Ancient History

For my last day in Colorado, I went to the Morrison Natural Museum of History first. It was here that I learned about some of the bones that Arthur Lakes and his company had sent to co Marsh Hattie Yale University for a paleontological examination. some of these bones, such as the Allosaurus and Triceratops, we're over 90 million years old, and some fossils were found well before the Jurassic Extinction. It is incredible to see or evolutionary past at play, and even more incredible 2 c rock that are close to a billion years old.

I would NOT want to be impaled by that!

are then decided to take an Uber to the trailhead of Mount Falcon, a peek of right around 8,000 feet. The trails were easy and paved, and I found myself making good time on the trail. I reach the ruins of the Walker home, turned around on the Meadow Trail, and then hiked 2000 feet up the tower Trail to reach the summit. I was so thankful that my Uber driver provided water, because I needed every last drop to forge my way. The views, though? Worth it. 

It can't get much better than this (referring to Colorado as a whole).

I then had an Indonesian uber driver take me to Dinosaur Ridge, where he told me about his culture and the things that he misses about home. His advice to me? "If you want to see Jakarta one day, you'll make it happen. You're a smart kid." I am so thankful to have met this wonderful man in my travels.

Dinosaur ridge was chock-full of cool things to see and do. A proliferation of what I saw at the museum, There ere actual dinosaur tracks in the mountainside from the Cenozoic Era, and bones entrenched in the mountainside from the Triassic Era. Some of the shale here dated back a billion years. After this adventure, I headed to the Airport and said farewells to my new favorite paradise of the world.

Upon leaving, I had to go through additional screenings because of losing my license on the train in Denver. Both of the guys involved in my screen and clearance felt genuinely bad for me for losing my stuff, but also gave me suggestions for further travels and whatnot. both of them had actually been to my home state, and encouraged me to go Explore a museum near my house. Considering as to how my TSA process was extremely painless, I'll have to take him up on that offer.

And so, with a final run to China Wok and Einstein Bros, I disappeared into the airway terminals, met a few really cool people to converse with, and flew into the night. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Bill's Flat Irons

Before the day's adventures, my pal and I grabbed coffee at Festive Cup and fueled up at Urban Egg before heading out. Great food and customer service, and the manager actually came out to greet us as well. Very few restaurants I've been to do that. 

The first of a few mountains Drew and I would scale.

Needless to say, the Flatiron mountain in Boulder Colorado is not for the faint of heart, or further those that are not acclimated to lower oxygen levels of higher altitudes. It was a very grueling hour-and-a-half hike, filled with many rest stops even though I consider myself to be in great health. Definitely a three out of five or above on the difficulty rating, but she now, having been to hiking in the Midwest and the East Coast, sort of has me wanting to review my grading scale. After scaling the summit in the rain, we sprinted down the mountain, effectively descending three times faster than the ascent. 8,000 feet. Thirty minutes.

Why do I always do such dangerous photoshoots?

Several thousand feet later, we made it.

Following these antics, we went to see the grave of buffalo bill. The drive was slightly terrifying, as we could see out over the steep valley and towns below. Lookout mountain is where Bill declared his final resting place in 1917, obsessed with the beautiful overlook. I can only imagine the hike he took to get up it back in the day, and remain fortunate that we had a paved (and terrifying) road to drive up (minimal guardrails and all).

There's a reason why Buffalo Bill chose this as his final resting spot.

Following this endeavor, my friend took me to The Thirsty Lion in Denver, which had no shortage of beautiful staff members. Dinner was light and filling, and filled with good conversation (most of it being wondering what the tattoo on our server's shoulder was). After a long weekend, we rewarded ourselves by crunching down a few beers. Although not an ideal weekend, it was still saved by the day's adventures.

Sunflowers and Sad Times

During the weekend, when my friend had off work, we decided to hate our lives a little bit and drive all the way to Kansas. To this day, I am still uncertain as to why we didn't just go to Wyoming.

