"At last we got through, and I beheld, with some sadness, the goal of my journey, 'The Great Divide,' the Snowy Range, and between me and it South Park, a rolling prairie seventy-five miles long and over 10,000 feet high, treeless, bounded by mountains, and so rich in sun-cured hay that one might fancy that all of the herds of Colorado could find pasture there."
Isabella Bird, describing her 1873 trip through Colorado, in A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, pg 171.
(We'll be driving through this area, soon.)
I'm afraid I won't have too much time to attend to my blog this week. We're getting ready for a tour of the Colorado Rockies, our last attempt at a family vacation before school starts. We all have our ultimate destination in mind. The continental divide, winding through the remote and rugged
San Juan Mountains, is beckoning to my husband. My son, the burgeoning 5-yr-old engineer is eager to tour the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. ("They look like my Lego houses," he says.) As for me, I'm looking forward to reclining in the steaming pools at Pagosa Springs. Somehow, we are supposed to hit them all. If I don't come back, you'll know where to find me.
Meanwhile, I'll leave out a few things from my old site which relate in some form to the ideas I wrote about last week. Since I'm on vacation, I'll pull out some of the lighter pieces: some poetry, a short story, and a piece on "chaotic" values and mythology. (This autumn, I hope to discuss the latter subject in greater detail.) On Friday, I'll repost one of my favorite fractals.
When I return, I plan to have many pictures to share... and if you aren't sick of Colorado yet, I'll finish my summer series on development, with another look at Church Ranch.
Whew... how will I ever find the time?
Image composed of pictures from the attractions listed and linked to above, superimposed on an image from Google Maps.
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