Untitled Final Fridays

I attended the Untitled Final Friday event at the Denver Art Museum last night, this one titled A(me)ricana (I know, I know).  The evening featured such things as a talk on New American cuisine, a pie-eating contest, line dancing, and a few other pretty weird events, all of them it seems to me to be pretty far afield from art.  The museum, by the way, has announced that it will be reopening it's renovated North Building, as well as it's new reception center, in stages, starting this spring. The reception center will have two restaurants, and so one can only hope that the free buffet table on Final Fridays will finally return after a two year absence.

It is a good thing the North Building will be reopening, because I must say there was not too much art on display last night.  Two of the galleries were closed for the installation of new exhibits (including the big Monet exhibit coming in October), which left just a gallery exhibiting a collection of British paintings (which has been on display quite a while, I might add) and two galleries showing various works from the museum's collection entitled The Light Show. I did attend this month's edition of Joan and Charlie, a comedy skit put on by the Buntport Theater, seen in the photo on the right.  The focus this month was why the painting this skit takes it's name from is no longer on display, and in it's place are nonsensical pieces such as large "lighted doilies."  I must say, I have to agree.  And as I have said many times before, this event is just not the same without free food.

Lunch With Peter At Pepper

I had lunch with Peter, my friend and old Tattered Cover Bookstore office-mate Wednesday afternoon at Pepper, a wonderful Asian restaurant a few blocks from the store.  Peter has been working three days a week at the TC lately due to health issues, but is feeling fine now and will be back to full time as of next week. According to Peter, things are about the same these days at the Tattered Cover. The big news is that they plan to open a new store in Westminster, Colorado this coming spring.  In addition to lunch with Peter, I was also able to visit a number of my other former Tattered Cover colleagues, and everyone seems to be as chipper as ever. And did this visit to my old stomping ground make me want to go back to work there?  I'll get in touch with you on that.  And by the way, Peter does not want me to take any more photos of him for this blog, but happily, I was able to retrieve the one above of him from my computer files. Hopefully he is not in the witness protection program.

Going Ape At The Zoo

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I went to the Denver Zoo Tuesday afternoon to take a few photos, and as usual, checked out the progress of the gorilla and orangutan babies there.  As can be seen in the photograph on the left, the orangutan baby is now running free, playing around and having non-stop fun. It is so busy swinging on ropes and constantly exploring that it has no time to pose for photos.  It will be a while before it realizes that it is a prisoner with a life sentence.

It's father has no such problem with posing for a picture, as can be seen in the photograph on the right. Orangutan's seem like such friendly and gentle creatures, and I personally believe they would make great pets.  I would strongly recommend that you have a big backyard with lots of trees if you want to adopt one.  I think there might be regulations against this, however, so you might want to check local zoning laws first.

On the opposite side of the compound, I checked on the progress of the gorilla baby, who seems to enjoy climbing trees these days.  While his parents sat in the shade and watched, he climbed up a tree in the compound, tore off some branches to eat, went up higher, and repeated that process.  As I was leaving, he was still up there, heading for the top.  The zoo visitors seemed quite concerned that it might fall, but the ape parents appeared very nonchalant about the whole thing.  I suspect they are traditional parents in the Dr. Spock mold. And when was the last time you heard anyone mention Dr. Spock?  God, I am old.

Visiting The The Usual Suspects At The Denver Zoo

I went to the Denver Zoo yesterday afternoon, since the high temperature was predicted to be in the 70s, the coolest high in Denver this summer, and the animals would hopefully all be outside enjoying the pleasant weather. Amazingly enough, the lions were not out - evidently the temperatures were still too hot for them - and the tigers were snoozing in the shade and unavailable for photos.  Happily the elephants were still outside, and willing to pose for a portrait, such as the one in the photo on the left.

The black and white colobus monkey in the photograph on the right was also quite willing to pose for a portrait, taking a break from fighting (or playing with - I can't be sure) his roommate at the monkey house.  He looks pretty sad in this photo, no doubt bummed at having to serve a life sentence at the Denver Zoo.  I have suggested to zoo officials that they let these creatures run free among zoo guests, which I am sure would cheer them up, but they keep refusing to do this.  Just remember zoo people - you will wind up having to pay big bucks for their pricey psychiatric sessions.

