Snowed in.

Presently we are in Dillon, CO.  Thinking back it's amazing how much can happen in 4 days.  So quickly you are farther along than you imagined you could be.  I've been considering odds and happenstance: how likely is it that you can be staying in a house with friends that left Dallas at about the same time as you, in a place completely unimagined to both of you only a few months before?  And how likely that a friend you met at a national park a few days before would live just around the corner?  So we are at Jimmy and Katy's (from Dallas formerly) and yesterday Dakota was able to meet us for breakfast and hang out most of the day.  It's been snowing pretty consistently the last 2 days...yes, in May.  I think it's between 4 and 6 inches now.  Initially we were only staying one night but it became 2 and we are leaving for Moab this morning.  The weather has not been very cooperative which has caused us to cut Flaming Gorge from the travels.  It has been getting below freezing there regularly at night.  We can always cut back over from west to east once we get a little settled in Oregon.  The days before that we were staying with Darla and Steve in Longmont.  It was awesome getting to visit Oskar Blues brewery and also Left Hand.  Still meeting cool people even in the towns.  I still can't decide if I've simply opened myself up more to possibilities or if the people are just friendlier here.  It's been very special, for me at least, being able to just walk up to a stranger and start a meaningful conversation.  New to me.  Or maybe a part of me simply forgotten these last few years.  Am I discovering myself, or letting other people discover me?    Oh dear, and before that we were at Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak, and the Cliff Dwellings.  We also drove through Rocky Mountain National Park and did some hiking pretty much everywhere we have been.  I think we get about 5 or 6 miles a day right now.  So far no issues with altitude; it's been above 8,000 feet most of the time and we're at about 10,000 at Dillon.  We didn't get to the summit at Pike's, only about 13,000 as the last 4 miles of the road had to be closed since the snow was coming.  Even that far from the summit it was snowing at about 20 degrees with 30mph winds.  This part of the country is wild.  I mean WILD.  On the map the whole thing is pretty much green with national parks.  We've been 5 feet away from elk, deer, and even saw a moose.  There won't be a cloud in the sky and then there will be 4 inches of snow that melts in the morning sun.  It is a study in change and reflection, and it makes sense how the people here could have been the catalyst for so much of the American story: first women voting, first national parks, first legalized marijuana, mining, unions.  The story is interesting in itself and with this backdrop of rocky peaks and dense forest.  Speed limits seem to be mere suggestions and I'm pretty sure I have a lot of people behind me saying "Ugh, another Texan".  

Everything is still gorgeous and I've probably taken enough pictures to bore you.  But it has been several days so what else would you expect?

This is all Colorado Springs area.  I'll separate when we get to Rocky Mountain.  Keep in mind that until you get to that separation, this is all in one day.  We went from shorts and t-shirts to a snow in a day.

Garden of the Gods.

You are legally allowed to rock climb here with a permit but we didn't get to see anybody attempt.

So the city owns and maintains the whole park with the proviso that it remain free to the public.  Amazing city.  The plaque, for scale, is about 10 feet tall.

Behold, the wild bow tie in its natural habitat.

This is only about 2 hours later at Pike's Peak.  This is what we claimed as our summit since we couldn't go all the way.  Maggie handled it like a champ.

Not sure what this is all about but its on the Peak road.

"Pueblo" indian cliff dwellings.  I feel like I went to another one when I traveled with Dad years ago.  This one felt very produced and the one I remember felt more wild.  Maybe just the passage of time?

So that was all one day.  The rest is over the next several days, mostly Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National.  The National Park pass has been a godsend, saved so much money already with that year pass.

These guys just hang out in the town of Estes.  They are everywhere in patches, even in people's yards.  A lot of the colors are off in these photos, unfortunately.  You just can't get the color scale for some of Rocky Mountain.  What looks brown was actually orange or sometimes purple.  The natural landscape is so alive and the pictures just come across flat to me.

Wild turkeys.

This part is all the same hike to Alberta Falls.  We were snowed on for the whole hike, about 2.3 miles round trip on 3 feet of snow.

The picture of Dani and the next one of the foliage is only about 200 yards apart...

This is Dillon, CO and its frozen (mostly) lake.

Jimmy is goofy.

The shore of the frozen lake.  The snow started that morning and was coming down pretty hard.

Dani, Dakota, Katy, and the pup is Zo3 (zoey).

 Jimmy and Katy gracious hosts as always.  They cooked both nights and we feasted on fresh butchered chicken pot pie, and banana pudding, and clam chowder, all of it home made.