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Travel and Recreation Archive
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A Week of Mountain School. And The Plan.
Let me tell you a little bit about our recent trip to the Outdoor Lab school where my firstborn will tramp around in the woods with her fellow sixth graders for a week this December. Somewhat tangentially, have I mentioned, ever, how we just wrapped up the SUMMER THAT WOULD NEVER END? Because waking up early [...] -
Brown Fields. Blue Sky. Gold Aspens.
It’s almost October, and the fields in Colorado have all turned brown. This summer here around Denver feels like it just might hang on forever, but it looks and feels like fall already in the mountains. We spent part of the weekend in Lost Creek Wilderness, a 119,000+ acre portion of Pike National Forest. AG and her [...] -
The Victorian Mining Legacy of Georgetown, CO
Recently, we fled the late-summer heat of the valley to visit Georgetown, the Silver Queen of Colorado. In 1859, two prospector brothers from Kentucky founded Georgetown during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. It grew fast during the Colorado Silver Boom of the late nineteenth century, started to fade away when the boom ended, and could have [...] -
Outdoor Lab in December. DECEMBER.
In this part of Colorado, public school students get the chance to attend Outdoor Lab for a week sometime during their sixth grade year. Basically a weeklong nature and science overnight camp in the Rocky Mountains, the experience is a big deal for kids here. A BIG deal. Huge, in fact. Parents at the girls’ [...] -
Boulders and Breathing in Rocky Mountain National Park
Just look at this asthma kid of mine: She scrambled up the side of that giant boulder at Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park in about 15 seconds. Because she is strong and fierce, even though her lungs aren’t, always. Here, she’s waving to the Steadfast Sidekick on the other side of the lake: The clouds rolled into [...] -
Summer Camp for Adults and Families – the Boulder Chautauqua
Theodore Roosevelt famously called the Chautauqua tradition, “the most American thing in America,” which is sort of funny since many Americans alive now don’t even know about it. But there’s a reason for that. On the shores of Chautauqua Lake in western New York State, some Sunday School teachers met for a first-of-its-kind summer seminar in the [...] -
The Family Trip that Never Was
Shortly after this stretch of highway, on our way through the Rockies to Salida yesterday, something happened. It involved a smoking car, a near-total lack of cell phone reception while trying to reach our insurance company and the hotel cancellation desk, and a long, hot, and dusty wait for the tow truck that brought us all [...] -
Adventure and Daring Plans and Colorado Mountain Towns
We’ve been planning a little getaway this summer. Not a big trip, because now that we live in a cold, interior climate, we’re going to participate in that timeless American tradition that is the winter beach vacation. In other words, we’re saving hard to go to coastal Mexico or Hawaii next winter. I mentioned Yellowstone, [...] -
Denver Sidewalk Chalk Art in Larimer Square
On Saturday, I went to the Denver Chalk Art Festival on historic Larimer Square. And by “historic,” I mean gold miners set up camp in this very area in the 19th century, and those settlements eventually grew and turned into the city of Denver. The festival featured 200 chalk artists who covered the square with [...] -
Roxborough State Park and the Fountain Formation
Sometimes I like to pack lots of food and water and hike all day, testing myself on the steep inclines and trying hard to reach the summits. But sometimes I’m tired and I just want to take a walk on a beautiful day. Behold, Roxborough State Park in Littleton: And behold the Sidekick at the beginning of [...]
