Brenda turned forty yesterday (happy birthday again, Brenda!), and you know what that means, ROAD TRIP!

Yesterday we rolled out of Boulder many hours late, the end result of Brenda being busy with work, my inability to do laundry, and the need to get Hooper up to the kennel in Longmont. But we had a nice drive over the mountains while listening to the Rockies beat the Phillies (more on this whole baseball madness later), and ended up in Grand Junction, CO as the sun was setting. We had a nice dinner in town and a nice breakfast at the B&B with a couple from Philly, of all places. Mountain bikers, to boot. Then we headed to the Colorado National Monument, which is just a few miles up the road from Grand Junction. It’s like a mini-Grand Canyon; it was interesting to start the hke by descending, rather than ascending, but great views awaited nonetheless. Down in the canyon we saw some Bighorn Sheep:

…and lots of other images that need to get downloaded off my camera.

Back at the B&B, we popped open some champagne and watched the sunset; a severe thunderstorm was in the vicinity as the Yankees were having their asses handed to them by the goddamned Indians. I took some pictures of a sunset:

Tomorrow, we roll out southbound, headed for Durango, and will ultimately rendezvous with my sister and bother in-law in Santa Fe, NM in a couple days. Yeah!

Today marked one year since I moved to Boulder, Colorado. Lots of shit has happened in the last year, and since almost a month has elapsed since I’ve posted a word on this site, I figure I’ll throw down a quick recap.

First off, I am really, really happy living and working here.

Brenda is finally back in Boulder, after spending seven weeks in Santa Fe working for the Santa Fe Opera as a costume draper. She did well, but it’s definitely better to have her here than there.

Some more good sunsets have happened; I have pics.

The drive back from Santa Fe was along route 285, which took us through some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. After a whole year of living in Colorado, I found myself falling even deeper in love with this part of the country. The mountains and the valleys between them are simply awesome.

I’m back into cycling, a lifelong love, in a big way. I have acquired three bicycles since moving here; one, I ride every day, my on-one singlespeed commuter bike. I scored an Independent Fabrications cyclocross bike on eBay last fall, which is one of the best fitting, best riding bikes I’ve ever owned, but I don’t really ride off-road so it’s been collecting dust since I built up the on-one. Still debating whether to try and fit it out for road riding or just sell it (or start doing more trail riding). Recently I bought another bike on eBay, a vintage Eddy Merckx that I have since taken all my Campy parts from my Zullo and hung on that. It rides like a dream, and it’s a dream come true to finally own and ride a Merckx. (The parts from the Merckx (all Dura Ace) are now hung on my old Zullo frame, and that bike will likely end up on eBay craigslist soon. Wanna buy a 60cm classic steel road bike?)

I have added hiking to my list of hobbies, and it suits me well living out here. But camping and sleeping in the snow, something that everyone seems to do out here, is not gonna happen anytime soon. Hiking a high summit is on my list of things to do this summer, though.

Flying has taken a back seat to my other interests, but remains a deep-seated passion for me. The expense, the fact that I no longer own a plane and the fact that flying in the mountains will require a concerted investment of time and money that I don’t have to spare right now have conspired to put aviation on the back burner for me for the time being. But I get a kick out of watching the gliders being towed to the Front Range right in front of my office window every day, and ride my bike to the Boulder Airport to watch the activities there every once in a while.

I went for a bike ride today. Twenty miles or so, along Arapahoe and 95th Streets. Riding along 95th Street northbound, I looked west at the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and tried not to cry or run off the road as I took in the majesty of the mountains and pondered the amazing fact that after spending years in New Jersey riding and racing road bikes and reading magazines and catalogs depicting riders enjoying this backdrop, I was actually here (on my Merckx!), barrelling down the road in the thin mountain air.

This is a good place to live. I’m happy to be here, and I’m happier that Brenda, Emma and I are all together again. Twelve months after arriving here, alone, with two suitcases and living in a hotel room, we own a condo here and Brenda & I watched the Folsom Field fireworks from our front porch with Emma blinking inquisitively from the other side of the screen door.

It’s all good.

At last, a quality sunset has graced the skies over Boulder. One of the things I loved about living in Santa Fe oh so long ago was the amazing sunsets that were an almost daily occurrence. Usually in the afternoon the sun’s rays would have spawned a good thunderstorm, and the scattered clouds left in its wake would become the perfect reflectors of the setting sun’s rays. It seems that Boulder is almost too clear, its skies almost always devoid of those great puffy cumulus clouds that are a requirement for a quality sunset.

But today we had three storms in town, the result of the brutal heat and relentless sun we’ve been experiencing, no doubt. These storms left behind a ragged collection of clouds and overcast right through ‘till sunset. And as the sun went down, the low angle rays caught the edges of clouds and bounced off the overcast, rendering our living room in an eerie orange glow that brought me outside, to this:

Tonight’s sunset was, without a doubt, the best sunset I’ve seen in Boulder since moving here.

P.S.
Speaking of Santa Fe, I was there again this weekend, where Brenda & I celebrated our belated anniversary. We ate dinner at the Santa Cafe, a joint that was beyond reach of two apprentice/staff opera people, but now was more doable. We stayed at the Inn on the Alameda, again enjoying the life that all Opera apprentices deserve but cannot afford. And yesterday was truly hump day, in that it marked the exact halfway point of Brenda’s contract; she’ll be home in Boulder by July 4th (which will also be my one year anniversary of being a Boulder resident).