We had a great 4th of July holiday. We just stayed home and ran some errands. Then about 8 o’clock some friends called and asked if they could watch the fireworks from our porch where we have a great view of the Greeley Stampede’s show. We said sure!
They had a couchsurfer from southern France staying with them who spoke, in order of language skill, French, Spanish and English. I speak those languages, in this order: English, Spanish and French (and je connais seulement un peu de français, although I would love to know it better). So I hung out with the Frenchman speaking Spanish as we watched America’s Indepence Day explosions with friends -lol. It was pretty cool.
Britton and I took off the rest of the week to make a long weekend. Our friend Damon came into town to visit and stay at our house. So, we asked if he wanted to do anything special and we all thought it would be nice to go into Boulder for lunch, a twirl around Pearl Street and a hike in nearby Settler’s Park.
At lunch with water misters since it was so hot!
Me, Britton and Damon on Pearl Street in Boulder
Street performer in Boulder
Video of a Fire Juggler
The kids loved the fountain in this heat!
A cool ridge on the trail to the mount
That I climbed! (Click to enlarge)
Britton and me
It was still really hazy out from all the fires -Looking out onto Pearl Street and Boulder down below We even saw a deer!
And on a final high note, we drove home in a rain storm that Colorado has been desperately praying for. It was a great day!
Yesterday I did something I don’t do very often, I went golfing! I took a golf class in highschool and we spent some time on the driving range and some time chipping and putting, but never actually played a round of golf. It wasn’t until years later I got a chance to play on a course in Utah when we visited Cassie’s aunt and uncle.
Practicing in our backyard (with the chickens)
Well here was another opportunity. I had to come up with a set of clubs though. I knew one of my good friends had a set of clubs, so I asked if I could borrow them for the day. He graciously agreed, and even dropped them off! So I was all set to go.
Carts Lined Up
Whoever came up with the idea of golf carts was a genius. They make the game so much fun (but less exercise).
Cart and View
The landscape of a golf course in Colorado is so vastly different than the natural landscape. It must take quite a bit of time/energy to keep it looking so green. There were course marshals driving around and making sure everything ran smoothly. They suggest that the course should be played in about 4 1/2 hours for a full 18 holes. We came pretty close to that (I think 5).
Golfing is a fairly expensive hobby and it’s for that reason that I don’t go very often. But it is fun every now and then and a good excuse to hang out outside with friends. The Group I went with
We are still trying to train for our climb up a 14,000 foot mountain that is coming up next Sunday (yikes!), so we’ve been seeking out spots to practice. We’ve done the Devil’s Backbone in Loveland about 3 or 4 times, and Britton has taken his mountain bike up there too. It is by far the closest hiking we have around here because it is only 25 miles or so away from home. But I was getting a little tired of going to the same place and suggested we climb stairs or something around town. Britton wasn’t up for that and said that we should instead go up the mountains a little further to hike. We knew the Poudre Canyon was out of the question due to the huge fire that is still raging there, so we decided to go up the Big Thompson Canyon instead.
Mountain Road
Well…we got about half-way to Estes Park when Britton noticed that the heat gauge was at its maximum. We started to smell some funky antifreeze or oil and thought we’d better pull over right away. We stopped at a little overpriced tourist shop and popped the hood. The coolant was smoking hot! It was boiling and bubbling in the overflow container!
Britton popping the hood (and me documenting it of course)
At least we were in a really pretty area and we had a place to use the restroom and grab a bite if we needed. But we didn’t really need anything except some time for it to cool down. So we milled around the shop and looked at all the expensive Indian and Cowboy knick-knacks in the shop, thumbed through books about the Old West and played around with some of the natives (ha!).
With some really realistic wooden Indian dolls
Even after all the dilly-dallying, the car was still hot, so I suggested we try to get at least some semblance of a hike in. But there was no trailhead anywhere near there. But I did see a bridge and a small trail behind the shop. I convinced BK to jump the fence and we were off exploring. It was pretty fun climbing up some really steep terrain. We even had to use our hands to keep from falling a couple of times. We hiked around a bit and then linked up with a larger trail and followed it back to the main road where there was a cabin site. Someone saw us taking pictures and offered to take ours on the bridge over the Big Thompson.
Overlooking the Big Thompson River
By the time we got back to the car, it had cooled down considerably and we were able to take a look in the coolant hole. The radiator cap had gotten so hot that it had broken apart! It was just a mess of gaskets and springs! Britton filled it as much as he could with water and a little coolant that we had in the car and we coasted back into Loveland with our fingers crossed where we found a little parts store and a new radiator cap. We think the stress of driving up a steep mountain in 95+ degree weather really wore on the poor old Honda with 280,000 miles.
We managed to get back into Greeley and visit with Britton’s family for Father’s Day. When we got there though, the car was mad and hissing out all sorts of hot steam. Britton thinks he may have fixed the problem, but we’re still not trusting it too much yet. Thankfully, he is off of work for a week and doesn’t need to drive it too much. All in all it was definitely an adventure and much more interesting than climbing some stairs in an air conditioned building 🙂
Here’s a short video of the drive up the canyon before the overheating.
We look forward to the Greeley Blues Jam every summer. We’ve actually never been to the full concert series on the Saturday of the Jam, but the Friday night before, they bring all the bands to various bars and restaurants in downtown and let people listen for free!
So we rode our bikes from our house and stopped at my mom’s house and asked if she and her companion, Anthony, wanted to ride with us down there.
With my mom and friend Shana
We walked around a bit and every few steps we ran into someone else we knew. It was pretty cool to see so many people out in Greeley.
Britton talking with a couple friends
It was also the first time they had “go cups” where you could walk around the cordoned off areas with alcoholic drinks and wander into other bars with them. It reminded me a lot of New Orleans with all the music, people and drinks. Well, a little more controlled and less rowdy than New Orleans, and no zydeco but I think it went really well.
Street performance
It was a party atmosphere and even though we didn’t even sit and listen to too many of the bands, I’d say it was one of our favorite Blues Jams yet.
