Today is the first full day of fall, and yesterday, to take full advantage of the last day of summer, I drove up to the mountains to see if the fall colors have finally arrived. And indeed they have, especially up on Boreas Pass, located above Breckenridge, an authentic Colorado mining town, restored to show what mining towns in the 1800s looked like if they had been populated by wealthy hipsters. Of course, just a short drive away is the town of Leadville, Colorado, which still has the ambiance of a mining town from that era - by which I mean depressing as hell. I much prefer the view through rose colored glasses, at least if I have to spend time in the place.
And let me tell you, it was not like being out there in the wilderness by yourself, communing with nature. Boreas Pass, a very narrow dirt road, was filled with cars, everyone wanting to see the fall colors on what was a perfect Colorado late summer afternoon. It has been so dry around here lately that each car that passed stirred up a large cloud of dust, and before you could take a photograph, you had wait for that dust to settle, and hope that another car didn't come along before you could snap the shutter. And I am not even going to suggest that all these interlopers are recent California transplants. Even though it is true.
After I got done cruising Boreas Pass, I headed back down to Breckenridge, and just for the hell of it decided to drive up to the Breckenridge Nordic Center, a cross-country ski area that is reputed to have a herd of moose right behind it. A year ago or so I walked around this complex in my quest for the elusive moose, but found nothing. And this time? Nothing again. Face it, people, moose are no more real than unicorns or UFOs, at least in Colorado and Wyoming. It is just a ploy by the tourist bureau to get more tourists to spend their money here. It is the same strategy that Scotland uses to attract people looking for the Loch Ness Monster. Fake Moose! How do they get away with it?
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