And as been the case my last few visits to the zoo, the mandrill is also quite willing to have his photograph taken, as seen in the photograph on the left. This mandrill is the proud father of a new baby.  I also attempted to take a photograph of mother and baby, but they stayed as far away as possible from zoo visitors, and the mother was cradling the baby the entire time, keeping it away from prying eyes.  I suppose they call this maternal instinct, but it plays hell with getting good photographs.  I'm just sayin.'

The Fair Store!

I was walking through Old Town Square in Fort Collins and was drawn to the plaque attached to the building in the photograph on the left, which was built in 1888 and is named the Miller Block.  It stated that the building was the home to a department store called The Fair Store, specializing in china. This brought back a flood of memories, since I remember going to The Fair Store at the Evergreen Park Shopping Center in that south side Chicago suburb with my mother Mary and my Grandmother Spillard when I was a child.  Was the store in Fort Collins part of that chain?

My sister Susan also remembers going to The Fair Store - not at Evergreen Park but in downtown Chicago - with my Grandmother Spillard (seen in the photo on the left) and her sister, my Great Aunt Babe (on the right) when she was a little girl. Susan recalls that they would try on corsets and girdles there, and never buy anything, to the consternation of the sales clerks, who evidently knew them all too well. Both Grandmother Spillard and Aunt Babe also enjoyed going to the bookies, but that is a story for a different time.  In any case, I did some research on the internet, and found that The Fair Store in Chicago was founded in 1874, but only had branches in Chicago. And so no, the Fort Collins store was an independent operation.  The Chicago Fair Store was taken over by Montgomery Wards in 1962, and disappeared after that, but seeing that plaque on the Miller Block sure brought back some fun memories.

Watching Soccer With Mark And The Tottenham Fan Club

I went with my friend Mark, who works at the University of Denver's Anderson Academic Commons ( i.e. the library), yesterday morning to watch the Tottenham Hotspurs play Newcastle at Esters, the official headquarters of the Tottenham fan club here in Denver. Mark, as you can  see in the photograph on the left, wore a Newcastle t-shirt to Esters, which surprised me, since the place was filled to the rafters with Tottenham fans.  I was actually amazed that they didn't take a tire iron to him, but I guess that is due to that traditional British reserve.  And to add insult to injury, Newcastle beat Tottenham 1 to nil.

In any case, Mark just recently returned from the U.K., where he visited friends in Bath and Leeds, and attended - surprise! - a fair number of soccer and cricket matches.  Mark sent me the photograph on the right of he and his friend Barrie - pronounced Barrree over there -  taken at the soccer stadium in Leeds.  Barrie is a lifelong fan of Leeds United, which is in the Championship League, the second tier of British Soccer. Last year Leeds had a chance to move up to the first division Premier League, but lost the playoff game that would have put them there, to the great disappointment of Leeds fans everywhere (and with the exception of Mark, I suspect everywhere means just Leeds). I'm just sayin'.

Bar Hopping (Kind Of) With Stuart

My friend Stuart (seen in the photograph above) and I headed to Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo) and the Lower Highlands neighborhood (LoHi) yesterday afternoon and did a little bar hopping (more or less). We parked along Commons Park and then walked to the Denver Beer Company, which was so packed with hipsters that there was not a single seat available.  We decided to leave (even though those were our people there), and walked over to The Ale House in LoHi, which had much fewer hipsters per square foot.  We were able to have a beer on their rooftop patio at a table with a great view of downtown Denver.  From there we headed over to the Wynkoop Brewing Company in LoDo for dinner.  This is the brew pub that John Hickenlooper - the former governor of Colorado and a recent presidential candidate - used to own. Since he is no longer running for president, we were thinking Hickenlooper might be there waiting tables, but he was nowhere in sight - probably has weekends off.  In any case, the food and service were both good, so I guess we can't complain.

Blackberry's Squirrel Conundrum Continues...

As regular blog readers know, I am driving up to Fort Collins from Denver two or three days a week these days to help out my sister Susan, who lost her husband George a little over a year ago.  One of my duties is to take Blackberry, one of her two dogs (the other is a tiny Yorkie named Tutu), out for a walk in the afternoon and again in the evening.  Blackberry is a really friendly dog, just loves people, and wants to greet everyone she sees.  She is also very interested in chasing both rabbits and squirrels, and while acknowledging that she can't outrun a rabbit, she seems to be convinced that she will eventually capture a squirrel, since she can see it up in the tree, and thinks that eventually it will come down to play with her.  As can be seen in the photograph above, she is full of optimism about this, and has to be dragged away from her quest after an hour or so of believing the squirrel will come down from that tree.  I feel your pain, Blackberry, but it ain't gonna happen.

