Go (North) West, Young Man

We were out of pocket last week on vacation.  A childhood friend who was the best man in our wedding asked Tricia and I to go on vacation with he and his wife to a place he has in Vail, Colorado.  How could we say no to that?  The temperatures were lows in the upper 30's to a high of 85, but there was no humidity, so no heat index.  It was so nice and relaxing.

We flew into Denver and drove two hours to Vail.  The next morning we drove out near Glenwood Springs, Colorado and hiked up to Hanging Lake.  It's a beautiful, yet strenuous 1.2 mile hike that left you breathless on two accounts - First, breathless due to the Scenery and second, literal breathlessness as us flatlanders tried to act younger than our age.  I felt a certain kinship to the lyrics of a Toby Keith song that says, "My body says 'you can't do this boy' but my pride says, "oh, yes you can."  Our calf muscles were sore for the rest of the trip!

The trail up to Hanging Lake was rustic and steep.  Fellow hikers coming down told us they saw a bear with two cubs, but we didn't get to see them.

Majestic sights all around as we paused to catch our breath.

The air was crisp and clean.  Have you ever seen a sky so blue?

We made it up to the top and relaxed by hanging lake.  There were trout in the lake and the water was cool, fed by springs feeding into the lake by waterfalls (at back of photo).

That evening, we drove back toward Denver and attended a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater.  What a fantastic venue to see a concert.  I think it opened in 1941 and every notable singer has performed there from the Beatles to John Denver to U2.  We saw the rock group Heart and Todd Rundgren opened for them.  The Wilson sisters are in their early 70's and Todd Rundgren is 77.  Those septuagenarians still have lots and lots of energy!

Back to the stream in Vail, Tricia and I would hike each morning and read the Bible and pray.  You could close your eyes and just listen to the water running over the rocks.  What a creation our Creator has created.  Such beauty!  I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that John Denver's song, "Rocky Mountain High" wasn't playing on a continuous loop in my head.

I got a little close to the edge, but the view from this elevation was something to see.  This was on the road to Leadville, the town with the highest elevation in Colorado.

Although the aspens weren't turning golden yet, there was plenty of gorgeous landscaping to take in.  We even saw a bee getting some pollen and nectar.

The last morning we got up before the sun rose and watched it come up over the mountains.  These are the gondolas that take you up the mountain in Vail to ski.  They were running each day, but there's no snow yet.  People ride the gondolas up there and hike, I think.

What a relaxing trip!  We came home all energized.