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| I am at 8,000 feet above sea level, and Mt Princeton in the background, rises up another 6,197 feet. |
I am back from a week's vacation in the "high desert" of Colorado, 8000 feet above sea level. To put that in perspective, Denver CO is 5280 feet. If you need more perspective, my town is 308 feet above sea level. (Mt. Washington, the highest peak in NH, comes in at 6288 ft.)
Yeah.
It means your body works harder because it has less oxygen. It means you need to stay hydrated by drinking LOTS AND LOTS of water, wear sunscreen and a hat because the sun is hotter and your skin burns and dries out faster. It means you "suck air" at any remotely strenuous activity, like hoisting myself into my brother's gigantic pickup truck.
We took a ride up to Monarch Pass on the Continental Divide, 11,312 feet above sea level. On the flight home, when the pilot said we had reached 10,000 feet and could now turn on our electronic devices, I turned to my Mom, "Gee, we were higher than this on the ground!!"
And the humidity was zero. So a 94F day was warm, but not unbearable.
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| This is just beyond Kenosha Pass |
I never think of myself as a city girl, but OMG, Colorado is vast. You could fit the state of New Hampshire into Colorado eleven times.
We stayed at the Mt Princeton Hot Springs Resort (8190 ft), where I floated in a pool of 107F water under the stars. I had hoped to see the Milky Way but the nights were too cloudy. I did, however, see more stars at night than I ever see at home. Of course, I got an app for my phone to help me out (SkyView).
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| My brother's barn. It is post and beam construction, and he designed and built it. It is unlike any barn I have ever seen anywhere in my travels. |
I took zillions of pictures, of the landscape, of barns, buildings, chickens, flowers, plants, rocks, cats and all kinds of other stuff. It is safe to say I found inspiration everywhere.
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| Near Kenosha Pass. I think this is a terrific color story. |
Here are some of my favorites.
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| A lime green door to a shop in Salida CO. See the quilt in the window? |
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| A chicken sculpture near Mo' Burrito in Salida CO. |
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| Some of my brother's chickens in his barn. |
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| Near Fairview Colorado. This is another color story. |
You'll be seeing more, lots more, in the coming days.
17 comments:
The tin rooster " New Zealand making it happen" intrigues me, and what altitudes!!! Enjoy or I hope it has all been enjoyed.
Cool post. All the info you shared is pretty darned interesting. I have always wanted to go out west. My grandson is going to move SOMEWHERE. Northern Indiana doesn't have much to offer. He has been visiting various states..Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Oregon. Next he'll try Florida. I think he will not be happy so far from family, but we'll see. That's what held us back when we were young. Wonder how life would have been different if we had moved.
xx, Carol
Looks like you had a great time. As a Kiwi (New Zealander) I too am intrigued by the New Zealand Make It Happen on the rooster. Make what happen? Where, when, why?! I don't recall it as any advertising campaign but the rooster doesn't seem to be in his first flush of youth, so maybe it was, a while ago. Odd place for it.
Cheers
Marina
Spectacular post!!! Great photos - looking forward to the next group of posts!!
Having just returned from a trip to much higher altitudes, I know it was tough on you. Next time you visit your brother try taking EmergenC It sounds strange, but while we hiked it allowed muscle recovery to be much faster and breathing isn't the huge chore it is without the EmergenC. We were traveling to some high altitude places a few years ago and I found the recommendation online. I laughed, but tried it and it works.
What a great trip! I love Colorado. You're right about the "sucking air" part. The secret is to stay longer and get used to the altitude, which means a longer vacation. I also want to know what's up with that rooster!
Where is Millie?
I was just in my old home town of Leadville at a little over 1000 ft. Walking two blocks on one of the less steep streets was tough! I was raised on a ranch south of town. Now I live in Wyoming at only 4200 feet.
Margie, I think you meant 10,000 feet?
What a lovely get away. Looking forward to seeing more pictures!
Your brother has built a wonderful barn. Will you make a quilt block based on it?
You bet!!!
Hi Lynn, I have been following you by way of you adopting Millie. Then I found out you are a quilter. I moved from SoCal to Salida. Did you come for our ArtWalk? Its when the art galleries have open house. Did you see the "Mud People" walk the streets on Saturday from 12-1? I was one of them. I wish I could have met up with you. We have some great quilters here. Sue
Colorado is such a beautiful place. Looks like you had plenty of fun.
Yes I was there. See tomorrow's blog. I don't remember the mud people.
Beautiful area! Hope you had a great visit!
Oops, yes I meant 10000 feet. By the way, I learned to swim at Mt Princeton hot springs.
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