Remembering The Island Reef

Recently, going through a box of my mother Mary's photographs, I discovered the one above of her and her cousins, taken on the patio of the Island Reef Restaurant near Stuart, Florida, where my mother lived for almost 30 years.  The photo was taken in 2002, and as far as I know, is the last one taken of them together. They are all gone now, the end of an era. These cousins were the children of my Aunt Babe (my Grandmother Louise's sister) and her husband Byron, and our families were always very close. In the above photograph are (from left to right) Byron, Betty, my mother Mary, Byron's wife Lorrie, and Shirley. And by the way, the Island Reef closed many years ago after the two partners who owned it had a falling out.  I never kept up with what happened to the place afterwards. Thanks to the miracle of the information super highway (do they still call the internet that?), I have learned that this restaurant is now called Kyle G's Seafood and Steaks, and they still have a happy hour on that same outdoor patio, just like in the good old days.  Be sure to check out their website (and make reservations) at https://kylegseafood.com/.

The Hazards Of Hail, From Cars To Gardens

I took the above photograph of my sister Susan's garden up in Fort Collins just a few days before a hail storm did a number on it.  I myself think in terms of damage to my car, but hail storms do damage to the plant world, too. Colorado has more hail than most parts of the world, at least according to the people who calculate the size of the insurance premiums.  Just a few weeks after I purchased my Hyundai in 2015, a hail storm came through Denver and more or less destroyed it.  I went ahead and got it repaired, since it was brand new, but a short time afterwards, another hail storm came through and caused minor damage.  I didn't bother to get that fixed, and still get ads left on my windshield telling me that they can repair the damage at no cost to me. Yeah. Right. I have come to the conclusion if you have the hail damage repaired out here, you are just telling fate to send in another hail storm.  At least with gardens, the flowers will come back next year. It is not so easy with cars.  And of course, living in a condo, I don't even think about damage to roofs and skylights, which can be substantial, too.  The Colorado Mills Mall in Golden was closed for months several years ago after hail broke the skylights and flooded the place.  The hazard of living in paradise, I guess.

Friday Afternoons In Denver

I went on a bike ride this past Friday to Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo), and from there on to the Lower Highlands (LoHi) just to the west.  And does your neighborhood have a fancy acronym?  If not, better make one up.  In any case, during the ride, I couldn't help but notice how many people were just hanging out on the patios around town, such as at the Denver Beer Company in the photograph above. It reminded me of Michael Moore's famous line from his movie Roger and Me, where he said he moved from Flint, Michigan - where nobody had a job, but everyone wanted to work - to San Francisco, where everyone had a job, but nobody seemed to work.  I still have to wonder if the reason so many people are free on Fridays is because they have only part-time positions, which businesses favor these days so they don't have to pay benefits. Somebody should definitely research this, but hopefully not me.

Dinner With The Old DU Bookstore Gang

This past Sunday evening my friends Valarie (the former Operations Manager of the University of Denver Bookstore) and her husband Jake invited several couples and myself to a dinner party in the backyard of their home in Wheat Ridge, a suburb just to the north and west of Denver.  They have been working very hard on their backyard and wanted to show it off, and I must say, I was very impressed.  They have converted their basement to an Air B and B, and have had a lot of success with it.  They can choose when they want to rent the place, and so can still travel whenever they want.  And in fact they have upcoming plans for a road trip to California and a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. Jake, by the way, is on the far left in the above photograph, and Valarie is second from the right.  My friends Darrel (the former Accounts Payable Manager of the DU Bookstore and second from the left in the photo) and his wife Linda (on the far right) are also planning trips to Laramie and Saratoga, Wyoming, and also to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Our friends Chris (the former Accounts Payable Assistant at the bookstore) and her husband Jim couldn't make it due to illness, but I am sure we will see them at our next get-together.  Don't worry guys!  Bubonic plague is very treatable these days.

The 2019 Golden Fine Arts Festival

My sister Susan and I (along with her two dogs, Tutu and Blackberry) attended the 2019 Golden Fine Arts Festival this past Saturday afternoon, one of my favorite art festivals of the year.  It runs the length of 11th Street in Golden, Colorado, between Golden History Park (which borders Clear Creek) and the town's historic district, which contains many Victorian homes that date from the 1870s. Years ago, when Susan's husband George was alive, the three of us would attend this festival, but after just two blocks, George would head for nearby Golden City Brewery, located in the backyard of one those Victorian houses, and tell us he would meet us there after we got done looking at the artwork.  In any case, as usual, it was a very nice show, with lots of photography on display.  However, this time, with dogs in tow, it was all about keeping them in line and letting the art goers admire them.  People would fawn over Tutu, a tiny Yorkie, and then Blackberry, a cairn whose leash I was holding, would rush over to get her share of attention, too, as seen in the photograph on the left.

