This is the Christmas Part of the Blog

Merry Christmas Hosers!
Here are some pictures from the Saturday after the Holiday Blizzard of 2006 

I think some cross-country skiers horked the Beer in a Tree

Mt. Morrison & Red Rocks from a golf course.

Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day, Happy New Year, Eh!

-M

Hoth

Season Greetings from Colorado. I am surviving the Holiday Blizzard of 2006. 24" of Snow and 6 foot snow drifts in my neighborhood. I lost power for several hours this morning. I didn't mind, it gave me an excuse to go outside and play. Here are some pictures from the morning adventure.

Parked Cars

Time for a 2° Below

Snow Drift

Plowing through the snow

I noticed in my last post that I got anonymous comment saying I looked miserable. A strange comment to say the least. I'm guessing it was done out of jealousy. It got me thinking though, have I ever been miserable since I moved to Colorado? Well I hurt my leg from a ski boot. I was pretty miserable for several days after that, but I had so much fun creating that misery. Disaster did happen last week, I spilled half of my Fat Tire. That was pretty miserable, but then I realized that there are unfortunate people back East who can't even buy Fat Tire. So I quickly feel blessed to live where I do. All I can say is, life is good in Colorado
Merry Christmas
-m

Carter

Hello again from Colorado! Didn’t do too much outside this weekend. The beautiful weather we were having during the week turned chilly by this weekend. I had a few home projects I was working on anyway. I did get out Saturday for a little bit. I went up above Red Rocks where I discovered they are celebrating Carter’s Birthday out here. So I just want to finish up this post by shouting out to my favorite nephew, Happy Birthday!!!

-M

29

I went back to Roxborough State Park this weekend. I took the Fountain Valley Trail this time. An easy but beautiful trail. It wanders through a valley of red rocks similar to the rock formations of the actual Red Rocks Park.

Northern view

One of three Bucks that I saw on this hike.

Big soccer news this past week, Bob Bradley was named interim head coach for the Men's US National Soccer Team. This was after a deal could not be worked out with Juergen Klinsmann. It would have been interesting to see what Klingsmann would have done with the team. Who knows how it would have worked out. Who knows how Bradley will work out. Hope for the best. Go Nats!

Last but not least, I want to say Happy Birthday to my favorite sister!

Wile E.

I took easy this weekend. My leg is still a little sore from the ski boot on Thanksgiving, but it is getting better. It snowed on Wednesday and Saturday this week. I think that was the first measurable snow in Lakewood since the blizzard that made national news. We got ten inches at my place on Wednesday; I'm not sure about Saturday. Wednesday's snow was still around. Anyway I went for a short walk along Bear Creek. The coyotes have been more active lately. I've noticed them running around a lot more. Their howling actually woke me up one night.



Can you find the Coyote?







I have updated my FlickR site with my November pictures. So if you want see to additional pictures of hiking and skiing, Click Here.

Turkey Skiing

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. I spent Turkey Day on the ski slopes. I went to Breckenridge with my friends Mark and Kathy. Lots of fun, despite not having any skiing skills. The adrenaline rush allowed me to ignore the pain of my ski boot and socks digging into my left leg. I sure could feel it after we finished skiing. I'm hoping it is just a deep contusion. I've been out of action the rest of the weekend. D'oh! TV has been my friend. Lots of good football, both versions.
Mark & Kathy on the Chair in front of me.











Me

Mansion On The Hill

Saturday's hike took me back to Mt. Falcon Park. I went to the park's east entrance this time. It took a lot longer to get to the park than I thought. It must have taken eight minutes. I was only expecting five. I headed up the Turkey Trot Trail. It is a hiker only trail that has some beautiful views of Bear Creek Canyon. The trail is well used, but it is in descent shape. The Turkey Trot Trail connects up with the Castle Trail, which goes the rest of the way up the mountain. The Castle trail is like a major highway up the mountain. It is a Horse/Mountain Bike/Hiker trail. The terrain was beautiful, but the trail was wide and worn down. It will be interesting to see how long they allow mountains bikes on this trail. There is just too much traffic in a significant park. Anyway I took the Castle Trail to the Walker's Dream Trail, which took me to the ruins of the Summer White House. The previous owner (John Brisben Walker) of the land had plans to build the summer home of the President of the United States on a peak across from his own home. The project came to an end when Walker's home burned down in 1918. The foundation of the Summer White House was the only thing that got built. It would have had great views of Mt. Evans and Denver.













This picture is looking northeast towards Red Rocks. It was taken from the peak that has the Summer White House Ruins.














This picture is taken from the same peak. Denver is to the left of me. Bear Creek Lake is to the right of me. I have walked to that lake from my apartment. I believe I picked out my apartment while I was up there.

