Purple mountain majesty

Today my sis called reminding me that we have an appointment to Estes Park coming up. For those unfamiliar with Colorado, that is a portion of the Rocky Mountain National parks, just a bit west of Denver. I find it funny that I have now lived here for going on over 4 years ( whoa) and have never been there. But isn't that the way it is. When I went to school in VA, sure I'd head to JMU, but never went to Skyline Drive, Luray Caverns, Williamsburg, or any of the other cool things in VA. At that time, it was cool to go to DC and Baltimore to go to Peabody or to see the symphonies. But when I went to school in College Park, I only went to those places which were so close rarely or when my teacher gave the studio comp tickets for the symphony :-).

Anyway, having lived in CO for those 4 years, I have put Pikes Peak (x3), Seven Falls (x3), Santa's Workshop, Manitiou Springs (x many), and the grand city of Pueblo (x too many) under my belt. Or yeah, and the big cut.....uh.... the Royal Gorge (x2). Most of those, mind you, I placed under my belt on my own during a brief three day excursion BEFORE I even lived here. I haven't even been to a ski resort yet. Gotta fix that soon, even if just to sit in a lodge and drink hot cocoa. My sister has lived out here all of 7 months and has done almost all of those things and already headed to Estes Park. Hussy ;-).

Anyway, she mentioned on her day trip out to Estes Park that she saw multitudes of deer... no, elk. Big ones. They seem to travel in herds of several females and one male. Yeah, you guys are thinking "sweet" or "sorry about that". They also seem to converse with one another in these bellowing calls. I can't wait to see them. My hairdresser and some of my students hunt, so I have heard about elk in edible form, but never seen the live creature. ( Oh yeah, for those from my hometown, hunting is as big, if not bigger, out here. And we thought it only so in West Virginia :-). But here, it's cool.)

So, a. - when I get there and b. - when I figure out how to post pictures, I'll show Estes Park, or at least what I am able to see of it. Hopefully I'll get a few pics of the wildlife too, perhaps taken as I scurry away after I irritate said wildlife. Hopefully not.

Plus, out here, the deciduous trees (the minority) change to yellow. They are mostly Aspen trees (hence the name of the town) but are very pretty, none the less. I miss all the colors of the various trees on the east coast, but the golden mountains are a good rival.

Oh yeah, the Stanley, the hotel where the film "The Shining" was filmed, is out there also. I want to visit that too, I think :-). They do a Halloween thing every year, but my personal fortitude is not up to going to it, especially solo. That movie still gives me the creeps as I have to close my eyes at least 2 times when watching it.

Lastly, the title of the blog, as you may well know, is a line from America the Beautiful written by Catherine Bates. She came up with the lyrics while visiting Pikes Peak - a mountain over 14,000 feet high in Maintiou Springs. The highest peak, I have been told, is in Estes Park. It is named Long's Peak with an altitude a few hundred feet higher than Pikes Peak. But hey, what's a few feet among mountains. In MD, what's the altitude of South Mountain? A whopping 600 feet or something. What a misnomer !!!

There's a little info about Colorado. The pictures are bettter. Seeing it in person is best. Here's hoping the weather holds for next week .