It's not very often that when ROVER and THE POD are underway that the TWO PEAS aren't both in the cab of the truck.
This situation only came about today because Tricia wanted to stop at a yarn shop on Main Street right in downtown Longmont, CO. This photo is not of Main Street, this "less busy" street is one block to the east of Main Street.
Tricia "jumped" out of the almost stationary truck as I drove by the back of the shop and continued on down the road in search of a large empty parking lot where I could wait with ROVER and THE POD until she was finished.
Luckily about 1/2-mile away there was an elementary school that was closed, thanks to it being Sunday. In less time than I thought the call came in that she was finished shopping and ready to be picked up.
I told her I'd be coming from the opposite direction of when I dropped her off and to be on the side of the road and flag me down.
That's when she snapped this photo. The things I do to keep my wife happy!
While traveling south on US-287 today we traveled by some agricultural land that afforded us an almost unobstructed view of the Rocky Mountains to our right.
It wasn't very long thereafter that we had arrived at Cherry Creek State Park, our home for the next 2-nights. Cherry Creek is not the reason for our visit here. We're here to visit with friends, Katherine and John, that we met while on the road.
Their home is about 15-minutes north of here in Denver. Also, we have been sending Amazon packages to their home for the last few weeks and it's time we picked them up and remove them from blocking the entrance to their home.
It's located about an hour north of here and closer to the town of Boulder, CO where you'll find the University of Colorado campus.
El Dorado Canyon State Park's biggest draw are the rock climbing opportunities in the park. So much so than on Saturday and Sunday you have to have a Timed Entry Pass just to gain access to the park. I'm glad we're planning to visit on a Monday!
The good news is that John and his two dogs are free to go with us to explore the park. John's wife, Katherine, is down in Florida of all places, visiting a girlfriend. She'll be back home in Denver tommorow afternoon, but not in time to visit with us. Don't worry, we'll see plenty of her in two weeks when we're in New Mexico.
After receiving what John called the "nickle tour" of their beautiful home in Denver, we were off to outside of Boulder, CO where the park is located.
EL DORADO CANYON STATE PARK
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These striking, slanted, reddish-brown sandstone formations are called Flatirons.
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Apparently they are also perfect for rock climbing.
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I just think they are interesting to look at. I don't feel the need to climb them.
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The South Boulder Creek flows east through the entire canyon.
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I bet if you look close enough you'll spot a few climbers on the mountain.
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It was the perfect day to be outdoors with temperatures in the 70°Fs.
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We all decided to hike the 1.9-mile Fowler Trail, even John's two little dogs.
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The trail starts in the middle of the canyon and heads back towards the beginning.
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What's that up in the sky? Could it be the moon?
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No, it's a hang glider! Another popular activity here up against the mountain updrafts.
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Back to the mountains, believe it or not, there are three climbers in this photo.
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There's the leader with the orange helmet.
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In this photo you can see the two ropes leading down to the other two climbers below.
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The guy in the center of the photo is still heading up,but the lower guy has had enough and heading back down.
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Here's a closeup of the guy in the middle still attempting to go up.
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Meanwhile the guy on the bottom is still heading down.
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The leader is once again preparing to climb even higher.
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Do you know how I know this is a glider? There's no engine noise! How peaceful that must be.
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The Fowler Trail has a slight incline the entire way.
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Here's another group much lower on the mountain just starting out.
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There is lots of safety preparation needed before you begin to climb.
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These two women were just about back down to the ground.I don't know if they made it to the top or not.
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A lot of work has been done to keep the hiking trail clear and safe.
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This rock face is on our side of the canyon, everything else is on the opposite side.
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This was the view I had while sitting on a bench with the dogs.Tricia and John continued on up the trail, I was content to sit here.
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This is part of the trail I didn't get to see.
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Is that another hang glider in the center of the photo?
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Nope, this time it is the moon!
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The colors are not "in" the rock, they are lichen "on" the rocks.
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Here you can see the lichen and a few pieces of gear the climbers leave behind.
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All over the rocks you can see gear left behind by the climbers.
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Back to my bench view, where I saw at least two sets of climbers go over the top.
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At first I thought they just disappeared down the other side.
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Then we spotted them getting ready for their descent.
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From up on the trail we spotted the bridge the climbers use to cross over the creek.
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I see a couple getting ready to cross the bridge, but they don't look like climbers, no gear!
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On our way out of the park we saw this climber on the wall right next to us.
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We spent some more time with John back at his home before heading home ourselves.We timed it just right to catch the sunset over the Rocky Mountains.
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Tommorrow we head out to another Colorado State Park and more adventures.
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