On Sunday, I went for a hike at Mount Galbraith Park. Like Mount Falcon Park, Mount Galbraith Park is apart of the Jefferson County Open Space Park System. The trails in this park are hiker only, and they are in great shape. The only issue I have with trails here is that they don't have a trail that goes to the top of Mt. Galbraith. I'm not sure why, it would be easy to put a trail to the top. Anyway the trail loops around the mountain and gets close to the top. There are some great views of Golden, Colorado from this trail.

There is some beer being born down there.

Retrospective

Good Day, eh? Unfortunately, I didn't take any new pictures this weekend. However, I've created a photo site that contains some of the pictures from my past adventures that did not make this blog. Click Here, if you want to check them out.

I did go for a hike Saturday after watching a great football game. I started at my apartment and walked over to Bear Creek Lake Park. It turned into one of those hikes that became longer than you really wanted. I didn't have a map of the trails in the park, and there wasn't a trail where I thought there would be. Rather than backtrack, I took a trail that I knew would loop me back, but it would taken a little longer than I wanted. The Sun sets behind the foothills at about 4:30 pm. I didn't get back to my apartment till a little after 5:00 pm. That last half hour was a little chilly. It's amazing what powerful source of energy the Sun is. Hmmmm... Anyway I made it back to my apartment and enjoyed a hot shower and a cold beer. Sunday was a cloudy, cold, snow flurry kind of day. I stayed home and watched the world's favorite sport.

-M

Feeling Gravitys Pull

Had a bit of a lazy weekend. I didn't have much energy. I think I came down from my after Halloween Chocolate High. Oh well, I did manage to get out Saturday and enjoy the sights. I went for a drive and a short hike. I found myself back at Golden Gate Canyon State Park. I did a short snow hike on the Raccoon Trail. It was a pretty hike through the woods.













My sports teams let me down this weekend. The Dawgs are continuing a dismal season. They weren't on TV, which was probably a good thing. I would have required a lot of Lifebuoy if I had watched. The Colorado Rapids also failed to advance to the MLS Cup. The Houston Dynamo beat them soundly today by the score of 3-1. Oh well, at least I was drinking some good beer while I watched. Next year should be fun; they get to play in a brand soccer specific stadium.
The Dolphins did win one for the 1972 team by knocking off the undefeated Bears. Somebody needs to beat Indy. The Dolphins will have the last shot, but I hope it doesn't come to that. I have been following the Broncos while living out here. It is kind of hard not too. I'm not a true fan yet. I have gone hiking while they've played. Enough sports ramblings.

Take Care,

-M

After The Storm

The Big Blizzard that hit Colorado last week wasn't a big deal where I lived. 6 inches may have fallen, but the snow had turned to rain by the afternoon so it was hard to make an estimate. The Blizzard winds were to the south and east. The big snow totals were in the mountains. Evergreen, which is 15 miles by road to the west of me, reported 2 feet. Saturday, two days after the storm, I went for a hike in the Evergreen area. I went to Alderfer/Three Sisters Park. I did a short hike that took me to the top of The Brother and to the Three Sisters. The weather was warmer than I expected in the foothills. I was wishing I had a short sleeve shirt with me.

That's me on top of The Brother. The snow capped peak to the left of me is Mt. Evans.

This is on top of a rock ledge of one of the Sisters.

In Soccer News, the Colorado Rapids came back to beat FC Dallas to advance to the conference finals. Conyers, Georgia native, Clint "Cletus" Mathis scored a brilliant goal in OT to send the game to PK's. Rapids won PK's 5-4 Major upset, 4 seed beating the number 1 seed. Go Rapids!!!

Cold Wind Blows

On Saturday, I went to my first professional sporting event in Denver. I went to Invesco Field at Mile High to see the Colorado Rapids in a MLS playoff game. That's Major League Soccer for the non-soccer people. Unfortunately, the Rapids lost to FC Dallas 2-1. They still got another game, but the second leg is in Dallas. So I don't expect them to advance. Anyway it was still fun to be at the game even though they lost. It was also really cold at the game.
On Sunday, I went Golden Gate Canyon State Park. It is about 13 miles northwest of the birthplace of Coors Beer. I hiked to Frazer Meadow where there was an old homestead. The wind was blowing pretty good. Quite Cold. The elevation was above 9,000 feet. I looped back to my vehicle by way of the Black Bear Trail, which took me over Ralston Roost (9,334 ft). This trail was colder and windier. It was worth it, though. Good views, good rocks, good snow. Round trip was about 6 miles.













It's Monday now, I can still see snow in the foothills, but the afternoon temperatures were in the 60's in Lakewood. The forcast for Tuesday has the low's in the mid 30's and the high's in the low 70's. Nice!

