In October we helped our neighbors remodel by removing the wall between the dining room and the kitchen. This let light and views into the living and dining rooms. This remodel makes the house ready for a party!
A great week of professional bike racing. Gorgeous scenery to rival any race anywhere. We headed south to meet the racers on Monday for the 5 mile Time Trial that started in Garden of the Gods. Just a great day for hanging out with some world class competitors.
We spent a lot of time at the Team Paddocks…
But the Time Trial ends with Patrick Gretsch taking the yellow jersey at the finish line.
For the second Time Trial, our neighbors Motor in the Mini with us on Thursday to Vail. The tour has been going on for two days: First day from Salida to Mt. Crested Butte then on to Aspen over both Cottonwood and Independence passes for the second day.
The day in Vail finishes with German beer at Sonnenalp and toasting Levi, who has not only regained the yellow jersey but set a new record for the course.
Two more days of racing later: Avon to Steamboat Springs and then Steamboat to Breckenridge, we come to the end of the week, Stage 6, and literally the race to the finish line. 73 miles from Golden to Denver, with a detour up and over Lookout Mountain, the last King of the Mountain stage. We arrive at the start line at 7:30 to get a good viewing point (as well as parking spot).
Ready for some High Altitude Adrenalin Fun with the MINI Cooper as we wind our way up Berthoud Pass to Winter Park with our bikes on the roof…We joined up with over 200 MINIs bringing over 300 participants to this FUN Raising EVENT.
The MINI gets washed and waxed at the special Car Wash set up by sponsor Prima Care, who also lets you demo different products for an awesome shine.
The MINI parade on Thursday evening to downtown Hideaway Park. There is Henry waving while driving in at #86 in the lineup. All the cars looked beautiful until that dark cloud came our way…sigh. The shower was brief and didn’t interrupt the good concert by Slopeside. We brought a nice picnic dinner complete with a bottle of red wine to enjoy while the sunset over the mountains.
105 MINIs got to park on Main Street…that is Highway 40 with one lane closed just for the Coopers, Clubmans, and Countrymans. Seriously, no two MINIs are alike.
Everyone smile for the group photo…Friday after another little rain cloud wet the pavement.
!NUF car show in the Village on Saturday…the 30 cars attracted quite a lot of attention.There was even a classic MINI this year with the Union Jack roof.
The final brunch Sunday was at Sunspot with the scenic ride up the lift. Great food and company…
A really nice week with time to hike and bike. To walk and talk and have picnics in the park. And to meet people from all over the USA with their MINIs. We are glad all made the effort to be in Colorado and to enjoy the beauty of the mountains.
Denver Botanic Garden volunteers lead wildflower hikes on the M. Walter Pesman Trail at Mt Goliath and July 14 was a perfect day to visit. These are a few of the photos that capture the views, the wildflowers, the bristle-cone pines, and the early afternoon storm. It is not only a spectacular trail but so much more informative to have the history, ecosystems, plant names and other bits of knowledge from the guides to increase my appreciation. From the top of the trail in alpine tundra with spectacular views of the continental divide…
to the super busy pollinators…
to seeing the work of the wind with the twists and turns of the trunks, now sun-bleached and full of character harboring miniature gardens…
to the details of the living bristle cone pines…
to the bright red Indian Paintbrushes splashed against sun bleached scrags…
to the edge of the pending summer thunderstorm…
and as a finale: to the DBG maintained garden of native plants at the Dos Chappell Nature Center, where seeds have been re-cultivated to create a marvelous learning opportunity.
A MINI Invasion to Colorado in August 2010! The third annual Mini Takes The States, motoring from various points in the USA, had their grand finale in Denver.
The fifth annual Mini in the Mountains was held in Winter Park and was a meet up point for the west coast route. And what a blast to see so many Mini Coopers…we are pretty sure we did not see any two identical as there are so many ways to personalize them. There was a !NUF show (that is Fun! backwards) that showcased a few very creative cars. So here we are are in beautiful Winter Park early Thursday morning: the Mini fueled, polished, revved up and ready to head to the hills. Henry: keep both hands on the wheel…
All kinds of fun concerts, picnics, parties, booths with stuff for your car, opportunities to meet other drivers – we talked to people from all over the USA and Canada.
Hanging out the window to get the view behind our car. Some sort of MINI traffic jam! This is a chain of us rallying up Trail Ridge road in Rocky Mt National Park. We turned around at the top, enjoyed the scenery, a picnic and spent some time in the park before heading back to Winter Park.
Thursday evening was a MINI Parade to downtown Winter Park – then a picnic and concert in the park. Over 200 Minis parked on Main Street – very fun to see!
After a great BBQ lunch on top of the mountain, all the cars met at the ski area parking lot for this group photo. That is us lower left hand corner – Pam sitting in front with her arms up in a V.
