This morning was a little sleeping-in, a lot of chess (Miles beat me again), and a lot of 'Go Fish' (Emery beat me again). Great for the self-esteem.
We're also reading. Kristen finished One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, started another pass at The Catcher in the Rye. Me? I'm working on John Grisham's first work of non-fiction, The Innocent Man, as well as The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, which is an international bestselling book by Thomas L. Friedman that analyzes early 21st century globalization.
This afternoon we ventured into Crested Butte to browse in the local shops and galleries, as well as research mountain bike rentals. While walking through town we ran into Jennifer Spahr, who is a former student of mine, and a former member of the DGN Band (Class of 2000). This was actually the second time we saw Jenny this week. The night we arrived I updated my Facebook page with the status: "in Crested Butte, CO, breathing fresh mountain air." Within minutes my phone buzzed with an email from Jenny. "What?! I live in Crested Butte...nobody ever comes here I know!! :)," she wrote. I could hardly believe it either. I had not seen Jenny in nearly ten years, and had no idea whe was in CB. But thanks to the marvels of "social networking technology" ... we all met at a local ice-cream parlor on Wednesday night for dessert. Jenny visited Crested Butte five years ago right after graduating from college, fell in love with the town, and never left. She now opperates a vacation company. When we met her for ice-cream earlier in the week, she told us she had a boyfriend, as well as a four-year old Saint Bernard. So today, as we were walking down the street, we happened upon a man standing out on the street with a Saint Bernard. I took a chance. "You don't happen to know Jenny Spahr do you?" I asked. "Sure I do!" came the reply. "She's my girlfriend." And just at that moment, as if on cue, Jenny's head popped out the Post Office window, and she said, "Here I am! I'll be right out." It's a small world. It's even smaller in Crested Butte.
Jenny has been a great help to us this week. On several occassions she has given us terrific advice about local happenings, roads we should explore, etc. Today we followed her suggestion to drive into Gunnison National Forest to the town of Gothic. Gothic is a very small town (I mean REALLY small ... a few buildings ... essentially a ghost town) that exists for the purpose of environmental research. The drive provided some more beautiful vistas, and opportunities for some great pictures. My favorites from the day follow ...
We also spent time today helping Emery with her "ABC Book" for Kindergarten. Each student in DG District 58, who is entering Kindergarten, makes an ABC book during the summer prior to the start of school. Emery has to either draw pictures or take photos of objects that start with each letter of the alphabet. So today we started, and found many items around town for her book. She used the camera (with a little assistance from me) to take the pictures. Her favorite "finds" were statues of a dragon (D) and a knight (K). After she took individual shots of each, she asked me to take her picture with both.
On the way back to the Peters' home we stopped at the bike rental store and picked up a bike for myself, and one for Kristen. We brought Miles' bike, and a tandem attachment bike for Emery. Tomorrow we plan to ride into town, and visit The Trailhead Discovery Museum and Arts Center with the kids.
Kristen spear-headed "Taco Night," and while she was getting dinner put together I got out on the bike and took the upper-loop trail back into Crested Butte. That, coupled with the more gradual ascent back to the Peters' home via the trail I'll take with the kids tomorrow, wiped me out. Colorado has the lowest obesity rate in the country. Yesterday's hiking experience, and tonight's one-hour ride (which included 35 min. on steep trails) helps me apprecaite why. I'll bet I've easily lost five pounds in the last three days.
Tonight was also "Movie Night," which was a nice way to end the day.
Finally, a correction: The first day we were here I wrote a post about a hike we took, and a birch forest. Uhhhhh ... those would be Aspen trees, Brayer. Duh.
