IT'S JULY ALREADY!

I can't believe the calendar flipped its pages to July.  The weather has been warm here, and the skies have opened up and brought lightning bolts, thunder and rain too often.  The July 4th celebrations have come and gone, and the human population has swelled in Rocky Mountain National Park as has the elk and moose offspring.  The wildflowers continue to pop out EVERYWHERE - it's absolutely breath-taking!

Here are a few of the note-worthy happenings since my last correspondence:

• took three friends to Boulder's Target (just can't stay away from my employer), driving past my first canibas (marijuana) store,
• played scrabble with some astute competitors,
• saw the remnants of the midsummer Scandinavian Festival held in Estes Park, as I worked beyond operating hours,

  

  Oh, how I miss this!

  
  
  
  
  
• went to a tribute to RMNP's Search and Rescue where the survivor shared his ordeal of having an ice axe pierce him in a major artery while attempting to glissade (slide on snow/ice) and climb Long's Peak (our highest peak in the park @ 14,??? feet)
• attended a centennial artist in residence program in which a percussionist storyteller was commissioned to create a work for the park (check out Cory Hills on youtube - it's kind of like "Peter and the Wolf" where instruments represent characters, except he uses percussion instruments),
• adventured to Fort Collins and toured CSU's Trial Annuals Gardens (1200 varieties), sample brewskis @ Snowbank Brewery, dined outdoors at Lucille's Creole Cafe (that Karen recommended) and ate a Po'Boy, had potato salad (with fresh green beans in it) and sampled Skinny Dip beer from New Belgium Brewery,
  
  
  
• found Horsetooth Reservoir amidst the sandstone cliffs,
  
  
• observed bighorn sheep, toured through Big Thompson Canyon that suffered devastation in the flood of Sept. '13 where some homes had red Xs on them with the date of the flood, and others where foundations were swept away and the structures were just hanging there,
  
• hiked with two Taiwanese friends around Lily Lake while a thunderstorm was approaching,
• learned about boreal toads and the fungus
  called Bd that invades their skins, and is causing their endangerment in RMNP,
• witnessed the Estes Park's fireworks on the 4th of July with many rowdy colleagues that were much younger than me,
  
• listened to an adventurous couple who traveled a portion of the Chilkoot Trail that stampeders traveled along during Alaska's Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1890s (my family learned about the Klondike Gold Rush at a national park in Seattle),
• enjoying the fabulous wildflower show in the area, and
  
• have endured many rainstorms with lightning and thunder, but delighted by blue skies most mornings.

  

  Long's Peak

  

I hope your summer is filled with family and friends.  Thank you for the correspondence that I have received from so many of you.  God's blessings to all!

Love,

Amy