When we arrived, we parked on the other side of Clear Creek,  and walked to the festival from there, with frequent stops for particularly good smells and rolls in the grass (I need to get my sister to stop doing that). The whitewater tubers along the Clear Creek Trail actually seemed to outnumber the art festival crowd. A number of these tubers have been killed this past spring, including one as recently as last month, due to the high water levels and rough conditions caused by the large mountain snow melt this year.  Golden officials say they average 3 to 4 rescues per day, although this past Saturday all seemed serene, and there were still tubers out on Clear Creek as we were leaving the festival, as seen in the photograph on the right.  Watching them float down the river in their rubber tubes, I can see that this is no sport for me.  I think I will stick to the safer sport of attending art festivals - at least for now.

Catching Another Rockies Game With Mark

I went to the Colorado Rockies - Miami Marlins baseball game with my friend Mark (seen in the above photo) this past Friday night, and the Rockies actually won.  Of course, the Marlins are the worst team in the National League, but a win is a win, right? The Rockies are 11 games under .500 and solidly in last place, but the sports announcers still think there is a chance they can turn things around and make the playoffs.  The Chicago White Sox, on the other hand, are 12 games under .500 and fans only hope the team can reach that highly valued .500 mark.  If nothing, White Sox fans are realists. In any case, Mark is just back from the UK, where he visited with friends in both Bath and Leeds, and caught several soccer and cricket matches - surprise! And one more word about the Colorado Rockies - it wasn't until the middle of the game that I realized that they were no longer playing loud, incredibly horrible snippets of heavy metal, rap, and techno dance songs between every pitch at Coors Field, making it impossible to talk to the person next to you. Fans must have been complaining. Or else maybe the Colorado Rockies Organization is reading this blog.  Yeah, that must be it.

Still More About Sloan's Lake

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I attended the Sloan's Lake Fine Arts and Music Festival at Sloan's Lake Park last week.  This area is a hotbed of real estate development, especially on the south end of the lake, which until recently was a modest Hispanic neighborhood.  As seen in the photograph on the left, high rise condos and apartment buildings are going up all over the place.  The Lake House, the building on the far right in the photo, features condos with a starting price of $500,000 for a one bedroom unit. Really? Who the hell would pay that?  Oh, right - Californians.  I forgot.

It didn't take long to tour the modest number of booths at the festival, and so afterwards I decided to get a little exercise and walk around the lake.  The south end has lots of trees, but along the north side of the lake, it is pretty barren.  This is where the Denver Dragon Boat Festival is held each year, which I attended and posted a blog about a few weeks ago. I had a hell of a time trying to get a good photograph of those dragon boats, what with the crowds and all, and so I was truly surprised to see two of these dragon boats sitting just offshore, where I could take as many photographs of them as I liked.  If I knew they were going to leave them moored just offshore for a few weeks (or perhaps even a few years), I would have probably just skipped the festival entirely and came by the following week to take my photos.  Live and learn, I guess.

The Sloan's Lake Fine Arts and Music Festival

This past Sunday afternoon I attended the Sloan's Lake 7th annual Fine Arts and Music Festival.  This is the first time I have ever heard of this event, and I don't know how I missed the first 6 festivals, but evidently did.  In any case, this was not a big event, but still a very pleasant one.  There was a small stage where music events were taking place, and a modest number of art booths, including several featuring photography.  One of these booths featured the work of Neil Thomas, a photographer from Kenya (and no doubt a descendant of the original British colonists), who displayed some wonderful photographs of the people, wildlife, and scenery of Africa. Be sure to check out his web site at www.neilthomas.com. This was a dog friendly event, and virtually everyone there seemed to have at least one, or more likely, two dogs walking past the booths.  Denver, and for that matter all of Colorado, has to be the most pet friendly state in the union.

