Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

Wed-Thurs, Sept 20-21…

Denver’s not much more than an hour away, but we’re off by 9am as usual. It’s another straight shot south, this time down I-25, skirting the suburbs of Fort Collins and Loveland. We’re (paying) guests of the Elks Club for at least the next week. Several folks to touch base with here, but today was mostly just settling in, making contacts, and checking the must-dos for the area. Seems that RV parking here provides a fairly steady income for the local Elks. About 40 sites, at least half of which have winter-proof hook-ups. Quite a few folks are full-timers, and there's always at least a couple fellows working on vehicles. Greg pulled an elbow off the MH exhaust system. A replacement will be ready for pick-up tomorrow. 

(The university calls it a buffalo.)

Greg's niece's son, Nick, is a sophomore at UCBoulder. We're treating him to dinner tonight, and it was kind of cute the way the options played out. He lives with 3 other guys in a house a few blocks from the main campus, and we just happened to find a parking spot practically in front. We'd passed several small eateries driving in, but Greg also had an old $75 Outback gift card in his wallet. After a quick hello, Nick offered the equivalent of a "free parking" placard to place on the dash so we wouldn't get ticketed. As he started to explain, I told him we'd be happy to join him at one of his favorite local hangouts, but - if he preferred - we could also go to Outback a few miles down the road. It was funny to watch him process the choice and see his eyes quite literally light up. "Steak? ...I'd love steak. Outback!" So we did. He's an outstanding young man, and we enjoyed spending some one-on-one time with him.

All smiles, and we haven't even tried the Bloomin' Onion yet.

Thursday we took a scenic drive through Boulder Canyon -- and quickly realized why the city is so named. I rarely get decent pictures when the car is moving, and there were no pull-outs, so photos are limited. In another week there will be lots more yellow infiltrating the evergreens.

Entering the canyon.

Crags

Boulder Falls (in there somewhere)

Lone Cloud

Another town in this area is named Golden. 

Stopped in a funky little town called Nederland for a late lunch. We surmised equally funky reasoning for the name, but I'll share the official (Wikipedia) version, which is also interesting.

In 1873 the Caribou Mine, at an elevation of roughly 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and 6 miles (10 km) northwest of the town, was sold to the Mining Company Nederland from the Netherlands. The high elevation meant fierce winds and deep winter snow, so the new owners of the mine decided that it was beneficial to bring ore from Caribou down to Middle Boulder for milling. In the Dutch language, Nederland ("Netherlands" in English) means low land, and based on casual usage by the Dutch miners, Middle Boulder came to be known as Nederland. (This is ironic, considering that the town's elevation is higher than 8,000 feet (2,400 m) and most locations in the Netherlands are near or even below sea level.) In 1874 the town was incorporated and adopted Nederland as the official name

We were immediately drawn to the Moon Bakery & Cafe, but - despite the lure of homemade carrot cake - we decided against the breakfast-leaning menu and went next door to Ned's, where we split an excellent (½ lb) bleu cheese burger. On our way out, a fellow suggested great pizza just a block or so away. For a town w/ a resident population of only about 1500, there's also a pretty vibrant music scene - and the Carousel of Happiness, a menagerie featuring 56 hand-carved animals on a restored 1910 Looff carousel, turning to the music of a 1913 Wurlitzer band organ.   Cool town! 

Whimsy abounds as this whirls around.

Home just in time to head out to our friend Beth's house for dinner. A few years back she bought a TOTAL fixer-upper and, with the help of a good contractor and even better landscaper, has turned it in to a lovely little home. Pork chops from the butcher, and she rolled ears of corn in smoked paprika and steamed them on the grill - delish!  Great visit, and we'll spend more time with her early next week.  

BlogAdvice... Carpe diem. I'm learning to "seize the moments" when it comes to walking. We're not hikers, but I still need steps. So our last stop today was a trucking parts place where Greg was picking up a new exhaust elbow. No reason for me to go in, so I start walking laps around the very large parking lot... and log another 1.67 miles on the FitBit. (He was in the wrong line for most of the time.)