September 24, 2016

We went letterboxing this afternoon, alongside a creek
(and this evening in a cemetery!).  

The colors are just starting to show up here.

September 23, 2016

Another trek up North Table Mountain, with half the breaks we started with....

even the path is happy for us! :) 

The darkening sky was especially dramatic tonight.

Jed always goes ahead of us old folks.  

He took this wide-angle shot from about halfway up 

and you can just barely see us on the right side, trudging up the hill.

The "M" on Lookout Mountain, just after it lit up.

September 16, 2016

I am very pleased to report that as of tonight, 

we have cut the breaks in half 

from when we started hiking up North Table Mountain 

on September 6!

I'm pretty shocked about that, 

but also pretty stoked.  :)

September 7, 2016

We have a plan.

Tracy and I have not been planners during our marriage.

We talked about that recently and decided to try making some plans that seem reasonable and attainable.

One of those plans is to start exercising together every evening.

His sister and brother-in-law's visit last week made hiking the natural choice for right now.

So this is our third night hiking.

We're going to keep going to the same (steep) North Table Mountain so we can track our (my) progress.

We talked about it tonight (during breaks from the (steep) climb, when I could actually talk)

and made a reasonable and attainable plan to improve on a weekly basis.

I can't tell you how excited I am about that!!

Plus, look what we get to see while we're (I'm) gasping for breath!  :)

This is a less steep stretch...

I would take a picture of the more steep stretches 

but it's impossible to keep the camera steady when you're gasping for breath.  :)

The last two pics were taken on the way home in the car...

they're blurry, but I like this one for the color, so the blurry doesn't matter so much.

This one was taken as we were crossing Clear Creek...

I noticed last night that there's a great view of the "M" on Lookout Mountain from the bridge.

We'll have to walk down there some evening to take a better shot.

September 6, 2016 - Part 4

We found this unfortunate little guy on the trail on our way back down.  

We've heard people talking about the rattlesnakes being bad this year 

but this is the first time we've seen one.

September 6, 2016 - Part 3

The views of the setting sun while we were going back down the mountain were pretty nice too.  

 The clouds were beautiful again tonight.

September 6, 2016 - Part 2

This was our reward!

September 6, 2016 - Part 1

We went for a hike tonight on North Table Mountain.  It is a steep climb but the views are so worth it.  

This is the view from the trail at the top of the mesa.

Tonight we went in a different direction on the mesa than we've been before.

We were headed for that rock in the background...

we had seen people on top of it when we got to the mesa.

September 5, 2016 - Part 3

A quick stop at Subway for a chopped salad on the way home, 

and I noticed the moon looking so lonely in a clear sky.  

My camera doesn't do well in low light, but I love the color in this shot.

September 5, 2016 - Part 2

These were our views from the trail on top of Lookout Mountain.

So worth the hike!

September 5, 2016 - Part 1

We went hiking on this Labor Day on top of Lookout Mountain.

Jed sees the lighted "M" on the side of Lookout Mountain every night from his bedroom window

and has been wanting to get an up-close view of it ever since we got here.

Since we were passing it on the way to the trail, we stopped and climbed up.

I'm not ashamed to say it was scary.

This was the best part of the trail to take pictures from....

the rest of the trail had no growth on the side that slid down the mountain.

I suppose handrails would spoil the looks of the place, but I sure would have appreciated them.

I managed to squeeze out enough bravery to turn around and take a few shots of the valley.

There was a lot of clouds in the sky casting shadows on everything...

everything, that is, except Denver in the distance.  

It was like a hole in the clouds opened up right over it.

As we were coming down the mountain, the clouds shifted and lit up this mesa instead.

September 3, 2016

The best part of our visit was the Rook tournament!

We played almost every night, even this last night of their visit,

even though we had to leave at 6:45 the next morning
to get them to the airport in Denver for their flight home.

This was the championship night, and this was by far the best hand I had gotten the whole week.

It was men against women.

Kim really carried us in the tournament, but I helped when I could.  :)

It was sweet, sweet, sweet when Tracy headed out at 10:30 to get the winners ice cream.

Can't wait for them to come back!  :)

September 1, 2016

Yesterday we headed to a cabin in Estes Park to enjoy a few days in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

We spent the day today driving in the park and taking short hikes to see the sights.

This is the only picture we have of all of us together on this trip,

and of course it would have some stranger's finger in it.  :)

You can't really see it, but there is a huge moose in this picture!

It's the first bull moose we've ever gotten a good look at, using our binoculars.

If you want to try to see it, click on the picture to enlarge it,

then look at the pool of water slightly below and to the right of the center of the picture.

There's a black speck at the top of the pool, slightly to the right.

That's a moose - honest.  :)

He was magnificent.

And I need a zoom lens.  :)