That's All for now,

-M

The Next Day

There was about 3 to 4 inches of snow on the grass, sign posts, and other cold places. Gives the place a different kind of beauty. It was sunny (but cold) day, so most of the snow was gone by the afternoon. I heard they got 12 inches at Idaho Springs which about 30 minutes away in the I-70 corridor. Anyway here are some photos from this morning.

This is Bear Creek which runs behind my apartment.

My apartment complex is in the background. Bear Creek is where the line of trees are.

Morrison Mountain. Red Rocks Amphitheatre is at the base of the mountain.

Look Out The Window

Snow! It's the Great White West. The forcasters have predicted snow for Denver and the Foothills 4 times since I've been here. They finally got it right on the 4th try. Looks like the mountains are getting a good snow. I bet some of the ski slopes will open this weekend. They say Denver could get 2-4" inches. We'll see... There might be an inch of snow on the ground at my apartment. Not exactly Buffalo volume.

My Apartment

This is the view from my deck around 1:00 pm mountain time.

This picture was taken at about 5:00 pm along one of the Bear Creek trails that run right by my apartment.

Roxborough State Park

Today I went to Roxborough State Park, which is located south of Denver. It is less than 30 minutes from my apartment. The park is located where the plains meet the foothills. The park has some rock formations similar to that of Red Rocks and Garden of The Gods. Roxborough State Park has quite a few trails. I took the trail up to Carpenter Peak (7,160 ft). According to the signs, this area is rattlesnake, black bear, and mountain lion country. I didn't see any of those magnificent animals, but I did see the most dangerous creature of them all. Humans. I saw few of them. Fortunately, they were of the friendly variety. Here are a couple of pictures of me on top of Carpenter Peak.

Hey, I live in Colorado

Saturday Morning. Feeling lazy. Don't want to get out of bed. Sleep in. Finally get up. Watch a part of Gameday. The first football games of the day have started. I look outside. It is a gorgeous day. I need to go to the mountains. Oh no, I've waited to late. It will take a couple of hours to get to the mountains, and the crazy suburbanites will be out. Wait a minute; I don't have to deal with that. I live in Colorado. I can be in the mountains in no time. 30 minutes later, I find myself at Mount Falcon Park. It only took that long because I decided to take the scenic route through Bear Creek Canyon. Mount Falcon Park has 11.1 miles of trail. I walk on about 4.2 miles of these trails. I'll save the rest for another day. Mt. Falcon tops out 7,851 feet, which is not very high by Colorado standards, but over 1000 feet higher than anything east of the Mississippi. It was enough to give me that thought of "I can't believe I live here." Below are some pictures of the park.

Downtown Denver from the Top of Mt. Falcon.

This is the old mansion of John Brisben Walker. The home burnt down in 1918 due to a lightning strike.

Red Rocks, dinosaur Ridge, Green Mountain, the northern suburbs of Denver as seen from the Walker Home Ruins.

Walker owned the land from Mt. Falcon down to Red Rocks as well as other places around Denver. Walker produced a number of concerts at Red Rocks between 1906 - 1910. The city of Denver purchased Red Rocks in 1927.

On a side note, you can now make anonymous comments on this blog if you like. The default setting allowed only register users. I have fixed this.

The weather is getting cooler. It is Sunday, and there has been 40° temperature change since Saturday. There is talk of snow in the forecast...

-M

Beer Festival and Mountains

On Saturday, I went to the Great American Beer Festival. MMMMMM Beer! 380 Breweries, 1600 Beers. MMMMM BEER!!! I met up with the Seasteads for this wonderful event.  I followed up Beerfest on Sunday by taking a cruise through the mountains. I got out of the car and went for a hike up above Hoosier Pass. Hoosier Pass is above 11,000 feet and is near Breckenridge. I hiked up a jeep road that gave me some great views of some Fourteeners.

The Great American Beer Festival

Beer and maps

Mt. Lincoln is in the background. It is 14,286 ft. Someday I'm going to climb that mountain...

On the Continental Divide

Moved In, Hiking, etc.

Greetings from Colorado. I moved in to my apartment on Sept. 20th thanks to the help of Chuck Wagon and Pops. I hope the Beers made it back to Florida, Chuck.

I live within 5 minutes of the foothills and Red Rocks. It was snowing in the mountains on the 21st. So we went on a mere 45 minutes drive to check it out.

These pictures were taken at an elevation of about 11,000 feet on the Herman Gulch Trail in the I-70 Corridor.

























It is Tuesday, Sept 26th. The Temperature in Lakewood was probably close to 80° F today. I've been going for walks on the Bear Creek Trail the past couple of evenings. The trail is right behind my apartment. So far I have seen Praire Dogs, Rabbits, Snakes, and a couple of Coyotes on it. It is a nice greenway that connects up with some other trail that lead into Denver. That's all for now.

Take Care.
-M