Sometimes it is a surprise to me that there are people out there that actual read this blog... especially when I miss writing anything in it for several days in a row. Sorry!!!! But I have been busy enjoying hot, late summer days with good friends, doing some of the things I love to do most.

    Starting back on the 25th, Sunday, I spent time with my friend Rima, boating out on the lake for some of the morning and afternoon. Some more canoeing practice and a couple of new paddle strokes, this time for solo boating. That evening we headed over to the Bull and Bush, a British style pub over in Glendale, for some pub food and Dixie Land Jazz with some other friends of mine, Paul and Maggie. A fine dinner of fish and chips for me, along with some on-site, brewed beer. It all went very well with the nearly 3 hours of good music from the 10 man band, 'Your Fathers Mustache' that we listened to.

    Monday we hung around town and the house doing more boating and exploring some nearby attractions. The main one we took in was the Forney Transportation Museum, down near the old Coliseum and Western Stock Show location. An interesting museum filled with a couple of old locomotives, lots of cars and a whole display of vintage motorcycles and bicycles. The star of the show for me was the 4-8-8-4 'Big Boy' steam locomotive they had there on site. The largest steam locomotive ever produced, it is breath-takingly huge.

    We were up early on Wednesday and headed west into the mountains towards Glenwood Springs. We had a little picnic lunch at one of the rest stops along the Colorado River just inside the Glenwood Springs Canyon's east mouth and after eating enough calories to keep us going, we headed on to the base of the trail up to Hanging Lake. This trail takes off near the middle of the canyon and heads pretty much straight up the mountain for about a mile and a half. With a little more than 1,000 feet in elevation gain, it makes one gasp for air when you start out at about 6,000 feet above sea level to start with. I of course, only had minor difficulty with doing the hike, hardly stopping at all to catch my breath.... or at least that is how "I" remember it. The hike is well worth the effort though, as at the very end of your climb you arrive at this small, crystal clear lake 'hanging' on a small level ledge along the side of the canyon. With several waterfalls into the blue green water, small brook trout cruising the depths and the red rocks of the canyon surrounding you on 3 sides.... what a beautiful sight. About an hour there at the top, just watching the water and exploring area's in and around the lake, before heading back down the trail. A lot easier going down of course, but still enjoyable... Oh, nearly forgot to mentioned that we saw a black bear foraging for berries on our way up to the top. He never even looked up as several of us hikers stood about 100 feet below and watched for several minutes.

    On to the town of Glenwood springs where we checked into the old Denver Hotel on the south side of the river, right across from the old railroad station. With all of the hiking we did, we were pretty hungry and soon were cruising the old part of town for some kind of food for dinner. Ended up at an old favorite restaurant of mine from weekend trips a long, long time ago, The Italian Underground. Very good food for both of us, though not great food, we were soon off to the huge hot springs pool the town is famous for. The pools, there are two, get their heated water from deep, underground hot springs that have been spewing millions of gallons of hot water from the earth in that area since Native Americans first discovered them. During the summer months the resort actually keeps them a little cooler by adding in more cold water and mixing it all up. So the large pool is generally around 98 degree's Fahrenheit, while the smaller pool, it is about the size of a standard 100 meter swimming pool, is kept at about 104 degrees. It sure felt good to just relax there in the hot water, but you can only stay in for about an hour at a time least you relax to much and end up drowning.

    Up early again on Wednesday; we had a wonderful breakfast at an old diner there in town, before filling up the truck and heading off on another adventure. That day we headed back east until we hit 'Dotsero' where the Colorado and the Eagle Rivers join together, then we headed up the Colorado River until we came to where Deep Creek came in from the west. We took the dirt road there and drove for more than an hour before ending all the way up on top of the mesa that is known as 'The Flat Tops'. I don't think Rima was quite ready for the narrow shelf road that she soon found herself driving up. She did well though, meaning.... We didn't go over the edge and die,.... and we soon found ourselves on top and headed into some of the most beautiful country in the state. Stops at the Deep Creek Overlook, where the creek has cut its way down through 1,200 feet of limestone to create a mini grand canyon. As well as 'Coffee Pot Campground' where I spent many a week camped out with my family on fishing and camping trips.

    Continuing up the road to the west we stopped at a spring fed watering spot for some ice cold water right out of the ground and a bit further along you come to Deep, Heart and Bison Lakes along with dozens of smaller 'pothole' types of small ponds. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the country walking from one ridge top to another up there just to see what was on the other side.

   I think Rima stills thinks the trip down that same road we came up on was one of the scariest rides she ever had. But we made it down intact despite meeting up with several large rigs heading up the road as we went down. From there we headed on back to Denver, stopping only once along the way in Beaver Creek, for some dinner at a Chinese Restaurant.

     Yesterday we spent  a little more time in and around the house boating and taking care of laundry and some of the house work that we had been neglecting. We did take off before noon however and met up with a friend of Rima's for lunch at a local cafe. A couple of hours there for them to talk and then on to the Denver Museum of Art where we spent nearly 4 hours wandering most of the 7 floors of exhibits they have there. Unfortunately, they closed before we could check it all out, but my feet were beginning to hurt anyway, so I wasn't too disappointed.

   On to one last meal out for us.... this time Vietnamese Noodle Bowls again. It seems likely that I have found some one else who likes them nearly as much as I do. From there we headed back to the house where we managed to get one last paddle in before the regular evening rain shower started up. It was a very nice way to end the day and a nice way to end the last day of Rima's stay.

   Took her out to the airport, DIA, this morning and got her all checked in and on her way back to Virginia via Minneapolis. It was fun having someone here to hang out with me and spend time doing fun things with. I will miss having her around, but will see her again at a weekend contra dance back east in a couple of weeks.

    I headed for Longmont after dropping her off in order to pick up mail and get a couple of errands done. I stopped by the trailer to pack up a couple more boxes of stuff, as well as to strip all of the bedding off of the bed. Have been busy washing and drying all of that this afternoon so it will all be fresh and clean when I start out again at least.

   Spent most of the afternoon working on pictures while the laundry was being done, so my hope is to have a few photo's ready to post tomorrow. Will start out with the ones from the river trip from a couple of weeks ago, and slowly try to catch up with all of the ones I have taken since then. In the meantime it is time to go throw the last load of laundry for the day into the dryer, and then go get some sleep. It is going to be nice to sleep in a bit tomorrow morning.