Renaissance Festival at Larkspur, CO

     This was a pretty big deal.  Every weekend in July the little town of Larkspur holds a Renaissance Festival.  From what I can tell, there are several thousand people that flock to the site each day to revel in crafts, food, drink, somewhat bawdy entertainment and animal rides for the kids.  It seemed to me that at least half of the attendees were in costume.  There were more bustiers than in a Victoria's Secret shop.

     The site is a fairly steep hillside at about 7000 feet...non-trivial for us old farts.  Nonetheless, we persevered.  Fairly early on I bought a very nice walking stick and made good use of it.  I haven't had one since my backpacking days in Colorado forty years ago.  We arrived at 1000 as the gates opened and walked up the hill checking out the shops and the other participants.

 I included this picture for two reasons.  The stilt walkers were typical of the period entertainment.  Also notice the rear view of good friend and classmate, Buzzy Glenn on the right.  The ratio of shoulders to waist is NOT representative of we folks who are approaching our middle seventies.

         One of the highlights are the jousting contests.  They have three; one at 1130, one at 1400 and one at 1730.  The first one, which we saw, did not include simulated combat.  Rather, there were exhibitions with lance, sword and javelin.  The picture above captures a horseman (knight) at full gallop slicing a cabbage in half with his sword.  It was a hot, mid-nineties day with a lot of hill climbing, so we bailed out around 1330 after we stopped for a drink.  Durelle and Buzzy had diet Pepsi while I had a Coors.  Would you believe that I got carded.  I told the serving wench that the last time I was carded was before she was born.

     As we were leaving, I took one more shot to show that most of the attendees were in costume.

Larkspur, CO

     Yesterday was a long, tough day on the road...21 miles, 30 minutes, and 8.1 mpg!  Our thirty days at USAFA were up, and we weren't ready to leave the area yet.  So, we got on I-25 at North Gate Blvd. (exit 156) and drove north to exit 174, Castle Rock.  I didn't even bother to hook up the Jeep.  Durelle drove it.  All of the pictures were taken from inside the bus at our campsite.    The last one was taken from the bathroom window.  Most of the sites are carved out of the hillside and are surrounded by scrub oak that is 6-8 feet high.  We are afforded nice views with unusual privacy, but it is a bit tougher walking Baxter up and down the hills.
     Today we will go into Larkspur for their annual Renaisance Festival and go back in time seven or eight centuries.  I'm told that the activities even include jousting.  I hope to get some good pictures for the next blog.  Stay tuned.

Weekend with the Dills

     This weekend revolved around the family of Jim and Joette Dill.  In 1970 my father knew the Dill family and heard that young Jim was interested in going to the Air Force Academy.  At that time I was home on leave from my faculty job at USAFA.  A meeting was arranged between Jim and me at my folks' house in Athol, MA.  Jim then spent a year at a prep school prior to joining the class of '75 in July of '71.  We became his sponsor and surrogate parents during his plebe year. At the end of his second year he came to my office in Fairchild Hall and declared that he wanted to major in Electrical Engineering.  I was very skeptical.  His cumulative GPA was 2.09 which did not bode well for the EE major.  I felt that since I was the only faculty member with whom he had a personal relationship, he was letting that influence his thinking.  He was persuasive enough that I went to the department head to obtain permission to sign him up as an EE on a probationary basis.  Long story short...he finished with a 3.8 in EE and a cum GPA comfortably above 3.0.  He was on a roll with orders to go to pilot training at Williams AFB with an subsequent expectation of F-15s when, during a game of team handball, he suffered a concussion which cost him his flying status.  By then I was at Wright-Patterson AFB when he called and said,"Help!"  I arranged for him to come work for me, and he did a great job as a communications engineer on the B-1A.  I then went to Hanscom AFB for my last USAF assignment before retirement.  The fickle fates stepped in again.  Carter canceled the B-1 and again I found Jim a job at Hanscom initially working for me.  Once out from under my wing his career blossomed.  He had three base commander jobs, Thule, Onizuka and Edwards where he was the only non-rated wing commander they ever had.
     That's probably too much information, but this weekend Durelle played golf with him Saturday, and Sunday we went to his handsome home in Colorado Springs for a barbecue with his extended clan.  There must have been twenty pounds of marinated skirt steak grilled for fajitas with all the usual Hispanic accessories.  Jim makes a mean guacamole!
     The first picture is Jim and Durelle on the 18th green of the Blue course at USAFA.  The second is a repeat picture of the USAFA ladies golf trophy showing Durelle's name as their tenth champion (she missed by a stroke on an earlier one).  The third picture shows a large part of the extended Dill clan.  Jim is seated.  Durelle is in pink.  Finally, I went to their deck and took a picture of Pikes Peak.  It was too late to have the sun behind me and too early for a sunset, but you can see that they enjoy quite a view.
     The weather has been hot.  It got to 96!, and we had to use an air conditioner, but the humidity is low and we can open up all the windows at night.

