Far Away In Time
Friday, December 20th, 2002 08:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthA day at Evergreen Vacuum Cleaner Co / Echo Lake / Idaho Springs / Morrison ... Sun, snow, idiots.
Captions on mouseover (IE, anyway)
Briefly:
After a few errands (inc. vacuum cleaner spares) we hit the road to Echo Lake, which I remember as one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The road is narrow and winding and has distractingly gorgeous mountain vistas. Got out to take photos. Photo stops ever briefer as we climbed. Echo Lake is at around 10,000 ft above sea level, and the temperature dropped 30 degrees Fahrenheit (not sure what that is in real money) between Evergreen Vacuum Cleaner Co and Echo Lake.
I remember the lake as glassy-smooth and wonderfully reflective: have photos of daytime moon reflected amid the reeds, &co.
Previous visit had been in Indian-summer November: lake liquid. Lake now quite solid and rugged-looking. The light was amazing. Snow all around the lake, powdery and almost firm enough to walk on without breaking the crust. Almost.
Echo Lake has toilets, of the hole-in-the-ground-plus-seat variety. Fair enough. But it also has toilet paper. This amazes me.
On the way down, we picked up amoron hitch-hiker. He was about 50, stereotypical salt-of-the-earth. No jacket, no gloves, sub-zero: walking down the side of the road towards Idaho Springs. The road wasn't busy (we saw two other cars between Evergreen and Idaho Springs) and his luck was definitely in. He'd pulled over on some side road, gone off the road into soft snow and couldn't get back onto the road. Didn't have his mobile (actually, he wouldn't have had a signal) and had left his son with the car while he went for help. 7 or 8 miles to the nearest house, and he'd already been walking for 2 or 3 miles, and the sun was going down.
Idiot.
Turned out he was headed 6 or 7 miles west of Idaho Springs, so we drove him there. Warming glow of altruism, plus very real concern for his, and his son's, wellbeing.
Idaho Springs sports a frozen waterfall (see above), a gold mine, a cowboy statue bandoliered with Christmas lights, and an unexceptional array of eateries. So we headed for charming, hippified Morrison - just down the road from the Red Rocks amphitheatre - where we discovered that the Dream Cafe (veggie food and microbrewery beer) was closed. Had a hearty meal in Tony Rigatoni's Italian Restaurant: home cooking, friendly but unobsequious service, more food than even I with high-altitude appetite could finish, and draught Guinness. (And they ran out just below the pint mark for my first, so I got another free).
Home, to surf the Internet like a real geek.
Off out in a minute to see real live music at the Little Bear Bar, Evergreen. Where Friday night is No Smoking Night. Ah, the joys of being an ex-smoker! Need not freeze on porch.
Captions on mouseover (IE, anyway)
Briefly:
After a few errands (inc. vacuum cleaner spares) we hit the road to Echo Lake, which I remember as one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The road is narrow and winding and has distractingly gorgeous mountain vistas. Got out to take photos. Photo stops ever briefer as we climbed. Echo Lake is at around 10,000 ft above sea level, and the temperature dropped 30 degrees Fahrenheit (not sure what that is in real money) between Evergreen Vacuum Cleaner Co and Echo Lake.
I remember the lake as glassy-smooth and wonderfully reflective: have photos of daytime moon reflected amid the reeds, &co.
Previous visit had been in Indian-summer November: lake liquid. Lake now quite solid and rugged-looking. The light was amazing. Snow all around the lake, powdery and almost firm enough to walk on without breaking the crust. Almost.
Echo Lake has toilets, of the hole-in-the-ground-plus-seat variety. Fair enough. But it also has toilet paper. This amazes me.
On the way down, we picked up a
Idiot.
Turned out he was headed 6 or 7 miles west of Idaho Springs, so we drove him there. Warming glow of altruism, plus very real concern for his, and his son's, wellbeing.
Idaho Springs sports a frozen waterfall (see above), a gold mine, a cowboy statue bandoliered with Christmas lights, and an unexceptional array of eateries. So we headed for charming, hippified Morrison - just down the road from the Red Rocks amphitheatre - where we discovered that the Dream Cafe (veggie food and microbrewery beer) was closed. Had a hearty meal in Tony Rigatoni's Italian Restaurant: home cooking, friendly but unobsequious service, more food than even I with high-altitude appetite could finish, and draught Guinness. (And they ran out just below the pint mark for my first, so I got another free).
Home, to surf the Internet like a real geek.
Off out in a minute to see real live music at the Little Bear Bar, Evergreen. Where Friday night is No Smoking Night. Ah, the joys of being an ex-smoker! Need not freeze on porch.