Sloan's Lake, by the way, became a lake when a farmer by the name of Thomas Sloan decided to dig a well on his farm.  He did not realize that his land was located over a natural spring, and the next day he woke up to find a 200 acre lake on his property.  Over the years, the City of Denver incorporated this land into a major park in the northwest part of the city, and in recent years this area has become a hotbed for development.  As I recall, the south and east parts of the area were traditionally an Hispanic neighborhood, but these days, many of the homes here have been torn down to put up apartment towers, condos, pricey duplexes, and McMansions.  Gentrification is often a sad thing, forcing people out of the neighborhoods they have lived in for most of their lives, but with views like the one in the photograph on the right, it is surprising it didn't start happening even sooner.

Happy Hour With Wally At Devour The 303

I met my friend and former University of Denver Bookstore co-worker Wally the other day for happy hour at Devour the 303, a new restaurant that recently opened at the corner of Downing and Evans here in Denver. This space was formerly occupied by two restaurants - Atticus and The Rosedale - and before that, Boone's, named after the now banned University of Denver mascot (the mascot was male, and thus not inclusive enough for the university community). As far as I know, the new University of Denver mascot is the dollar bill. Before Boone's, the space was occupied for decades by Fagan's, and so this location has had a spotty history, to say the least.  But in any case, the food was good, and Wally and I caught up on what each of us has been doing the past few months.  I recounted my adventures in Western and Southwestern Colorado, and Wally told me of his and his wife Linda's trips to San Francisco, the Poconos, Dayton (Yes! Dayton!), Gettysburg, and future planned trips to Providence, Rhode Island, Cape Cod, and Washington D.C. For someone who doesn't like to travel, Wally sure gets around a lot. Good catching up with you,Wally!

Dinner In Fairplay, Colorado

As I have mentioned over the past several blogs, my sister Susan and I took a mini vacation to visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison (America's least visited national park) and points in-between. Driving back from Cortez (at the extreme southwestern point of the state) to Fort Collins, a mere 45 miles from the Wyoming border, is one hell of a trip in one day, and so it was a long, long ride.  After taking many breaks to accommodate Susan's dogs Blackberry and Tutu, we were way behind schedule.  I told Susan we would stop in Salida, a truly upscale and beautiful mountain town, but it was 5 miles out of our way, and so I elected to skip it.  I also told Susan we would stop in Buena Vista, a popular resort town along the way home, but it too turned out to be slightly off our route.  We finally wound up stopping for dinner in Fairplay, Colorado, which I have badmouthed many times in this blog. But surprisingly, we found this town to be friendly, welcoming, and just plain nice.  We had dinner at what appeared to be the local's restaurant of choice - Millonzi's -  and each had great pizzas, served by friendly locals.  The lesson here is never let first impressions ever cloud your judgement of both places and people. Cheers!

Visiting Crested Butte, Colorado

On my sister Susan and my trip home from visiting the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, with a side trip - and a long one at that -  to Durango and Cortez, Colorado, we took a detour from Gunnison and made a quick stop at Crested Butte, a beautiful mountain town and ski resort on the other side of the mountain from Aspen.  This is one beautiful and historic late 1800s era town.  We found a place to park, and walked with Susan's dogs Blackberry and Tutu through the downtown area. Both dogs were doted over by everyone we passed, and as far as I can tell, they actually accept and expect this kind of adoration.

In other words, these dogs are spoiled - big time - but what the hell. Dogs, cats, service kangaroos, and other household pets are a great comfort, and I definitely understand Susan's intense attachment to them.  I myself have been assigned the task of walking Blackberry (a cairn - aka a Scottish terrier), who I realize is smart as hell, and has the ability to outsmart even me (go figure). In any case, Crested Butte is a truly wonderful place, and I would have made reservations for a couple of rooms for the two of us if I hadn't noticed that in addition to the very reasonable summer rental rates, an $86 resort fee would be added to each room.  Crested Butte is indeed wonderful, but not that wonderful.

Taking A Well Deserved Break In Ridgway

Last Wednesday was a very long travel day for my sister Susan and I, not to mention Susan's two dogs - Blackberry and Tutu. We started out from Cortez, Colorado, located very close to the fours corners area, where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah all meet, heading back to Fort Collins, and with two dogs, we needed to take frequent breaks.  Our first stop was Ridgway, a town located between Montrose and Ouray, Colorado.  We found a nice park to walk the dogs, adjacent to the town's historic center, where we learned that True Grit (the movie that earned John Wayne an Oscar) was filmed.  Actually, it was impossible to forget that fact, since there were historical markers everywhere letting you know what dramatic scenes in the film were shot there. Ridgway is a really nice, old western town, but I found it very hard to figure out which were truly historic buildings and which were built for the movie.  And what is the deal with that turtle statue in the photograph on the left?

