September 10, 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
Where has our summer gone? There are some subtle
seasonal changes taking place here in the mountains that suggest summer
is waning and autumn is not far off. Though our days
remain
warm (70s to low 80s), the evenings are cooler lately which makes good
sleeping weather. A
bit of rain here and there
keeps the dust down and the fire danger thankfully low. Most of our hummingbirds
have started their long migrations to Arizona, Mexico, and points
south,
and some aspen leaves are showing tips of gold. We expect more bear
activity as they furiously forage for fattening food. Fall is one of
the loveliest seasons up
here: warm days, cool nights, dry weather, and always the possibility
of snow.
We’ve spent the spring and summer cutting, splitting, and neatly
stacking up row
upon row of
firewood in preparation for the first snow, which could come anytime
now.
Most of our summer has been spent road camping.
We’ve
already reported on our road trip to Utah during
June
and July. We were
home for the last half of July and most of August, though
we did take a camping trip to Steamboat Lake
State Park, a comfortable and beautiful area 26 miles north of
Steamboat Springs and just a little over three hours from here (see
photo on right). The
weather
there was
near cloudless and gently warm—Colorado perfect. We hiked
with the dogs
around the lake each day. We biked to the nearby former mining camps of
Columbine
and Hahn’s
Peak Village as well as on the trails and roads within the
park. We spent one afternoon soaking in the warmth of the pools at
funky
Strawberry
Park Hot Springs, a few miles north of Steamboat Springs. We read
and relaxed a little each day. We washed down some good enchilada and
taco dinners with ice cold
Pacificos at
the friendly Hahn’s
Peak Cafe just a couple of miles down the road from the park. We
even tested
the
DVD player for the
first time: we watched The
Illusionist, an entertaining romantic
mystery. We now
know that if we run into a stretch of rainy
weather, we can put our books aside for a while and watch a movie if we
want.
Our “big” outing was a hike to the top
of Hahn’s
Peak, a 10,800' cone that stands tall above the rolling hills in this
area. The remains of a former fire lookout tower are still perched at
the
summit. To get there, we drove to Columbine, parked the dogs in the RV
at the Columbine
Cabins General Store (thank you, Cindy and Chuck, for your
hospitality), and rode our
mountain bikes up the first mile of the route, and then hiked the
remaining two to three miles to the top of the mountain. The views were
incredible though blurred somewhat by the smoke and haze from the
many wildfires burning in Montana, Idaho, and Utah. However, it was a
lovely half-day venture and one of the few hikes we’ve taken all
summer.
In the weeks
between our return from Utah and
preparations for our trip west (i.e., the last half of July and all of
August)…
•It has been 15 months since Judy’s surgery and the
quarterly scans
and tests have always been a period of concern and apprehension
for us
until she gets her results back. When the tests come back
negative—i.e., no changes in the past
three months—we breath a huge sigh of relief. This past week we were
delighted that Judy passed her
quarterly
tests
and
scans with flying colors.
•On a local hike with Judy’s hiking
buddy, Betsy
from
Boulder, we discovered the remains of a mine operation and several
miners cabins
a mile or so above nearby Lost Lake which we’ve hiked to many times
since we
moved out here.
However, we had never ventured beyond the lake and therefore missed
poking
through a bit of local history we knew nothing about.
•Hughes made three trips to the Winnebago
dealer in
Denver for service on the RV, trying to get a few repairs made before
our fall road trip. He exchanged a dead TV for a new one; the thumping
noise from
water pump was softened
somewhat (does anyone have an RV water pump
that
doesn't sound like a woodpecker?); a frayed decal announcing the
brand/model of the RV (Navion) was replaced with a new one which makes
the RV look a bit more dashing coming down the highway; the fresh water
level
indicator now shows full when it is full; and all four speakers now
work with the TV and DVD as well as the radio and CD player as they’re
supposed to. In addition to replacing the OME turbo resonator with an
after-market version, Hughes also installed swivel seats
so that the
driver’s and
passenger seats now can swing around and face the back of
the coach area, giving us lots more usable (and comfortable) sitting
space. The
RV should be just about complete for the upcoming road trip.
•Judy ran and won her age group in (1)
the
lung-busting,
quads-burning Trespass
Trail Challenge, a 5.4 mile run over dirt roads above Nederland;
(2) the “crown jewel” of Boulder’s downtown summer
race series, the Pearl
Street Mile; and (3) our hometown favorite, the 26th running of the
Neder-Nederland
5K, which Judy used to direct. It was a very successful race 
season for
her. Judy’s next scheduled race will be in Puerto Vallarta this
coming
November.
•Hughes returned to volunteering at the
Visitors
Center for the month of August.
•McGinty’s
Wake performed for the Carter Lake Yacht Club (in Loveland) for the
fourth
straight year. They loved us even more than ever—maybe we’ve gotten
better? We’ll be asked back
again next year. A few weeks later, the two of us attended a concert by
a
group of really fine musicians, Cherish the Ladies. We
look for them anytime they are in
the area. If we were twentysomethings, we’d probably
travel the country as CTL groupies. There are few whistle players the
equal
of Joanie
Madden,
and the group’s mix of jigs, reels, hornpipes, vocals, ballads, and
Irish step dancing is always first rate.
•College friend Ken Andrews (Class of
’61) from
Atlanta and his son
Jeff, who lives in the Vail/Beaver Creek area, paid a short, but
welcome visit during which
we analyzed and rehashed the demise this summer of our alma mater, Antioch College (Hughes: Class of
’62. Judy: Class of ’65).
•Weekly neighborhood dinner parties and
potlucks
throughout the summer made the social scene in the mountains a busy
time for visiting with neighbors. For a special occasion, members of
the Rocky
Mountain Team
Survivors, a group of cancer survivors who meet regularly to walk and
exercise together, came up (most from
Boulder) to Nederland—along with some spouses—for an afternoon hike at
the Caribou
Ranch Open Space followed by a potluck and drinks at our place.
What an
energetic, positive, and supportive group of women! They're 
great to be
around. Finally, yesterday, the day before we left on our road trip, we
hosted a
post-race brunch after the Neder-Nederland for our
running
friends in Boulder who made the trip up for the run.
We are really looking forward to seeing Montana
and Idaho before they burn away and my sister Pam and her family in the
Spokane/nothern Idaho area. Afterwards, we’ll drive the Oregon and
California
coasts before we arrive in Ojai for Hughes’s 50th Nordhoff High
School
reunion. We also have former neighbors to visit with on our way home.
The RV will certainly turn 10,000 miles before we return home
in mid-October. That’s a lot of miles since we bought the rig in
February.
We will take our laptop with us and stay in touch
through email as much as possible. We look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes to you all. —Judy and Hughes
