I finally got around to driving up to Grand Mesa. The fall colors are just beginning: dry mountain slopes were covered in rust and gold; cascades of yellow and orange poured down the ravines from the top of the mesa. I was wanting to get up there and see some GREEN - and I did and it was lovely.

What I couldn't capture with the camera were the scent of the evergreens and the sound of the wind through the forest. There was almost no one else up there. I saw a few people near the parking area and trailhead but I saw no one else on the trail. It was eerie to walk along this wide, well-maintained hiking trail, complete with benches, and not see anyone else. Grand Mesa doesn't offer many grand vistas from the trails. It's mostly flat land - a relative concept in Colorado - okay, it's mostly a rolling forested landscaped, dotted with natural and human-made lakes. I don't enjoy going to Grand Mesa in the summer. There are lots of people up there then but the worst of it are the mosquitoes. They are large and fierce and persistent. In the winter it's a big cross-country ski and snowmobile paradise. This time of year is just perfect as far as I'm concerned. Not many people, the mosquitoes are gone, it's cool, the colors are outrageous.

Isn't that photo lovely? Aw, I don't know if I can capture just how beautiful it is there without the smells and sounds.

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. So here are 3,000 words ~ adieu

Addicted to Spending?

I seem to have this craving to spend money since my return. It's kind of crazy. At first it was fun to buy this and that - new stuff for the home mostly. Then I bought myself some much needed clothes. But it's the other, frivolous stuff that I'm doing that is different. I signed up for cable television. (I canceled after one month. Such dribble.) Then I bought some silly video games off the internet. And I seem to be spending spending spending. It has slowed down, but I still sometimes must go out just to buy some hooks or scotch tape or something. When Beth lived with my mother for awhile she nearly went mad with Great-Gramma's requests. She would make numerous trips to the store just to get little things, or one item only. Could this be a family trait? So, I fought off the "spending addiction" by my cancellation of cable tv and by not buying any more silly computer games. Majong is enough. :o)

The weather has been maw-velous, simply maw-velous. At last I'm able to get out and walk in the surrounding public lands. It's such beautiful country, but harsh to walk in during the summer. One rarely thinks of landscapes like these when thinking of Colorado.

I captured a more classic Colorado scene a few weeks ago while camping with Michelle near Vickers. I drove my poor little car up this awful road, then we walked for about a mile to an old mining site. The day was perfect: warm and sunny. Michelle and I climbed to the top of the mine tailings then explored the old buildings.

Konrad and Sarina were refusing to enjoy themselves and looked on this excursion as a death march. I find it amusing to observe how each generation believes they are the ones who know it all and yet we endlessly repeat our ancestors' lives without knowing it. My grandchildren go through the same life phases that my children went through and that I went through. At 12 & 13 they're just not into this hiking stuff. It's boring. They did enjoy their excursion to the top of Cottonwood Pass, though they acted like it was murder. But secretly they were really enjoying themselves, I could tell. :o)