We drove through 3 hours of nothingness, with the last 40 minutes being slippery dirt roads, and it rained on top of that. All I can say is yay, I got another state hi-point one of my belt. This takes the cake for the most unimpressive state that I've ever been to, though. (Sorry for any Kansas kids reading this.)

The view from the top of Mount Sunflower.

To make matters worse, we actually got stuck in a ditch right as we got to the state high point. It took an hour for the rescue toget to us, an hour for the ride back to the car, 30 minutes to pull it out of the ditch, and an hour back to state line. Needless to say, we had enough excitement for one weekend.

We also hit rain on the way home in a huge stormhead. and then, it all of a sudden stopped. and so I learned two things. One, if you're in the midwest you see a rain cloud, don't chance it, just run. two, the weather will screw you over and then pass by like nothing happened.

Back in town, we had a light dinner and called it quits for one day. Ultimately, I'm thankful that we made it out of Tornado Alley alive. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Wrath of the Gods

on the third full day I spent here, I was able to spend a little bit more time doing creative things. 

Modern Market for lunch with two friends who were also visiting from my hometown of York Pa, and whom then spent much of the day with me. We drove to Aurora to see the Century 16 that was attacked, snapped a photo, and immediately fled for Colorado Springs.

My friends Shae and Caryn took me down to Co. Springs. The drive was gorgeous.

Garden of the Gods was an Ute Reservation until 1860 when pioneers came in. it was renovated by a plethora of people before becoming public domain in 1909. to this day, it is constantly added to and spans 1370 acres. Pike's pea, named after Zebulon Pike, never made it to the top of the 14,000 foot mountain. The view from the top of this mountain inspired Katharine Lee Bates to pen America the Beautiful on a 1895. Alot of the original formations that the Red Rock indians inhabited 3400 years ago still remain today. And so, I decided to meander out into the park.

And here I learned, in the Midwest, if you see a cloud, you RUN.

I then got trapped in a monster hailstorm underneath a rock in the center of the park. I eventually said screw.it and bolted towards the visitor center, getting bombarded and gashed open in the process. I made it to a parking lot, where I found a pleasant Hungarian woman and her family waiting out the storm. Out of the kindness in their heart, they gave me a ride back up to the guest center, where I hailed an Uber to reunite me with my friends.

Wherever you are, Hungarian Family, Köszönöm!

My 20 minute uber ride took me through Old Colorado City, capital pf Colorado for 5 days. people come from all over just to race there and in Pike's Peak. I came back up to my friend's apartment, changed clothes, and got ready for the rest of the evening.

I ended up having the same Uber to go to and from the next two locations. he was a very nice guy from Ethiopia who moved to Colorado about 8 years prior. my first destination was to be Columbine High School, to see the current state of affairs after the horrible massacre 20 years prior. it was easily the most sobering part of my trip to Colorado, and I'm very fortunate that I got to pay my respects to it.

The hillside by the school was extremely placid.

Dinner that night was at Casa Bonita, a beautiful addition to downtown Denver, and a definite tourist spot. They had all you could eat meat enchiladas for $16, but being vegetarian, I had to get a special order (which cost more). They had a gift shop in this Spanish Caballero-themed place, as well as an arcade and a diving show.

Holy House!

Visit Denver sometime - just avoid the hail.

Mansions and Avalanches

On the second day, I took a 4-mile walk 2 the Highland Ranch. I have recovered quite well from a day of hiking prior, so I figured that I would add more insult to injury. After a 5 minute Uber the rest of the way, I arrived.

And to think this building was once a ranch house!

The Mansion is 27,000 sq ft and was first settled in 1884 after a big move by Samuel Allen Long from a farm in Pittsburgh. called Rothersford. it was then toned and expanded upon by John Springer, a businessman from Texas. it was next owned by Waite Phillips, the same person who produced the Tulsa Oklahoma Art Museum from his old house and also established Philmont Scout ranch in New Mexico. in the 80s or so, it was purchased by Lawrence Phipps, the only man to live in the house (and he did so for 39 years). the residents was then finally purchased in 2010 in renovated, and became the beautiful space that it is to this day. after this, I got an Uber from a man who was well versed in the town's history, and who encouraged me to visit local spots. This included the Highline Canal, a feature point of dry farming and great for tubing, the residence of Richard Little, and the Welte Cheese Ranch.

