Boo

It's a quiet Sunday morning here in the mountains--except for the wind. Not content to shake the snow from the trees, the wind got its sculpting tools and shaped and formed everything it could touch. Not satisfied apparently, it took its huge forehand and backhand and smacked the rest of the snow to smithereens. The temperature has warmed and we are up to the fifties at midday. Very nice. Good melting and you can almost hear the trees slurping the last long drinks they will get before winter freezes over. Here's the best. Last night was Halloween in Estes Park.

We have never been here for this holiday so when Lee, Mare, Joe and Mary Jo said let's go, we enthusiastically accepted. We weren't too sure of what to expect, but when they told us we'd walk the town like everyone else, we bundled up and arrived downtown about 5:00. Trick-or-Treat starts at 5 and ends at 9. The little kids begin and as it gets darker, the ghouls and ghosties get older. The "growns" are parading all the time! We arrived and walked down to Elk Horn Ave where we saw firetrucks, police cars, and an ambulance in the middle of the street and blocking side streets. Not to control crazy celebrants, but to block traffic from the downtown street AND to serve as more Trick-or-Treat stations. It was crazy wild fun. Every merchant gave out candy AND most had their doors open because inside the shops they had made haunted walkways. The Trick-or-Treaters ranged in age from months to octogenarians or better. I could go on and on. We roamed the streets taking pictures, laughing, talking with friends for about an hour and a half. The cold drove us back to our car and on to Mary's Lake Lodge for dinner. It was such a great event. I have posted (way too many) pictures and if you don't get a notice, let me know. I couldn't cull down any farther, so just flip through them, but wanted to give you a feel for the magic of the event. So...think about friends and loved ones who are only memories now. Today is the Day of the Dead. Raise a toast, be toasty...know we love you all. From the Mountains...

Just Waiting...

We waited quietly all day...for whatever was coming next. There was more snow falling in Denver, but in the mountains...nothing. A bit of wind blew, big falls of snow plopped on people, dogs, roadways both in town and out. In the end, the sun burned a bright spot in the gray clouds, a sliver of blue shone through over the Front Range, and now...the moon is fuzzed but there hanging over Moon Trailway. It is truly a wonderland here.

Upslope and falling

Here we are in the Rockies just mindin' our own business and moving along. We had a grand hike on Monday with Lee and Joe that took us from Bear Lake up to Lake Haiyaha. The wind was whipping and whirling and when we got to Haiyaha Joe clocked the wind at about 10 mph with stronger gusts. The scenery was beautiful, but the temperature with wind chill was a meagre 2 degrees. We took pictures and quickly retreated from the lake shore! From there we descended via the unimproved trail to the Mills/Loch junction and then back to Bear Lake. Alberta Falls, a huge roaring concern during the summer is frozen and bubbling through ice on its way to the valley. Beautiful.

Tuesday we had a beautiful sunrise and Pam took some great shots. Tuesday evening our weather forecast had three scenarios: Storm coming from Pacific Northwest...we could get no snow, 2-6 inches, or 12 or more. So we worked with Lee and Mare to cook dinner for neighbors Jim and Ima Matthies. By 3:30, the snow was beginning to fall. Our Highlander was down in Lyons having some work done. Fortunately Lee and I were able to go get it before much snow had fallen. We got back up to Estes and picked up Jim and Ima. We had a great dinner and lots of laughs. Jim and Ima told stories about their early days in Little Valley and we all reminsced about songs and singers we liked. Then we drove our friends home. The snow was already pretty deep but our truck handled it like a champ.

This morning we woke to a full upslope snow storm. The weather is coming from the East...in back of us and has banged into the front range where it is now dumping all it has been holding. Mare called just about 30 minutes ago to say that she had measured the drift on their deck railing...15 inches and it's still coming down. The snow is expected to taper off this afternoon and then start again this evening or tomorrow morning. Lucy loves it. While I was out shoveling she was frolicking, jumping and trying to bite the shovels full of snow. When she came in she looked like a snowballed monster. This is definitely her weather.

Well, this is a new blogspot for me, so I'm testing it out. I hope that I can put up the pictures of our hike, the sunrise and our current snow to go along with this. We'll see. In the meantime, know we are happy and snowed a bit in. Love to all of our family and friends. Bonnie, Pam, Lucy Blu