sable was napping (in a sun-beam, of course) on our bed in Phoenix.

I like this photo because I think it shows Sable's stately side. Tom took it in our backyard, in Phoenix. She spent an awful lot of hours in the sun there.

I love this photo because it shows Sable at her best: hiding in plain sight. She scared the bejeezus out of Tom on more than one occasion, popping out from behind a plant or bush or something like that.