Monday, Monday

Noah had taken the day off, but it was a workday for Susanna in the kitchen.

Back to Basics Kitchen is Susanna's business. It's a 'take-out' restaurant, perfectly suited for these COVID-19 times. She prepares seasonal, made from "scratch" main dishes, sides, and desserts using high quality local and organic ingredients, and caters to those with special dietary needs. I sure do wish we lived closer. I'd be eating her food all the time!

Due to one thing and another, Susanna had recently been short on help. I offered assistance, eager to see Susanna in action while getting a feel for what it takes to work in a commercial kitchen. I made only a few faux pas ... throwing the eggs in the compost and the shells in the bowl, for example, and lasted only four hours before exhaustion set in. I guess that's to be expected while cracking 100+ eggs, juicing three quarts of lemon juice, and measuring out seven pounds of honey! But it was worth it, because I was able to take home the evening's dinner of potato pinto green chili (made with roasted tomatillos and poblano peppers) and look forward to some of that luscious lemon curd once chilled.

In the meantime, Noah and Rouse went mountain biking on the trails at Marshall Mesa. Judging by the new scabs Rouse was sporting, they had a good time of it! Adequately refueled and refreshed after lunch out, they returned home to accomplish more tree trimming.

Susanna in action - sheet pans full of roasted tomatillos and sweet potatoes

washing new jars to hold lemon curd

There's a whole lot of prepping going on here! Melissa cleaning roasted poblano peppers,.Susanna prepping onions. And my work space, where I was getting to work on juicing lemons after cracking 100+ eggs.

so many potato chunks and a big pot of pinto beans

Back to home base

We checked out of the airBnB by 10am and joined the masses traveling out of the mountains and back to civilization.

At the turnoff for Georgetown, our two cars parted ways. Susanna had work to do in preparation for the coming week, so she drove back directly with Henry Dog while the rest of us took the scenic route over Guanella Pass, elevation 11,670', to Georgetown. We thought we might take a side-trip to Mt. Evans, but realized that the time required was more than we had available. Plus, we decided a weekday might be a better time to visit than a busy Sunday afternoon. We settled for a gorgeous drive down Hwy 6 to Golden, CO and finally back to Lafayette.

We took care of all the necessary unpacking, repacking, laundry, etc. Rouse and Noah got busy using a chain saw to cut dead wood out of a tree in the back yard. They had to stop that little game in order to do our not-so-regular "Sunday Dinner Chat" zoom meeting with the rest of the family.

Following the zoom, Rouse and I hitched up the Little Guy Max and drove back to our campsite at St. Vrain State Park. We have a different camp site reserved for this week's home-away-from-home.

breakfast at the cabin

The Chalk Cliffs of Colorado, an iconic historic landmark on Mt Princeton. Not true chalk, but
kaolinite, a soft rock produced by hot springs percolating through cracks in the mountain

Guanella Pass

dead wood down

Can you guess the news that made our zoom meeting special?

Enjoying Mountain Time

It was a relaxed day, drizzly and gray. While Sue zoomed three QuaranTUNES Dulcimer Festival classes in the afternoon, Rouse, Noah, and Susanna paid a visit to nearby St. Elmo, elevation 9,961 feet.

Founded in 1889 at the beginning of the gold and silver mining era, St. Elmo is located in the heart of the Sawatch Range. It's now a ghost town, but back in the day nearly 2,000 people lived there. 

When they returned to the cabin, we all enjoyed putting together a jigsaw puzzle, then had some "quiet" time. Mid-afternoon, the sun came out!

We drove to Brown’s Canyon National Monument where we hiked along the river to a landmark dubbed "the suck hole." It was nice walk, suitable even for gimpy Sue. We saw some rafters having fun on the river.

On the way home we had a delicious dinner at the Rock House Kitchen in Buena Vista. We had intended to eat in a socially-distanced manner on their nice patio, but a tremendous thunderstorm rolled into town. We ordered take-out and ate in the car!

river walk

rocky views

wildflowers

overlooking the suck hole

a different view of the suck hole

I think this car is broken in, don't you?

ordering food in the time of COVID-19

eats and drinks in the car

Vacation Mode

Rouse and Noah drove off at 7:00am for the 1 hour drive to Huron Peak trailhead. They needed a relatively early start in order to avoid afternoon thunderstorms.

getting ready for the trail

Ironically, Susanna and I experienced morning thunderstorms at the cabin, starting at 10:30am. We wondered if the boys might be getting hit, too? It was a rainy, gray, chilly day. We settled into the cabin.

our cabin

the cozy deck

the view out back

the view out front

I had a zoom class scheduled at 9:30am with the QuaranTUNE Dulcimer Festival, so I had things to do. First things first ... a shower, coffee and breakfast. Then I got my computer / instrument set-up figured out. Finally, I tuned my instrument, bringing it in line with the dry Colorado climate.

Susanna relaxed on the deck with Henry and a good book. Then she had a zoom meeting at 1:00pm. So much zooming going on these days!

The boys were off the trail and heading back to the cabin by 2:00pm. They had avoided lightening ... and had just a sprinkle of rain. They reported a great hike, well worth the sore legs! Indeed, their pictures show a beautiful day on the mountain.