Friday night we went to a fabulous party in Denver with great food and drinks provided by MINI. We did not party so hardy that we couldn’t make the early Saturday morning meet-up and breakfast at Red Rocks – another group photo followed by a rally to Nederland for lunch. We are the MINI to the top left corner of the 0000 van: this was The Destination for all the cars from across the country.
Back in Denver, there was a circuit set up to race a MINI – both of us got a turn on the course in an Electric MINI – very fun to drive. Pam also got to go on a lap with a professional driver – it felt like he took some of the turns on two wheels. Now we know how much we can push the MINI…no more wimpy driving! We finished up the day with a dinner, concert, massage, and other event booths. Saying good-bye to our new friends: Until next year.
An American Modernist, Allan Houser was the first Native American artist who broke the boundaries and didn’t follow the traditional styles. His Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache heritage, his love of nature, his inspiration from Henry Moore and other contemporaries are shown in his bronze works. On loan from the Allan Houser, Inc. south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, this wonderful exhibit is very interesting to view after having the Henry Moore sculptures here last year. These sculptures are smaller and more intimate but still hold their own with beautiful form, texture, and symbolism.
Imagine Allan’s father Sam telling this story that was passed to him by his uncle Geronimo: A long time ago, the Apache suffered during a drought. After much discussion, they chose a young man – not the biggest or strongest, but the purest of heart – to take the special blessed arrow to the top of the highest peak. There into the darkness of night, he shot the arrow asking for rains to sustain his people, the plants and the animals. The rains came and the Apaches survived.
Really powerful and beautiful sculpture. Notice the arm is out of proportion giving emphasis to the act of shooting the arrow. There is a special edition of this at the Smithsonian. An edition was at the entry to the Olympic Village in Salt Lake City in 2002, and the image has graced the license plates for Oklahoma since 2004. This edition is owned by Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center – but for some reason we had an exceptionally rainy May and July so it is working its magic in this location on Anna’s Overlook.
This is perhaps a self portrait of Allan in his mother Blossom’s arms. I think it speaks to the nurturing needed for all of us, the plants and the earth – this is the essence of life especially to the native American cultures. It was originally carved in stone and he used that to make this bronze casting. It has wonderful texture and dual colors of patina. I love the smoothness and shape of the hair in the back as well.
This piece is made out of flat bronze, shaped with darts as you would make a dress. It is so smooth it is impossible to find any “seams”. You can really see his modernism showing, how he has simplified the figures of a Mother and Child theme. The gardens were really spectacular after all of the May rains especially this day in the Rock Garden.
This is a small piece with a beautiful reflection in the pond at Sacred Earth Garden. There is much to wonder about what they are calling, singing, shouting that is echoed repeatedly off the canyon walls. A wonderful mixture of nature and culture – the reflection reminding us to reflect on the stories and songs of our history.
This reclining figure has walked away, left her blanket with a void that shows us her form. The exterior is very smooth but the interior is textured like we would see in the biomorphic (bones) examples of the Modernists. In the early morning before the gardens are fully opened, you can very much feel the Solitude and peacefulness in this Romantic Garden.
The storm clouds were brewing and gave this sculpture some great lighting as well as a formidable back drop. This is a Dineh (Navajo) shepherdess depicting the first drops of light rain on her face. I love the green patina which looks like it was created with natural moisture. The angled lines give a nice definition, to make you pay attention to the art.
I caught this eagle eye looking back at me from the shadows and thought maybe this was a sculpture about the flight of birds? Or is it a couple dancing? Or a dust devil spinning across the plains? Here we feel the force of the wind but this sculpture is constructed of flat pieces of bronze, expertly put together, polished smooth. This sculpture fascinates me and is probably my very favorite. I think I could live with it every day and enjoy all the variations of light, shadow and mood. I really am enjoying all of these sculptures and experiencing them at the Gardens. Hope you get the chance to enjoy them somewhere in your wanderings.
July 2011 we headed to The Great Dunes to meet up with some friends from Albuquerque… only a small turnout of the four of us but was still good fun. Snagged a pleasant camp site at Great Sand Dunes Oasis. It was a dry year for the stream so we opted to do this hike outside the park. Beautiful day for being outdoors.
So these architects all met in Grad School at CU Denver a few years back and have worked in some of the same firms with some of the same people so was a ” Do you remember…?” type of weekend. Best friend German Shepard – his first time on the trail carrying his own water.
Zapata Falls was spectacular. Was worth the rock hopping to get this view. This picture with three of us gives the falls a sense of scale.
A nice photo of us with the valley in the back ground. The sun was intense. The wildflowers were in full bloom as well as some oputias – gotta love the cactus! Pleasant to hear the aspens rustle in the wisp of a breeze.
We figure we only made it about 2/3rds of the trail to the lake. We found out afterwards it was a 5 hour hike to the lake (not round trip), is a 2500 foot elevation gain. So we probably climbed about 1500 foot elevation gain in a 5 hour round trip hike. Snapped this at the stream crossing where we lingered, refueled, and turned back. So next year a bit earlier in the season so it is cooler…?