Up on Cripple Creek...

View of Cripple Creek from the top of Tenderfoot Hill

Once upon a time I lived in Colorado, but I forgot about "Springtime in the Rockies." Don't like the weather?  Just wait a few hours.  Over my visit we had everything from snow and icy wind to blinding blue sky and sunshine.

Actually the season of "spring" doesn't exist up at the 9,500 foot elevation.  Winter and summer battle it out for a week or so, and by late May summer finally wins.  Even then, snow is not unusual on Memorial Day.

But eventually, the aspen groves will thaw and start to green up, and so the short summer begins. 


This is the same view of town on the morning I left. It was so cold I only rolled down the window for a quick shot.

It was a good, safe trip and I had a wonderful visit with our hearty parents who have made Cripple Creek their home for the past 20 years.  And I lucked out on all my flights, making easy connections and missing the blizzard in Denver by a day. 

As I flew home this afternoon we descended down through the gray clouds into a moist, green and flowering Seattle.

OK. Siri was a helpful traveling companion, a distraction when I got bored, and a fine tool for keeping in touch. But there's only so much picking away you can do on a Smartphone without going cross-eyed. I missed my laptop, and I especially missed my daily writing habit.  But then that's the whole purpose of a sabbatical.  It's good to be back.