Breckenridge In The Fall

My sister Susan and I headed to the mountains from Denver Thursday afternoon to check out the fall colors on Boreas Pass, and afterwards stopped in Breckenridge on the way home. I must say, it was much different than the last time we were there, on a mid-September weekend for Oktoberfest. Main Street was closed to traffic that day, and packed wall-to-wall with partiers, many dressed in lederhosen and dirndls. Thursday afternoon was much more laid back, with a smattering of tourists, most of them seniors, like us.

Breckenridge is, of course, a world-class ski resort, but although there was a dusting of snow on the mountaintops, as seen in the photograph on the right, ski season is still at least a month away. At the final Colorado Rockies game of the year, there was an ad on the scoreboard that encouraged fans to enter a contest via text message for a free 5-day stay in "Breck," as we hipsters call it. However, I have not yet heard back. The last time I entered such a contest, while attending either the People's Fair or the Taste of Colorado in Denver's Civic Center Park, I wound up being hassled with telemarketing calls from a hotel chain for the next 5 years or so. As so many people have said, the definition of crazy is when you do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.

And as can be seen in the photograph on the left, the free downtown trolly is still up and running, taking people from outlying parking lots to the center of town and back, although on a quiet mid-week afternoon, there were plenty of spaces available on Main Street. In fact, when we went to Oktoberfest, despite the huge crowds, I was able to find a parking space right in front of the Gold Pan Saloon (which has been in business since 1879). I suspect most people feel the odds are so slim of finding a place to park that they automatically head for the outlying lots and take that trolly. As for me, I don't mind circling the block a few times, until someone pulls out, instead of taking that trolly. Of course, if they were serving free drinks, that would be a different story.

Colorado's Aspens Are At Their Peak Colors

The aspens are at their peak colors in the mountains of Colorado, although I have to say that up on Boreas Pass, which begins just south of Breckenridge, the peak was probably about a week ago. Many of the trees were already bare. I remember driving up Boreas Pass in October a few years ago, and there was not a single leaf left on any tree in sight. This year, as I drove higher up the pass, I was thinking the same thing was happening, but happily, there were still sections along the road with lots of aspens, if not in full color, colorful enough. The problem with photographs of aspens is that they tend to all look the same, but still, since they are so beautiful, I think it is very reasonable that artistic creativity takes a back seat in this instance.

The reason I like to drive up Boreas Pass each year to take aspen photographs is that it is a dirt road with not that many cars, and so in addition to having lots of places to pull over, you can also stop right in the middle of the road and get out of the car, too, if you see an exceptionally scenic view. That is what I did when I took the photograph on the right. If you try doing that on one of the more popular routes, such as Guanella Pass above Georgetown, someone might smash into your rear bumper, or at the very least, scream obscenities as they pass you by. Something like that can take the luster out of the day. Plus, afterwards, as you head back to town to have a beer to soothe your nerves, you find yourself in Georgetown, which is a beautiful little Victorian-era mining town, but frankly, pretty damn boring.

For all you Colorado history buffs out there, Boreas Pass began as Breckenridge Pass back in the 1860s to provide a route to the gold mines. It was widened to become a wagon trail that could handle stagecoaches in 1866, and in 1882 railroad track was laid to connect Breckenridge with Como, Colorado. Now, of course, it is a dirt road for car traffic in the summer and a cross-country ski trail in the winter. And if you follow the road all the way to Como? Como still has a number of weathered structures, including a roundhouse, hotel, and depot, and has been described as having the air of a ghost town that is still populated. I have never been there myself, but it sounds like a great place to take photographs. However, there are actual paved highways that will get you there much faster than traveling along an unpaved, former railroad bed. The scenery is very nice, but after hours of bumpy roads, even that can get pretty old.

Syrup In The Morning

My sister Susan and I have had breakfast several times lately at the Syrup Restaurant across the street from City Park here in Denver. This is a breakfast and lunch place with a really nice outdoor patio, and a great view of the park, as seen in the photograph above. The breakfasts are pretty tasty, and the portions are very sizable, too. Regular blog readers will be happy to know that it is a dog friendly patio, and I was able to take a photograph of what will be the November Mutt of the Month. This restaurant is part of a small Denver area chain, located in the City Park West neighborhood on York Street, just a few doors down from the Smith Mansion, built in 1902 in the French Eclectic style by the son of a wealthy mine owner. That mansion is a massive 14,000 square feet and very hard to miss as you drive by. And it is now - get ready for it - the home of a criminal defense and immigration law firm. They are housed in one of the grandest mansions in Denver, and don't even advertise on TV. I just knew I should have used my University of Denver tuition waiver to go to law school. But it's still not too late - I am only 70, after all. I think I will head over to Syrup at City Park this morning and mull it over.

