Grammar Police Officer

Steamboat Springs

We went camping again over the weekend. We drove to Northern Colorado this time: up highway 9, though Breckenridge and over the Interstate (70) and north to Lynx Pass campground. We got there at about 9 pm, and it was still just light enough to pitch our tents. Thankfully we realized it was a later night than we originally thought, so we had eaten already and just got into our tents after pitching them.

The next day we went into Steamboat Springs where we drove up to Fish Creek Falls--but there was no parking. So we went to the Hot Springs/Swimming Pool/Water Slide instead. We thought we would just go there for an hour or so, but stayed for 4 hours!!

We hiked (walked?) up to Fish Creek Falls. It was lovely! [Why do waterfalls fascinate us? We love Niagara and Bridal Veil and so many others. People even go to Hoover Dam when the spillways are open...why?]

So then we drove to the Yampa River. Drew wanted to kayak, but we had to go back to the campsite and make dinner. We did, and had hamburgers and baked beans and cucumbers and then S'Mores!!! Yum.

The next day we got up and broke camp and had breakfast (bagels and cream cheese and ham and cheese and cucumbers and tomatoes...Latvians know how to make breakfast!) and then went to church: Yampa Bible Church. It was a wonderful service and a good sermon, enhanced by the projector and PowerPoint. Then we drove back to Breckenridge and spent the afternoon at our time share eating and playing in the pool and hot tub. It is fun to sit in the hot tub when it is raining and hailing. Don't worry, there was no lightning! After 4 hours of water-fun here too, we finally left, had dinner at a local restaurant, and eventually got home at 12:30 am. It was a really good time but tiring.

I especially enjoyed the scenery. The farther north you go in Colorado, the less the land looks like it's in the Southwest. I don't know how to explain it very well: instead of having buttes and yuccas there were mountains and sagebushes. Nothern Colorado seemed to be filled with ranchland. It's very spread out and much less touristy. Steamboat Springs itself is a ski town, but more like a normal city than a ski resort. There were no huge ski hotels and lodges like there are in other ski towns. It seemed to be a really family-friendly town.

I love pine trees and mountains. I love the way the hills near me had sagebushes on them and directly behind the sage green was deep blue-green (but not an ocean blue-green, and not a deciduous Eastern blue-green--the definite shade of pines in the arid West) of the pines on hills. And there is the blue, blue sky behind the sage and pine greens...I just cannot fill my eyes with enough of the scenery. When the sun sets the sage hills turn deeper green and the faraway piney hills and mountains become more golden. The blueness of the sky gets darker while the clouds that are puffed around the sky turn orange and pink and purple and fuscia...and suddenly drop into a deep blue that will fade into black. And then there are the stars! Those refuse to be captured by words.

And I wish I could describe it better so that others can appreciate it too, but you will have to come visit and see what we Westerners mean by Big Sky. It's really lovely, but to really know a place you have to live there and see it in all its seasons and moods.