Cripple Creek

     Today we took advantage of a free day and great visibility to head up into the hills.  The plan was to put the Jeep in four wheel drive and drive the Gold Camp Road from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek.  That little city claims the title of "the World's Greatest Gold Camp".  Back in its heyday the Springs was its base of logistic support.  The lifeline was the narrow, winding gravel road that crept its way for thirty miles or so from one mile above sea level to two miles above.  It supported an endless string of mule drawn wagons up those switchbacks and through the one lane tunnels hewed out of the rock.  Among the tales I remember were those that dealt with the transportation of explosives up to the mines.  Dynamite and black powder was dealt with rather cavalierly, but nitro-glycerin was another story.  Apparently the preferred approach utilized a wagon with a stake at all four corners.  Suspended on ropes from the four stakes was a wooden water barrel.  Suspended in turn inside the water barrel was a smaller barrel of the nitro-glycerin.  The compound shock absorption of the two sets of suspension ropes and the barrel full of water seemed to be the best solution.  Still, when traversing the rougher sections of the road, the mule-skinners dismounted and controlled the mules with a long set of reins!  
     At any rate, there was a closure on Gold Camp Road after about an hour of four wheel driving.  There may have been a detour, but I didn't find it.  So we headed back down from the Cheyenne Canyon Park and back to the Springs and Route 24 west to Manitou Springs, Cascade, Woodland Park and Divide where we picked up 67 south to Cripple Creek.  It is a majestic, high altitude area as the picture shows.  Today there are mine tours, ("descend 1000 feet below ground level"), narrow gauge railroad tours to Victor and back, and a large collection of casinos large and small.  There are many small shops and cafes.  We had planned to eat lunch in one of them.  We assumed that at 10,000 feet it would be cool enough (Durelle had brought a sweater) to leave Baxter in the Jeep with a dish of water and the windows partly open. Unfortunately, it was 88 degrees and no shade.  We were effectively above timberline.  By the time we got back to Woodland Park, we were hungry and did justice to a couple of chicken sandwiches in the Wendy's parking lot.
     On the way back we drove through the Garden of the Gods in western Colorado Springs.  I didn't stop for the iconic pictures of the balancing rock or the kissing camels, but I did get a couple of shots that I may use later.  Now it is time to grill a steak.  Life is good.

Cool Colorado

     This morning the temperature was 46 degrees!  It was in triple digits in Charleston today.  It's nicer here even if we had to use the quartz auxiliary heater to take the chill off this morning.  The pictures were not today's.  One shows the B-52 up the hill from the North Gate.  That snowy peak just aft of the quad fifty stinger in the tail is Pikes Peak.  There is a shot of a sailplane being towed aloft, and there is another view taken on Pikes Peak looking northeast.
     Yesterday we shared in Father's Day with the Catalfamos.  Phil and the twins, David and Brian, played golf at USAFA in the morning , and, of course, we watched the end of the US Open.  By the way, I have to report that this past weekend Phil (age 78) shot 83-84 at a tough, high altitude course...and he walked.  I'm impressed.  Durelle would initiate divorce proceedings if I mentioned her Saturday score (which she did not share with me).
     Tonight I'm going to make a shrimp jambalaya.  Wish me luck.