The October Mutt Of The Month

I found so many dogs to take photographs of when visiting New Terrain Brewery up in Golden, Colorado, this past summer that I wound up having a backlog of Mutt of the Month candidates. And because I took the photograph above of the October Mutt of the Month so long ago, I can't remember where it was taken. Perhaps in someone's backyard, or possibly where it was being incarcerated, behind bars, for bad behavior? In that photograph, however, it is calmly posing for its portrait, bless its heart. As for the next Mutt of the Month? I just hope I don't have to resort to putting up notices looking for candidates on various message boards at PetSmarts throughout the Denver area. People might expect me to pay them money, God forbid.

Halloween Comes Early In These Parts

People in Colorado just love Halloween. Here in Denver, the hipster population will dress up for any kind of holiday - Oktoberfest, Comic-Con, the Zombie Crawl, Cinco de Mayo, but above all, Halloween. Up in Boulder, where the Boulder Mall Crawl on Pearl Street once attracted crowds of up to 40,000 people on Halloween night, until it was finally shut down, a bunch of people decided to dress up in costume and parade down the Pearl Street Mall this past Saturday night, gearing up for Halloween a month early. And so it was no surprise to see many front yards already decorated for the holiday as I drove through Denver yesterday afternoon, including the skeleton in the photograph above. Where do you buy something like that, anyway? Does Amazon deliver it to your door? I'd definitely like to get an "action photograph" of that.

The Final Rockies Game Of The Season

My friend Mark and I attended the final Colorado Rockies game of the season at Coors Field yesterday afternoon. It was a very pleasant fall day, and the Rockies played a very decent game, beating the Minnesota Twins 3-2 in 11 innings. Of course, since the Twins will be playing the Toronto Blue Jays in the Wild Card Series starting this Tuesday, and did not want to use up all their pitchers beating the lowly Rockies, they put in an outfielder to pitch to the Rockies in the 11th inning, and he promptly threw a wild pitch allowing Colorado to win the game. But what the heck, a win is a win.

Mark and I, seen in the photograph on the right (I am the old guy without a hat), were sitting in the upper deck, right behind home plate, and so had a good view of the game. And I must say the Twins did not look so hot. I suspect they will probably be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. The Rockies have lost 103 games this year, a new franchise record, and for the fifth time in their history, my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, lost over 100, and so I know a thing or two about bad baseball teams. The Chicago Cubs, the White Sox North Side rivals, were 3.5 games ahead in the wild card race the last time I looked, but were eliminated by the Miami Marlins this past Saturday night, and so baseball fans on both sides of Chicago are once again saying "wait until next year." Rockies fans just don't care, as long as they can go to Coors Field and cheer for the team from the city they came from. Which was why a lot of people were cheering for Minnesota yesterday.

The nice thing about the last game of the season at Coors Field is that after the game, the players all walk around the field and thank the fans for their support during the season, as seen in the photograph on the left. This year some of them were taking off their jerseys and giving them to the fans, which was a very nice gesture indeed. And so the regular baseball season is now over and none of my teams will be playing in the post-season. That is okay. Even if they made it to the playoffs, I know in my heart none of them would get very far before being eliminated, and watching those games would cause a lot of anguish. Which is why being a sports fan in Chicago, or for that matter, Denver, is a very relaxing thing.

"Meanwhile, In The Tropics"

Lately, I have gotten into the habit of watching the WGN 10 o'clock news from Chicago, and right after that, a rebroadcast of the WPTV 11:00 o'clock news from West Palm Beach, Florida on my computer every evening, first to catch up on what is happening in my old home town, and then to hear news from "The Treasure Coast," where my sister Susan and I own a condo we inherited from our mother Mary. And this time of year, the weather forecast is the most important, since after the local weather they move on to what is happening out in the Atlantic, where there always seems to be a system forming. Happily, the two tropical disturbances currently out in the Atlantic, Philippe and Rina, are forecast to turn north and stay away from land. But, of course, there is always another system forming out there, which makes it a bit nerve wracking until hurricane season is finally over. Stuart, Florida, where our condo is located, was hit by Hurricane Frances, a Category 2 storm, in September of 2004, and then by Hurricane Jean, a Category 3 storm, just three weeks later, destroying many homes and businesses, especially along the water, including Jack Baker's Lobster Shanty, one of our favorite restaurants, as seen in the photograph above that I took of Susan and my mother back in August of 1995. The restaurant and marina are now just a vacant lot. And so it will be another two months of watching the weather team on WPTV until the end of the hurricane season on November 30th, when everyone can finally release their collective breaths. Hopefully those hurricanes pay attention to that official date, too.