This weekend we made it up to the mountians to enjoy the fall colors. My most amazing husband humored
me by driving all the way out to Aspen so that I could go and see the John Denver Santuary that they have out there. So before I go any futher let me just admitt here that I am a huge fan of John Denvers music. I remember being a kid and cleaning the house with mom and having the record player stacked with John Denver, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstat. When Tim and I we
re married we even had the song that John had written for his wife as our wedding song, "Annie's Song". If you've never heard the song, your missing out...it truly is a beautiful love song/pome:
"You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountians in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like the sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again
Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me again."
So there we are on a 4 hour drive to see some rocks that were engraved with song lyrics. Tim was even so sweet as to let me listen to hours of Denver as we drove out there!
We set off that morning with the threat of cold and rain in our futu
re, but willing to take the chance. We had the dogs loaded in the car, the GPS programed and a picknic baskets over flowing for or day of adv
enture. It was amazing...once we got out of the main part of town we didn't see a fast food restraunt for the next hundared or two miles...maybe even more. The route we took went right through the mountians and at times was a bit zig zaggy...it was funny to see it out on the
GPS screen, so we took a picture of it and joked around that it was like we were driving the road that they used for those "zoom zoom" comercials. We made a few stops along the way to get some neat pictures, stretch or legs, and let the dogs take a leak. After about 4 hours we arrive
d at our destination, not having a clue as to what we were going to find. One thing we didn't find though was parking! We drove around the main part of town (think very small little village). Fina
lly we gave up and went for the parking garage. Finding an open spot as soon as we pulled in we grabbed our lunch and dogs and went to the park across the street for our picknic. The weather was holding up for us so far. It was in the low 60's with some gusty winds...I'll take that compaired to what we were supposed to be getting. A
fter eatting Tim ran everything back to the car and then we were off down the trail to find our rocks. Now if your wondering to yourself...why would a yuppy town like Aspen have a memorial to John Denver? Well the answer is, because
he lived there for much of his career, in fact his ex-wife Annie still lives there in their house up in the mountians there. When John lived there he just fell in love with the beauty of it all. After being there I can see why, and knowing his music the way I do, I can see where much of his
inspiration came from. It is hard to be surrounded by such beauty and not feel something. One of my biggest goals there was to find "Annie's" rock and have a picture of Tim and I taken next to it. I can't wait to print this one out and hang
up by our wedding photos.
After we had enjoyed the beauty of the area it was time to move on. We had spotted a neat looking "park" that had some off road parking and many trails that we could walk and let the dogs smell to their hearts
content! On our way back to that spot we made several stops to get pictures and then deceided to stop off at the Continential Divide to get a few pics. This spot is above the tree lines at 12,095 feet, and here it was VERY cold and windy! Scott was excited to be able to play in the snow there! After a quick look see we were back in the car and I was having second thoughts as if we should go hiking at that spot. Well as we drove down the mountian the tempature went back up to the low 60's. We did go through a bit of rain, but by the time we made it to "our spot" the weather was PERFECT! The dogs go out and were going nuts with all the scents all around them! Lincoln is like a little hunting puppy when we take him out to the woods. Tim thought it
was pretty funny as Lincoln was litteraly dragging me through the woods following a scent. In and out of creeks and up the mountian side. This is really becoming something that I love to
do. I have always had a love of nature and the beauty of it all. Now I have a cool camera and an amazing husband to join along...and of course the 2 dogs and 1 son that have no say in any of it! Finally after several trails our wet dogs had dried off and we were about ready to head home. To head over to the main trails we had a really neat wooden bridge to cross over so on our way back we played a quick round of "Pooh St
icks" and then headed back to the car (if you don't know what Pooh Sticks are...sorry) Tim had Scott pick up a few pine cones that we're going to try and plant (have you ever priced a pine tree before?) Then Tim found an old spot that had a bunch of trash in it and there Tim and Scott found an old Budwiser can in it that had to of been abou
t 30 or more years older!
The drive home was just as amazing as our ride in, the sceanery didn't grow old at all...only problem? I had filled up my memory chip, and only now as I write this do I remember that I had 2 more in my camera c
ase!!!!
degrees out, with a wind coming across. So that afternoon we headed outside to enjoy the sun and put out our Halloween decorations. For the last few years we have put on quite a show, have even scarred our share of kids with it all! So we pulled out our cool color coded boxes and went through everything we had, and started decking out the yard. However as we were begining to finish up we started thinking of the idea that were in Colorado now, and not all our stuff is weather friendly....so some of our stuff will have to stay hidd
en until Halloween! After that we headed back inside to watch the sever disappointment of the game (once again, you should know...). The next morning I got up to a few inches of snow on the ground and freezing tempatures! By the middle of the afternoon we had about 8" or so fall. The tempature has warmed up a bit, and they say it is going to go up to about 80 again by the end of the week...so for the next few days I have the fun of muddy dogs in and out 
of the house! The dogs love the snow though. It is funny to see Teddy bounding through the snow, and it never fails that Lincoln gets wound up. Tim will toss them snow balls and the dogs will chase them digging around looking for them. One of our fun tricks is to toss biscuts into the snow and watch the dogs try to find those!!!