In any case, we walked the dogs around the historic district and were impressed with the old west charm. We were also impressed with the fact that every town in Colorado, no matter how small, seems to have at least one, if not more, brew pubs.  Which to me, of course, is a good thing. And not only is the town picturesque, it also seems to be filled with young families and happy seniors, and has spectacular views of the surrounding mountains, such as in the photograph on the right. I think this would be the perfect place to raise a family -  affordable, friendly, close to the outdoor wonders of the state, and still relatively free of Californians, an invasive species currently spreading across the west. Enjoy it while you can, people.

The Durango And Silverton Railway

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, my sister Susan and I visited Durango, Colorado a few days ago and walked around the historic downtown area after having dinner at a local establishment called Grassburgers (whose burgers actually contain beef, and not grass, thank God). We walked down to the end of the street where the train station for the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad is located, as seen in the photograph on the left.  This 1800s era train is the town's major tourist attraction, but sadly,  the government has determined that one of it's trains caused a wildfire last year that destroyed 54,000 acres of forest.  The U.S. Attorney's Office has filed suit against the company to recoup over $25 million in damages.  If successful, this could bankrupt the railroad and force it to shut down.

Of course, to me, this sounds like cutting off your nose to spite you face. If the U.S. Attorney's Office wins this lawsuit, it will destroy a significant part of Durango's tourist trade, since the train contributes $250 million dollars to that city's economy each year.  Not to be too dramatic, but it reminds me of that quote from a Vietnam War era officer who said that "we had to destroy the village in order to save it." But what do I know?  I am now retired, and a different generation is running the country.  They are the ones now making these decisions, as crazy as they might be.  And no, I am not at all bitter - all I ask is that they just keep those social security checks coming.

A Visit To Durango

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, my sister Susan and I took a mini vacation and visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, a spectacular national park seldom visited by most tourists. Afterwards, we drove south - after a brief visit to the old west town of Ouray - to Durango, one of my favorite Colorado places.  On  the left is a photo of the Strater Hotel, an old west icon which is home to the Diamond Belle Saloon, and which has been operating since 1887. When you are in Durango, the place to stay is the Strater, just like when you stay  in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the place to stay is the La Fonda. Fortunately, for financial reasons, Susan and I were staying in Cortez (very close to the four corners region, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah all meet), and so we did not have to fork over the big bucks that those places demand.

As regular blog readers know, my sister has two dogs - Blackberry and Tutu - and they both came along on the trip.  I must say, they were remarkably well behaved, and I think that Blackberry actually enjoys traveling, as opposed to Tutu, seen in the photograph on the right with my sister Susan, who started barking and generally making a pest of herself whenever she wanted to get out of the car for a bit.  Thankfully nobody referred to her as a "rodent on a rope" on this trip, which someone did in Taos last year.  Susan brooded about that one for months afterwards. We had dinner that night on the patio at Grassburger, a dog friendly place that features great bacon cheeseburgers, and not blades of grass between two buns, which I originally had feared.  Thank God for that.

The Black Canyon Of The Gunnison

My sister Susan and I decided to take a mini vacation and visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, our country's least visited national park. It is located near Montrose, Colorado, but we decided to save big bucks and stay at the Motel 6 in Grand Junction, an hour away. Grand Junction, surprisingly enough, has 20 wineries, and we were lucky enough to arrive in time to visit Two Rivers Winery, where Susan enjoyed a glass of chardonnay and I sat and wondered why they couldn't add a brewery to the operation to attract a larger market (by which I mean me). In any case, we drove from Two Rivers Winery to downtown Grand Junction, which we both thought had a 1950s ambiance.  All of the storefronts were occupied, all of them mom and pop operations, and the movie theater was showing The Devil Wears Prada, which evidently just made it to Grand Junction this year.  Plus, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass ( a family favorite back in the 1960s) will be appearing there at the end of this month.  Susan thinks this place is a modern day Brigadoon.