Pikes Peak

     Today was my day to do Pikes Peak.  Yes, I drove it.  Times change.  Durelle wasn't particularly interested, and, besides, the US Open was starting.  I had some other errands to do, but the first thing was the peak.  It took an hour to get to the toll booth, and another hour to navigate the nineteen miles to the summit.  We have been there before, of course.  One year on 3Jul70 we pulled our Coleman pop up up the road to a point above the "W's", a dramatic series of switchbacks above the timberline.  At that time July third was the only day of the year you could camp on the mountain.  On the fourth is the famous Pikes Peak Hill Climb.  As I remember, the motorcycles came up in clusters and the various classes of autos came up one at a time.  There are a few dented guardrails now, but there weren't any forty years ago.  Only a few drivers slid through those gravel corners spraying gravel over the edge to land a thousand feet below.  Most were a lot more cautious than they would have been on a quarter mile dirt track.  The road is now paved all the way to the summit, although a mile or so was gravel as they were in the process of repaving and "re shouldering" the road.  As I approached the summit, I could tell that I was not getting my normal supply of oxygen.  I moved slowly and sat down often.  I spent a bit of time in the Summit House gift shop and snack bar.  Lunch was a foil wrapped cheeseburger from the steam table, a fruit cup (mostly peaches), and a glass of lemonade for $11.51.  Of course everything has to be trucked up there.  While going up, I met three concrete trucks coming down.  That must be fun.  Although it was clear, hundred mile pictures still look a bit hazy.
     On the trip down I stopped at a few turnouts to take a few more pictures.  Forty years ago I descended with the Jeep in low range, four wheel drive.  Now that the road is paved, I couldn't use the four wheel drive with all four locked together.  I used first gear almost all the way down.  At the halfway point there is a Ranger with a remote IR temperature sensor to check the temperature of your brakes.  The sign says,"If your brakes are over 300 degrees, you must wait in the parking lot until they are not."  I remarked to the Ranger that forty years ago they checked the brakes with their fingers.  He allowed as how he had scars to prove it.  He said, "You're at 155, good job".
     Then I made a stop at Walmart to exchange some sandals and at a Whole Food  store.  From there I checked the Post Office and picked up a package from Cindy.  It was a good day.  I may add some of the pictures to future blogs.

USAFA Scenery

     My morning routine is to feed and walk Baxter, let him back into the bus and then drive up to the Community Center to make use of the nearest newspaper vending machine.  Yesterday morning was a bit earlier than usual and the air was the clearest it has been since we arrived so I brought the camera.  When we were stationed here forty years ago, the number of deer in the herds of mule deer must have totaled over a hundred.  They have 18,000 acres of protected, irrigated grazing rights.  Hardly a day went by without seeing some.  If an approaching motorist flashed his headlights, it wasn't alerting you to a radar trap.  It meant that there were deer in the road.  For some reason, the numbers have declined greatly.  They are still here, as the picture shows, but this was the first one I've seen.
     I also took a shot through the trees into the cadet area.  The field house and athletic facilities are in the foreground with the academic buildings and chapel in the background.  Last evening, classmate and friend, Buzzy Glenn, joined us for supper as Brita was spending time with her mother in California who was undergoing some surgery.  We had a big meal of grilled steaks, Durelle's rice pilaf, a salad, and a pan of sauteed zucchini, squash, onions and garlic. Then we watched the Bruins win their third straight seventh game to clinch the Stanley Cup.  The Red Sox are leading the division.  Along with the Patriots and the Celtics, Boston is a pretty fair sports town.