Found myself with a few days off. Caught a cheap flight to Denver Colorado. Why? Two old friends currently reside there, and a band I enjoy just happened to be touring there. So, off we go.

Imagine that... fog and clouds... in Seattle. Pretty though. Rising above the early morning mist...

Mount Ranier sticking his nose out...(Mt. Adams in the background)

Leaving Washington state, heading east, cloud cover already breaking up...

Heading into Denver, you fly right over 14000 foot Long's Peak (extreme right in the pic), then you're on a vast flat plain....

The classic square patchwork quilt of farms is slowly disappearing, due to the use of automated irrigation sprinklers that follow arcs and circles. A true crop circle....

Went to Boulder, hiked up to these Flatirons. Since we were starting at 5000 ft., the lungs got quite the workout....

Evil squirrel/bunny/?/ hybrid???...

Wonder why they're called flatirons?

One of many scree fields...

Looking up....

Decided to scramble/boulder( I bouldered in Boulder!!) up the rock wall a bit and see the view. Got to about here before my poor choice of dress shoes kept me from going higher...

Looking down, You can see the trail below. Steeper than it looks....

One friend works as a nurse practitioner in a NEW hospital, this is the view from the rooftop atrium....

Drove up to alpine Estes Park, high in the mountain range we flew over coming in. Perched on a hillside is this historic hotel...

Stephen King stayed here, it was his inspiration and location choice for "The Shining". Somehow it got nixed, but there was an TV miniseries later starring Steven Weber best known for the tv show "Wings" that was filmed here. Big, imposing structure, all restored....

View from the front foyer...

The bar, directly behind the front foyer. I can almost see Jack Nicholson sitting there all alone....

Estes Park has grown, become a trendy little community. But I can still imagine the Stanley standing all alone in mid winter among the barren peaks... kind of creepy, even now...

Found this contradiction on the little touristy main drag...

Yep. Still pretty wild...

The band is called The Mountain Goats. Raw, rough edged, but with intelligent lyrics and catchy melodies. They were playing a dive bar called The Hi-Dive in Denver. Too bad we didn't buy tickets....

Couldn't get in. There was at least 60 people in line. Went to an Irish pub across the street instead, washed away the sorrow. Here's some Goats stuff you'll like....

The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton...

No Children...

Jenny...

Did some shopping in Downtown Denver, met the other friend, went out, ate, drank, had a good time. This ? was off 16th street....

Flew home, despite a 3 hr delay, got home happy, but tired. Colorado's a neat state.