We had dinner at the Rockslide Brewery, which has great food, great beer, and low prices (who doesn't love a combination like that?). Susan, by the way,  was really enthused about Grand Junction, and tells me she would really like living there. Talking with the locals, it seems most of the population of California feels the same way.  The next morning we headed for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and after a little over an hour, we entered the park and were awed by the views. I took the photograph on the right at the Pulpit Rock Overlook, and I am sad to say this photo does not come close to justifying the grandeur of the place.  Just before Black Canyon became a national park, a real estate developer purchased a significant portion of the area at the top of the canyon, and demanded a huge payment for the land, or else he would build a housing development.  Probably a Trump supporter.  I assume that the government paid the SOB off.

This canyon is 2,250 feet at it's deepest point, and if you put the Empire State Building at the bottom, it would only reach 3/4 of the way to the top.  I took the photograph on the left at the Sunset View Overlook, the deepest part of the canyon. Susan noticed that a number of people were wearing hiking boots, and asked if they were planning to hike to the bottom, which they were.  Of course, they were all much younger than us, but as for me, I would be more than willing to hike down to the Gunnison River at the bottom.  Of course, I would draw the line at carrying Susan back up to the top, family or no family.  I would certainly call for help if I had cell phone service, which as far as could tell, I did not, so it was best to skip that part of the trip.  Probably a wise choice.

A Virgin Trains USA Update

Virgin Trains USA has started the second leg of the construction of their high speed train between Miami, Florida and the Orlando airport (and eventually to Tampa). I was pretty excited at first, since the train to Orlando will be operational in three years and they have committed to building a train station in either Stuart, Florida (where my sister Susan and I own a condo) or nearby Fort Pierce.  However, I recently read that they do not plan to build this station until 5 years after train service is operational.  What? Really?  What is their problem, anyway?  I say re-institute Martin County's lawsuit against Virgin Trains until they agree to build the station right when service starts.  Come on, all you Stuart, Florida retirees - start those protests NOW! I'll help make the signs. In any case, I took the above self portrait in downtown Stuart, right across the street from where those 125 mile per hour trains will soon be flying past, the last time I visited down there.  All you Stuart residents better make sure to look both ways before you cross those tracks - or splat.

The August Mutts Of The Month

I took the photograph on the left of the August Mutts of the Month while they were waiting for their owner to finish perusing a menu in front of a restaurant in Old Town Fort Collins. Old Town Fort Collins is popular year round, but especially in the summer, when people can sit out on the patios and people-watch as they consume their dinner and libations.  My sister Susan and I were on our way to CooperSmiths's, the oldest brewpub in Fort Collins, and located right on Old Town Square.  It was a Monday night, much quieter than on the previous Friday night, when a very loud band was playing in the center of the square and made conversation impossible.

My sister told me she enjoyed the music, but not me - if you can't hear what the person across the table is saying to you, as far as I am concerned that is not a pleasant thing.  But I digress.  Old Town Fort Collins is made up of many buildings built in the 1870s and 1880s. Unlike Boulder and Denver, which sprang up to serve gold miners, Fort Collins was founded as a military fort to protect the Overland Trail mail route, which had recently been re-routed through the area.  The military fort was decommissioned in 1867, but by that time settlers were streaming in and the area became a fast growing agricultural center and Fort Collins was incorporated in 1873.  Today one it's nicest features is Old Town Square, with all those historic buildings and where events and concerts (including very loud ones) are held during the summer.  I took the photograph on the right of a statue in the plaza just in front of CooperSmith's.  It would look good on the balcony of my condo, but would be very hard to sneak away with.

Colorado Rockies Update

I went to see a Colorado Rockies baseball game this past Sunday afternoon, and the Rockies actually beat the San Francisco Giants by a score of 6 to 2. It was Kyle Freeland Bobblehead Day, and so I went early just to make sure I got one.  I am convinced it will be worth a fortune in 30 or 40 years, which of course will be of no help to me, but I just wanted to make sure I get what is coming to me. And I am sure it will come as no surprise to know just how many people have told me that they also want to make sure I get what is coming to me.  Is that heartwarming or what?

In any case, I sat in the cheap seats (no surprise to regular blog readers, of course), although in my opinion, $20 is not all that cheap. However, the ticket did include $6 in food and beverages, and I was told by the person who sold me the ticket that the rooftop party deck was selling $3 beers until the first pitch, as compared to $9 beers after that. A valuable tip that I am forever indebted to her for. And just to keep you updated, the Rockies are 8 games under .500 and 21 1/2 games out of first place, while my south side heros, the Chicago White Sox, are 12 games under .500, but a mere 20 games out of first.  The north side Chicago Cubs, on the other hand, are 10 games over .500 and in first place.  Showoffs.

