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08/26/17 - Day 145 - Denver, CO - Denver Botanic Gardens

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Built upon what used to be the Prospect Hill cemetery, the Botanic Gardens includes several themed gardens, a conservatory, and an amphitheater.  It features several themes I've seen in other gardens, e.g. Japanese tea gardens, bonsai gardens, water gardens, etc.  It also focused on native Colorado environments, so there were dry prairie features and rock gardens we well.      The conservatory was focused mainly on moisture loving plants and had small indoor waterfall feature.      The tea garden has a large water feature and collect of bonsai plants including a flowering tree which I'd not seen previously.      There were quite a few flowers on display even into later summer. Some of the local wildlife was on display as well.  Rabbits are as common as squirrels around here - I've pretty much seen a rabbit every day since arriving in Colorado. I didn't see any ghosts, but apparently it'...
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08/23/17 - Day 142 - Boulder, CO - University of Colorado

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Quick Update - I've seen CU from distance a few times (driving by or hiking) but today I decided to get a closer look.      The university was established in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state.  Today it has more than 33,000 students.  The campus isn't too big but it was nice.  People were moving in for fall semester so there was a lot of activity.  Boulder is close to the front range mountains so the background views are nice.      Unfortunately the football stadium was under lock and key so I couldn't get a really good look at it.      The city of Boulder is nice as well.  Folks spend a lot of effort landscaping their homes and there are little canals that run throughout the city (diverted streams I guess).  I caught the tail end of a rain shower that watered one of several patches of sunflowers I came across.
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08/22/17 - Day 141 - Vail, CO

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One of the activities I'd been looking forward to during my Denver visit was the opportunity to see what a ski resort looked like without snow.  Vail is one of my favorite resorts and only a couple hours away from Denver.  I headed out of Denver early to get breakfast at a great cafe in Silverthorn (Mountain Lyon Cafe - their green chili is so good) and made it into Vail around mid-morning.      Vail looks a lot different in the summer.  First of all, it's free to park at the resort parking garages vs. the $40 a day charged during ski season.  The place isn't blanketed with snow and there are flowers all over.            But I was surprised how quiet it was.  There aren't a lot of tourists and several of the businesses are having specials in order to attract the ones who were there.  Unfortunately for them I wasn't really in the market for what they were selling.    ...
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08/19/17 - Day 138 - Denver, CO - Pikes Peak

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My friend and I took a day to visit the summit of Pike Peak, a well known fourteen thousand foot mountain about two hours south of Denver, just outside Colorado Springs. There are a couple of ways to reach the summit, on foot, by car, or by train.  We took a car to the top which involved a slow, windy drive.  The road was a little more reassuring than the one leading up to Mount Evans as this one actually had some guardrails and fewer sheer drops immediately following a hairpin switchback. Besides the views, Pike's Peak is well know for a couple of races - a death defying rally race where cars fly up and down the same road I averaged about 15mph on and a marathon where runners run up to and down from the peak.  The marathon took place the day we visited.  It probably would have taken me a day to walk up the trail leading to the peak - I have no idea how anyone could run up it.            Pikes Peak was also the in...
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