For many years, my Aunt and Godmother Sheila has invited me to visit her in
The first thing that I noticed about
On Thursday morning, I flew out, joining Sheila for lunch and then we drove out to
Although the Canyon and surrounding trails was impressive, it was also very difficult to capture the scale of it because there was so much vegetation growing around the canyon. I was very impressed with the style of architecture in
Next, we have a picture of my lovely tour guide and the canyon in the background. You can see the ridge of the cliff in the distance obscured by all of the vegetation in the foreground.
Next, we descended into the canyon via a very well kept trail. We walked down to the small little meandering creek where I took this picture.
As I looked up from the canyon, I could see houses. This one has a view of the canyon through the front and a view of the mountains through the back. Not bad.
Then we went back to the house in Parker and took Sheila’s dog Riley for a walk. Along the walk, we met some “neighbors” who have settled in the golf course. Sheila was telling me that a mountain lion had also been seen on the grounds, presumably hunting the deer. Yikes!
Also on our walk I got some pretty decent shots of the sunset. Here is one.
The next morning I woke up early for whatever reason and headed out to the patio where I took this picture of their view of the mountains. It must be pretty hard to get used to this view on a day in, day out basis but somehow they manage.
On Friday, Sheila and I headed out for a slightly more aggressive day of sight seeing. It was fairly warm outside but not oppressively so.
Our first stop was Red Rocks Music Amphitheatre where the Civilian Conservation Corps carved a pass in the red rocks of the foothills. According to a story in the visitors center, they discovered somewhat by accident that the gap that they had carved had very good acoustical qualities. The Music Amphitheatre was born.
The park also has a fairly stunning view of downtown
Next, we went downtown and stopped at a bookstore whose name now escapes. Since I only read on my iPad nowadays, it was strictly a window shopping exercise for me.
While we were there I took some pictures of their Union Station, and what it may lack in size or number of trains running through, it more than makes up for in style.
As we exited the stairwell, we were met with this rather odd looking sculpture of an in progress art project at the museum. At least I hope it’s still in progress.
Our area of focus on that day was the Native American Art Exhibit.
I felt the museum staff did a really great job of putting enough stuff out on the floor to make it look full but not so much that you feel like you’re walking through a Wal-Mart.
Hey, so what do you do with your buildings when gold comes from the very ground that you walk on? Well you coat them with it – that’s what! This is the state capitol building covered in sparkling gold. Wonder how much Cash 4 Gold would pay for that...
Not content with that pose, we went for something a little grander at the next junction.
My approach was somewhat more introspective. This cliff we found almost completely by accident. We found a lot of things by accident and lost our way by accident, too but that’s later.
Finally we made it to the falls and it was pretty awesome. A gentleman sitting there with his dog took our picture and then left us alone to eat lunch in front of the falls. Pretty awesome.
This is where things got interesting. When we were done with lunch we looked up and said “Wow. That’s a tall rock. Let’s CLIMB it!” Cedric with proper footwear got about 80% of the way up. I on the other hand fell flat on my back on the most innocent flat looking stone you’ve ever seen. Boo.
In some locations (like the picture below), the trails were immaculately groomed. In other locations (like the spot we got lost), the trails seem to fade to invisibility leaving us with NO idea where to go.
CEDRIC DECIDED that after we had done (this is on the back from
But the cliff we found there was pretty crazy. Even crazier was Cedric leaning out from an outcropping about 100 yards away from this picture over the edge of the cliff. Mom, don’t read that part. Oops.
As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day, we then drove all up and down
And a picture of Golden (and the Coors factory)
Cedric decided to get on a little stationary bike…hey uhm, dude, that bike isn’t going anywhere and I doubt you’re getting any exercise on it.
Great little place. I had the BBQ Bacon Burger, Cedric had Bleu Cheese Burger.
Sunday was church, Frisbee at
