Woodland Park

September 27, 2013
Partly cloudy - a little chilly


This is Charley's family.  His daughter Jenny, hubby Pete, and their son and daughter Aidan and Teagan.  SUCH a neat family.

Teagan n 'Papa'

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Woodland Park, and this whole central part of Colorado, is beautiful.  Chilly autumn night temperatures are turning the aspens to bright golden and lemon yellow.

The contrast with the deep green conifers is so pretty.

Although I'm not been a fan of aspens as yard trees, they are stunning in natural groves with their lovely white trunks and shimmering leaves.


The sun shining through an aspen grove looks like something from a story book.

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This a place called Painted Rocks.  It's so cool!  These weathered, terra cotta rocks create all sorts of strange shapes.  

Some even look like space aliens, or maybe Mayan or Incan idols.  

The landscape(s) change so quickly around here.  

Every turn holds a different surprise. 

'Highly' Deceptive...

September 26, 2013
Clear and breezy
Lat/Lon 39.1 N 105.4W

We are at Jenny and Pete's house in Woodland Park, CO.  (Awesome people, with 2 adorable and very well behaved kids.)

Last night at the dinner table, Jenny asked me if I had been this high in elevation before, and if I felt the air being thinner.  Frankly, I hadn't realized we were all that high, therefore had not noticed a change in the air.

Well, apparently Jenny and Pete's front yard sits at 8,533 feet.  This is the view from their front yard.
(The highest point off to the left in this pic is Pikes Peak.)

This made me stop and think, (which I typically don't do unless absolutely necessary), just how high HAVE I been?  I even put this question out to my friends on Facebook.

My first thought for my highest elevation was either the summit in Glacier Park, or the Lodge that is 1/2 way up Mt. Hood near Portland, OR.  After doing some research on google, I realize the highest I've been in altitude, (until now), is up at the top of Bogus Basin Ski Resort in Idaho!

Since it's measured from sea level, and not from the foot of the mountain, elevation can be very deceptive!

For instance, Mt. Hood,which looks huge, is a little over 11,000 feet. It looks so big because the foot of the mountain is so close to sea level.

The summit over Glacier Park is 6,600 feet.  The mountains at their peaks reach between 8,000 and 10,000 feet.  This seems so high, it even has glaciers!


A friend on Facebook mentioned he's been to Lima, Peru.  The Andes Mountains in Peru! WOW!  That's high!  Right?

But here was the BIG elevation surprise for me!  

Oddly enough, Lima, Peru is only 5,079 feet.  By contrast, Denver is 5,659 feet, and I'll bet my fb friend has been to Denver, and doesn't realize it's higher than Lima.

Lake Titicaca, high in the Andes is about 12,500 feet.
By comparison, Mt. Borah in Idaho is 100 feet higher at 12,600 feet.


And Machu Piccu pictured at right, is 7,900 feet, only a little higher than the top of Bogus Basin Ski Resort (below) at 7,582 feet!

Since being made aware of the high altitude here at Jenny's house, now I DO feel the thin air.  I'm almost as high in elevation as Machu Piccu for cryin' out loud!

I think I'm feeling a little faint,... in fact, I am fairly sure I am suffering from pulmonary edema!

Denver, CO

September 25, 2013
Clear and WINDY
Lat/Lon 39.7N 104.9W



A quick swing through Denver, (elevation 5,600 feet.) just to pick up my meds.
Happy, Happy, Happy!









Denver was not what I expected.  I though it was IN the trees, in the mountains, kind of like Seattle.  But it's actually in the plains, east of the mountains.

For Jodi,  I had to get a pic of this.

This is Sports Authority Field where the Denver Broncos play.












Heading up into the mountains,  to Woodland Park, CO, to see Charley's family, Jenny and Pete, and kids.



We saw this sweet doe beside the road, clearly very comfortable with people.

As we stopped to take a pic of her, she began calling to 'someone' we couldn't see.  Making that bleating- meowing noise they make.







Sure enough, around the corner came a pair of twins.  Their little reply calls really sounded like meows.  I hadn't heard that since we had our deer in Garden Valley.  It was a sweet sound that brought back lots of memories.







Happy family back together.





I tried to explain to Momma that she shouldn't teach her babies to be comfortable around people, that not all people are as 'nice' as me.  