Weekend Retreat

After morning bike rides (Rouse took his road bike out on County Road 7 and I pedaled around the campground) we broke camp and towed the Little Guy over to Noah and Susanna's house where it would remain parked for the extended weekend while we headed for the hills.

Noah and Rouse finished up a little yard work while we waited for Susanna to finish her week's work. We were happy to finally set eyes on her! We loaded our vehicles with all the necessities and got on the road about 4:00pm.

It was raining all around as we left the greater Boulder / Denver area. We expected a three hour drive.

We took a break at Kenosha Pass, elevation 10,000 feet. It was refreshingly cool! Temps in the mid-50s. There we took a short walk into the woods, saw extensive groves of quaking aspen, and were delighted by the appearance of a vibrant rainbow arcing across the sky.

We continued on, enjoying the wide-open vistas ... expansive valleys, big sky, and mountains silhouetted against the setting sun. As darkness was descending we arrived at our destination - a cabin located near Chalk Creek (which flows into the Arkansas River) at the base of Mt. Princeton in Nathrop, CO.

yard man at work

rain clouds all around

beautiful quaking aspen trees

large groves / clones* of quaking aspen covered the slopes

What a rainbow!

cows grazing

sunset behind mountains

* Read interesting facts about how aspen trees grow!

   From US Forest Service website:

"Aspen is noted for its ability to regenerate vegetatively by shoots and suckers arising along its long lateral roots. Root sprouting results in many genetically identical trees, in aggregate called a "clone". All the trees in a clone have identical characteristics and share a root structure. The members of a clone can be distinguished from those of a neighboring clone often by a variety of traits such as leaf shape and size, bark character, branching habit, resistance to disease and air pollution, sex, time of flushing, and autumn leaf color. A clone may turn color earlier or later in the fall or exhibit a different fall color variation than its neighboring aspen clones, thus providing a means to tell them apart. Aspen clones can be less than an acre and up to 100 acres in size. There can be one clone in an aspen grove or there can be many."

Another chill day ...

I slept in while Rouse went in search of birds. Hmmm.... sound like a familiar routine?

We had a relaxed breakfast, then rode our bikes around the ponds of St Vrain State Park. Of course, Rouse had his binoculars with him. I think it's the first time we've gone birding while biking. It was efficient!

On our way back to the campsite, we almost ran over a bull snake. He was crossing the trail, stretched out to his full nearly 5' length. Since Rouse was looking up, I was the one to spot him. Beautiful creature.

We headed over to Noah and Susanna's house. It was another workday for them. Susanna has been long on work and short on employees in the kitchen, so has been working extra long days. We haven't even seen her yet! Noah, too, had a full schedule.

Rouse planned to do a little work himself, offering his yard maintenance skills. Threatening skies provided pleasant conditions for outside work. A little cloud cover and a nice breeze make all the difference.

After Noah finished his work, we had a nice sunset stroll through the marshland at Walden Ponds. Most birds had already gone to roost with the late afternoon thunderstorms, but we did see a kingfisher, plus mixed flocks of blackbirds settling in for the night in the cattails at water's edge.

We finished the day with dinner al fresco, along with marguaritas on the rocks, at Teocalli Cocina Mexican Restaurant in Old Lafayette. A light breeze was blowing. The air was cool and fresh. We headed to our prospective beds satisfied and ready to sleep.

breakfast view

birding on a bike

get a feel for the size of this bull snake

Here's looking at you!

That's a BIG cottonwood tree!

relaxing in Noah's backyard

selfie with Henry Dog

sunset stroll

The smoke from faraway fires has cleared. We can see the peaks.

A day to recuperate...

I slept in, while Rouse ventured out for some early morning birding. He was rewarded with this gorgeous sunrise scene...

There's a LOT of bird life here... some that we don't see at home, such as American white pelican, yellow-headed blackbird, Brewer's blackbird, broadtail hummingbird ... and some that are very familiar to us but still fun to see, such as yellow warbler, great blue heron, Canada goose, osprey, American bald eagle, pied-billed grebe, double crested cormorant, etc.

St. Vrain State Park is an oasis just outside of Boulder. Formerly named Barbour Ponds, it offers 604 acres of land and 152 acres of water split among several ponds. It's a great place for fishing, camping, birding, tooling around on bicycles ... enjoying nature.

Our campsite this week is nestled beneath the spreading limbs of cottonwood trees, providing welcome shade.

campsite under cottonwoods

Look closely to see our red-trimmed teardrop on the other side of the pond.

There's plenty of nice vegetation to enjoy. I'm partial to the sunflowers!

We headed over to Noah and Susanna's house about mid-day. It was a workday for both of them... Noah in his home office, Susanna in her commercial kitchen... so we napped, caught up on computer tasks, ran some errands, and simply hung out at the house. It was a true vacation day!

Susanna had a long day in the kitchen, so we didn't even get to see her, but once Noah finished with his work, we took Henry Dog for a walk along the neighborhood trails, enjoying the sunset. We had a late supper of Thai take-out and called it a day.

Noah's office