What I learned on my summer vacation

At the suggestion of Brownie I went wandering about Dinosaur Ridge two weeks ago. I ended up run-walking the 5+ mile loop across Dinosaur Ridge, down into Matthews Winter's Park, past Red Rocks and then back up the Ridge. My lungs took a beating being even further above sea level than in Denver, but it felt good to be trail running at an altitude slightly higher than my norm because in just 3 weeks I'll be going to the InterAMs in Winter Park. The weekend will consist of running trails at a higher altitude than Denver and then drinking. But I digress...

My jaunt up and over Dinosaur Ridge brought me in close proximity to the local avian crowd (photo for Mark's benefit);





much further away by foot from my car without enough snackage than I strictly preferred;









and much closer to the local fault line than I ever though I could get. A fault line. In Colorado! Like _you_ had ever thought of fault lines in Colorado, eh?

Turns out, once upon a time, we also a coast line! There was a river that ran smack through the US during the Paleolithic Era(?) and right past Colorado (though the guide with whom I was talking did know if said river despoited the Sand Dunes in the southwestern corner of the state.). We also had dinosaurs roaming about, though I did not see fit to take photos of their foot prints or bits of skeleton for which Dinosaur Ridge is named.

My guide through this adventure and inspiration for the next, since I didn't make it to Green Mountain on this excursion, was Trailwalker's Guide to the Dinosaur Ridge, Red Rocks and Green Mountain Area by Harald Drewes and John Townrow.

Perhaps I need to start a lobby to my Congressional representatives to put warnings on plastic bags about their hazardousness to felines? Or maybe just my feline. This is the same creature that stood over a lit candle for longer than he ought to have (in my opinion).

Birthday Bash

Julie and I spent my birthday together camping and hiking. We passed the night of my birthday in fine style with wine, cupcakes and a gourmet meal cooked on my new MSR Pocketrocket camp stove in the White River National Forest. The following day we hiked to the Conundrum Hot Springs in order to soak our cares away in the hot springs at tree line (about, what? 8,000ft?). It was a great way to spend my 30th birthday. Photos are on Picasa.

Life Maintenance

I am struggling with living. No, no. Not the actual act of remaining alive; I’m not considering offing myself. I’m struggling with the concept of carrying on a well-lived life, of making the life I am currently living and intend to do so for another 70 years or so more meaningful.

I have previously bored y’all with a discussion of my schedule, but most recently I have been working three to four days in a row. As is my wont, I have a predictable when my workdays fall into this schedule: I work and then spend the next few days catching up on life maintenance.

Life maintenance is a catch-all term for the grocery shopping, dish washing, library going, apartment cleaning, and cat attention paying that must happen after four days of work induced neglect. However, in the past two days I have begun to question the meaningfulness of spending my days off addressing such mundane and menial matters. There isn’t much value in these tasks beyond my own life; does that make doing them unworthwhile?

The answer to that question is no, which I came to whilst run/hiking today. Said tasks are necessary for even the most altruistic of us; without their being accomplished there is no infrastructure from which to base other activities. The key, I discovered today, is to balance the mundane and menial with the exciting and altering to my personal world, if not the world at large.

There is a satisfaction in accomplishing life maintenance activities, but they’re not fulfilling. They need done again and again and again. But going to restorative yoga Friday night, as I did, contributes to positive worldwide karma and leaves me feeling peaceful. And run/hiking the five-mile loop over Dinosaur Ridge, through Matthew/Winter’s Park, and past Red Rocks contributes to my training for a half-marathon and maybe running a relay this fall.

And swimming Monday after work, going to yoga Wednesday night, and tending Julie’s garden in her absence will help to off-set the annoyance I feel at the five loads of laundry that should be able to wash themselves. I hope.