It's Memorial Day! Time For A Hike!

Or perhaps not. Years ago, my then-wife Lisa and I would often go hiking with my sister Susan and brother-in-law George. And the first hike of the year would always be in Rocky Mountain National Park. Lisa and I would drive up from Denver, and Susan and George from Fort Collins, and we would meet up in Estes Park. Taking one car, we would drive to a suitable spot, such as the Glacier Gorge Trailhead, and start hiking. However, the higher we went, the deeper the snow, and the thicker the fog. Eventually, Lisa would say enough, and we would head back down to the car and stop for a beer in Estes Park on the way home. Which is probably what George had in mind all along. And in fact, Memorial Day is usually not a good time to hike in the mountains. For that matter, June is pretty iffy, too. Best to do your mountain hiking July through September to avoid snow and fog and Bigfoot and God knows what else. But then again, you would have no reason to turn around and head for the nearest pub. Such a conundrum. And by the way, the photograph above was taken in Rocky Mountain National Park around 1984, not on Memorial Day but sometime in mid-summer. From left to right are me, Lisa, my mother Mary, and brother-in-law George, with the photographer none other than Susan. And not a flake of snow anywhere around us. Happy Memorial Day!