Back to L.C.

We had a good drive back to L.C. from Vail, took the route through Leadville, recognizing it would be slow and windy. And it was. For the first 2 hr. we averaged 25 mph. But it was lovely, different scenery, and worth doing it, once. We had lunch at Jan's in Buena Vista, a place we've frequented previously when we camped in and around the area some years back, and also on trips through the area back and forth in previous years. This time we had opportunity to inquire about Plain Jane, as she called herself. Back when we camped around the Collegiate Peaks area for several weeks, we danced at the Coyote Cafe at Johnson Village, @5 mi. so. of Buena Vista. She was a character...LOVED to dance, was alone at the time, wore tights and a loose top, had lots of uncontrolled long gray hair, and we enjoyed her immensely. In conversation we learned she had been an instructor in a Fred Astaire Dance Studio somewhere in the east (it showed), and when her husband died she moved "back home" to a property at the foot of Mt. Princeton.
At any rate, Edmund asked the ladies in the restaurant if they knew her, and they, of course, did, recognized her right away when we said "dance" and "Mt. Princeton" in the same sentence. She's still alive, but "not doing too well" according to these ladies. We place this lady now somewhere in her 90's, so not surprising if she's faded some. We cherish the memory of enjoying the sight of this long-legged, gray-haired, 80 something woman dancing to a rock band, alone, or with anyone who was willing, like they say, "as if no one were watching," in the Coyote Cafe in Johnston Village, CO.
Back at camp, we caught up on laundry, etc., on Tuesday we thoroughly examined the big arts and crafts fair (we're in the market for a Significant Piece on our big bedroom wall, and yes, Barb G., I'm still looking for the right piece for our livingroom table, having passed up several possibilities in Prague). After 2 times around the vendor displays, we ended up with a small, framed print of a bright red cardinal taking a bath. It's just so cute, couldn't resist. So we still stalk just the right pieces described. We topped it off with a dip of Mocha Almond Fudge icecream at the San Juan Soda Shop.
Yesterday we learned that a bear was in camp the night before, destroyed some hummingbird feeders and a seed feeder, was reportedly "about this tall, probably 300 lb." That was enough to propel me into insisting that the feeders hanging on our absent neighbor's rig, 2 ft. from our patio awning, be taken down immediately! So done. I could just see not only my flower pots full of geraniums and lobelia being toppled over, but also our awning being torn up. I slept much better as a result, and though we haven't heard any more bear stories, we know that once a bear finds a source of sweetness they return over and over again.

Today we did our first ATV ride to American Basin where we've seen such awesome wildflower displays. This was a bit early in the season, a few columbines were out along with other solitary early bloomers, but the profusion of blooms won't arrive for maybe a couple of weeks, hopefully while friends Ed & Carol Hovasse are here in their rented Vickers Ranch cabin.

This waterfall is always impressive, at any season, and to get a proper perspective, realize that those are full-grown fir trees you see.
This is one of the early, brave ones, a native columbine, Colorado's state flower.
The insects were hard at work on the few blooms available.
I was amazed at the color combination in this flower's structure. I should have been a botanist?!? That's what my botany teacher told me in my senior year of college when it was way too late to change majors. It certainly remains a major interest, 50-some years later.
The dandelion is in this picture just to demonstrate the size of these delicate small blooms, tiny is the word for them.

Perhaps my favorite pic of the day. I don't think we've ever seen quite so much snow on the mts. this late in the summer.

This gives a glimpse of the size of this basin, but still doesn't capture the sweep and grandeur.
Here we are at our lunch stop.
Another piece of awesome scope. That's our yellow ATV on the right.

We're high enough that just walking around, taking pics, and enjoying the scenery requires some huffing and puffing, but we love it!