The Rocky Mountains

The Rockies started for me in Ft. Collins, Colorado where I visited my new grandson, Bran, and my son Ian and his lovely wife Laura Resau. They live in Old Town which is a vibrant part of town consisting of two story historic houses. This town is one of the few bike towns in the US where bikes are extensively used for utilitarian as well as pleasurable purposes. The weather was very windy and cold except for the last day and this allowed me to get to know Bran better while Laura worked on her next young adult novel in her writing trailer. For more detail on her work see http://www.lauraresau.com .
Coming down from Loveland pass I noticed a lovely skiing scene on a warm day at Arapaho Basin. This was an opportunity not to be missed. Fortunately, I had planned for such an event when I packed my cold weather clothes. The 12000 ft elevation often left me out of breath but did not diminish the enjoyment of late April skiing. The night was spent in the old and cozy Frisco Lodge. Frisco was able to save some of its building history in a downtown museum. The rest of Summit County has exploded into a condominium bubble with shopping centers featuring the usual boring chain stores. Pity!

The drive from Frisco takes one past several old mining towns such as Leadville, a site never completely cleaned up by the EPA’s superfund. The long run down the traffic free San Luis Valley toward the Great Sand Dunes National Park is awesome and relaxing. It certainly seemed as though much agricultural development has taken place in this valley since my last visit.
The Dunes is one of the best places to visit in the National Park system. The day was cool though a bit windy but near perfect for an ascent of the 700 ft sand dune. Camping was also near perfect: cool and quiet except for a few cycling generators on the many camping buses and trailers parked in the distance. When I woke up during the night I saw the Big Dipper constellation perfectly centered in my oval tent window. The sky was brilliant in the complete darkness and seeing the Milky Way clearly was an event one can rarely experience back east anymore.

This section of the Rockies has many scenically beautiful places to live if one doesn’t mind the solitude and the long distances to most places such as grocery stores, hospitals, etc. As automotive fuels get more expensive, these areas will experience real hardships.

Did I mention the wind? If my few days are any indication, the place is too windy for me and really should have some wind generators to slow those winds down and produce some electricity. It seems the natives don’t like wind generators but seem accepting of many high tension lines.