Robicheaux

I just finished reading Robicheaux, by James Lee Burke, a novel in a series featuring police detective Dave Robicheaux. This particular novel was published in January of 2018.  The previous book in the series, Light of the World, came out five years earlier, and I personally thought it was not very good.  However, this one is excellent, and I heartily recommend it.  It follows New Iberia, Louisiana police detective Dave Robicheaux and his private eye friend Clete Purcell as they try to solve a series of killings taking place in the area.  It involves the mafia, a famous writer, and a seedy Louisiana politician who reminds me a lot of Donald Trump. It is an exciting page turner, and actually quite thought-provoking, as opposed to your usual crime novels. Pick a copy up at your local bookseller or library today.  Yes! Today!

Buskerfest!

This is Buskerfest weekend in Denver, and buskers (street performers) from all over the world have descended upon Union Station in Lower Downtown to perform their acts, hopefully for big tips.  This is a reincarnation of a previous busker festival held in Denver years ago, which I used to attend and really enjoyed.  I was hoping for the same type of atmosphere, but the current Buskerfest is much more tame.  For one thing, years ago, when the festival was held on Denver's 16th Street Mall, the buskers performed at the same time. You walked from act to act along the mall, stopping at ones that appealed to you and skipping the ones that didn't.  This latest Buskerfest in front of Union Station features one act at a time.  If it seems boring to you, you have to wait an hour for the next act. Also, last time, as I recall, a lot of the acts involved juggling flaming torches, often while riding tricycles or balanced on a ladder, or something like that.  This is no longer allowed in Denver, and so many of the buskers are not allowed to perform their most popular acts. And do NOT accuse me of being an old curmudgeon who only talks about the good old days, and how things today are just not the same.  I am not that old.

The First Friday Of August

Yesterday was the first Friday of August, and so I decided to head down to the Santa Fe Arts District for the monthly First Friday Arts Walk.  This is probably the busiest day of the summer for the artists there, and so Santa Fe Drive was closed off both to accommodate the crowd and the parade of the crazies, as seen in the photograph above.  As usual, some of the art on display was very good, and a heck of a lot of it was pretty bad.

There were a lot of people walking around and touring the various art galleries, but by far the biggest crowd was around the food trucks in front of the Renegade Brew Pub, one of Denver's many microbreweries.  I think that the artwork comes in a distant third for the First Friday crowd after food and beer.  However, I do have to wonder how all the merchants on this street survive the rest of the month. I was happy to see that a lot of the vacant storefronts I saw last time were now open and displaying artwork, but is this a permanent thing or just for the summer months?  Regardless, this is still the place to be in Denver on the first Friday of every month, as long as the food trucks keep coming and the beer still flows.

More Florida Nostalgia

As I mentioned in previous posts, my sister Susan and I would often go down to visit our mother Mary in Stuart, Florida during the month of August, and a big part of going down there was dining out at various restaurants in the area, especially ones along the waterfront.  It was very enjoyable to dine while looking out at the water, and afterwards walk around the marina in front, taking in the ambiance.  Since it was August, and the days were long, you were able to do this, as opposed to during "the season," when darkness came before 5:00 P.M. One of our favorite restaurants was Jack Baker's Lobster Shanty.  In the photograph on the left, my mother and sister are posing on the pier in front of the place. Sadly, this restaurant was destroyed in 2004 when two Category 4 hurricanes hit Stuart within two weeks of each other.  The last time I was in Stuart, I drove to Rio, where this restaurant was located, and found only a vacant lot.

One favorite restaurant that is still in business is the Pirate's Loft, which has an outdoor deck overlooking Manatee Pocket, and is located in Port Salerno, a fishing village just to the south of Stuart.  In addition to the restaurant, it is also a resort and marina.  And once again, I took a photo of Susan and my mother on one of the piers there after dinner. A lot of pelicans used to hang out around the docks, hoping to catch unwanted parts discarded by the fishermen as they cleaned their fish. Susan once famously exclaimed "Look, penguins!," when she spotted those pelicans, to the great confusion of everyone around us. And still another interesting - kind of - fact. Burt Reynolds grew up in the area, had a ranch south of Stuart in Jupiter, and actually started a dinner theater in Port Salerno.  Then girlfriend Sally Field performed there once, and described on a late night talk show how freight trains would pass by during the performance, making it hard for the actors and audience to hear.  She kept referring to the place as "Port Saleerno," thus endearing her forever to local residents.  And yes, that dinner theater is long gone.