She looked at me as if she didn't understand a single word I was saying and went right back to grazing.

Stupid deer.  Dumber than chickens, I swear!

REALLY, think about it!  How many dead chickens do you see beside the road?

Mud, muck, and dirty water in eastern Colorado

September 25, 2013
Sunny and cool
Lat/Lon 40.6N 103.2W

Last night we stayed in Sterling, Colorado, along the South Platt River.   

Here are a few photos of a park beside the rest area where we stayed.

 The flooding took place 10 days ago.
It's obvious that the water has receded by at least 5 or 6 feet by now, but everything is such a mess. Lots of clean up going on everywhere.

This bike bath is probably over 100 yards from the river channel. 

Here is a boat dock that had been washed down the river to the park, and was sitting against some picnic tables.

  And look at the pretty agates I found!  I didn't even need to go near the water.
(I found them in the parking lot of the rest area among the debris!)  

Eastern Colorado is as flat as Nebraska, but WAY in the back of this pic, you can see that we are approaching the Rocky Mountains.

Short visit to Nebraska

September 24, 2013
Sunny and cool
Lat/Lon 42.8N 103.0W

Nebraska,...

is flat.  And very, very windy. 

 I don't think I saw even two 'naturally growing' trees here.  

But everywhere there are trees planted in lines for wind breaks.

Understandable.

(sorry about the reflections from taking pics through windows)

 But Nebraska is definitely farm country!  

I want this sod house. Built into the side of a small hill.  

Can you imagine how well insulated this baby would be? 

It has 3 nice windows and a big stone fireplace.  

But that big bunch of prickly pear over the door would have to go.

I'd replace it with some pretty english daisies and sedum.  

 It even comes with a sod shed!

This house was actually a trading post for fur trappers in the early 1800's.  

It's in great shape for being so old.   

This is the North Platt River, a bit over flood stage I think.  

That's it for Nebraska, just passing through on our way to Colorado.

More misc. stuff...

Charley holds the moon in his fingers.

Emmy enjoys a field of alfalfa.

Pine Beetles are even worse in South Dakota than in Idaho! 

HUGE areas of dead trees everywhere. 

So sad.  

But SD seems to be getting serious about it.  They are cutting out dead trees and/or doing controlled burns.  There were large areas around Mt Rushmore where they had already done the controlled burns, more are scheduled for cooler weather.

More of my red rock fascination....

A side trip to Wyoming

September 16, 2013
Mostly Sunny - Beautiful day!
Lat/Lon 44 35.24 N 104 42.55W

Devils Tower made our 4th National Park/Monument in a week.  Glacier on the 9th and 10th,  Little Bighorn on the 13th, Mt. Rushmore on the 15th, and Devils Tower on the 16th.  

I think I have 'monumental overload'!
 

There was a BIG flag flying near a building on the way there.
Even though Devils Tower was still 3 miles away, it looks like it's right there in the photos!

OK, this is weird.  The closer you are, the smaller it looks.

Not sure if you can see them, but there are climbers in the photo below.  There was a group of 5, working their way down.  There are 4 in this photo, and one was still above and had not started down yet.   Apparently this is a fun thing to do???

There is a trail that goes all the way around Devils Tower.  So I took pictures from all sides!





















Beautiful day to check out a really big rock.

I am still facinated by the red in the hillsides!  Pretty view!

Devils Tower was first climbed in 1897, (or something like that.)  Two local ranchers made wooden ladders, (occasionally attaching them to the rock,) and climed this sucker.  It was probably after lots of beer, and most likely without the permission of their wives.  The ladders are still visible - but my camera couldn't zoom enough to really see them, but they show a little. 

If you want to see them,... they run down the center of the pic, up against a crack.  Below that small shelf of vegetation is a hole/shadow, shaped like a lower case 'b' laying on it's back.  You can see a leg of the ladder in that shadow.  The ladder runs all the way down that crack.  It shows up in a few places better than others.   CRAZY!

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To the untrained eye, that may look like late afternoon sun.  But it was a spaceship starting to land. And since I'm kinda scared of space aliens, I didn't stick around to get photos of the ship.

Buh bye!!!!

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More 'wildlife'.  A prairie dog town.  Cute little guys, but it's clear that they can really destroy a field.

It's obvious that this fat little dude has not missed too many meals.