The first room of the facility, and the most opulent.

I then took a ride into Littleton, where I got my next two tattoos at Think Tank South. This was followed by Lunce from Grande Bistro and two beers at Ned Kelly's Irish Pub, some walks at Bega Park, and a light rail trip into Denver. Although I wasn't in Denver long due to heading to a concert that night, I had a blast for the few minutes I was wandering town. I bought after care at Whole Foods for my tattoo and headed back into Highland's Ranch.

Oh Ireland, how I have missed ye.

On my way back to my friend's apartment, I had a great time chatting to some locals, but I made the Fatal flaw of leaving my wallet on the bus. They never found it, so I ended up canceling all of my cars and getting new ones when I return home. This was the pic fall. However, this Pitfall still landed me enough time to go to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre and see a gnarly outdoor concert.

what was really neat about Red Rocks Amphitheatre is that it is settled in a Precambrian River Valley that was dug out and turned into and Amphitheatre. There's so much culture and history here dating back literally millions of years, and I felt quite of these monks all the people who are way too Under the Influence for their own good. We didn't stay long, as tomorrow was another early day filled with canceling credit cards and talking to people about my driver's license, but it was well worth it.

It was too dark for good pictures, but this is the site model.

Into The Rockies

In the middle of August, I decided to visit a friend from undergrad in Colorado, as he was recently transferred to for his job. working for a large security firm meant that he would be at work four of the six days that I was visiting, but this didn't really bother me that much. I always wanted to see the mountains of Colorado, and to see what life was like in the highest state in the United States (no pun intended). And so, even though my airplane was delayed by 2 hours due to maintenance problems, I finally made it to Denver International Airport, and then around 2 in the morning, passed out cold in my friend's apartment in Highland Ranch.

My roommate for the week to come.

On the first day, I decided to challenge myself by walking 1/2 hour to the nearest mall. the air was thick and dry, as I would expect from any state that was set high in the mountains. I also, for some reason, I thought that it would be cold outside, but I was sadly mistaken. And so, I found myself walking past the Children's Hospital near my friend's apartment, and walking through the Windcrest area of Highlands Ranch to get to the local mall. From here, I would do some light shopping, and then proceed to take Uber and Lyft all around town.

As I was walking to the Bakery in which I stopped to get coffee, I heard a car drive by with four very stoned individuals who asked me to flash them. As I exited the coffee shop, I saw the same individuals once more. I pretended to flash them both times, and it made their day. Such are the strange individuals of the highest state.

Next, I took my first Lyft ride in my entire life with a guy by the name of Kenny. He was a very laid-back guy from Southern Colorado who took me to the Littleton Museum, for I learned about the agricultural advances in this area, and where I could also set up on the Gallup Gardens, a small outdoor plant gallery.

What a farm looked like in 1860, before the railroad.

Inside the museum, I was greeted with a plethora of information and a warm invitation to see the to farm exhibits. Although the Farms are only thirty years apart, they were vastly different because of the invention of the railroad. I saw live animals, with volunteer Farm keeps, a volunteer blacksmith, and several informative galleries, including a plethora of propaganda from World War 1.

After the railroad came, houses modernised (ca. 1890).

After indulging the museum and getting trip suggestions from a lady, i decided to check out the nearest dispensary. a 50 minute walk later, i was looking at enough cannabinoids to kill Willie Nelson. the guy I talk to was a sweetheart, and came up from North Carolina himself to experience the state. I bought a sample, pipe, and a lighter and headed back to my friend's apartment.

to round out a beautiful and action filled day, I found myself hiking about 2 miles uphill in Deer Creek Canyon Park just outside of Highlands Ranch. My friends Drew completely underestimated how long the hike was, but it mattered not because we found a loop trail and I was able to shoot some of the coolest photos I have taken in the United States. it was a perfect end to a perfect day.

Views from the mountainside.