Words, Music, & Outdoor Adventures

This is my new favorite song. There is something about starting over ‘where no one knows your name’ that makes me love this song. Well, it’s been my life for ten years…..

“Boston” – by Augustana (click on this for the video)

 …..She said I think I’ll go to Boston…

I think I’ll start a new life,

I think I’ll start it over, where no one knows my name,

I’ll get out of California, I’m tired of the weather,

I think I’ll get a lover and fly em out to Spain…

I think I’ll go to Boston,

I think that I’m just tired

I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind…

I think I need a sunrise, I’m tired of the sunset,

I hear it’s nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice… oh yeah,

Today at 3 p.m., a voice over the radio airwaves will say, “KUNC 91.5 serving Greeley, Fort Collins, KRNC 88.5 in Steamboat Springs, and welcoming Grand County residents at 91.9 from Granby Ranch at SolVista Ski Basin.”

You can rot or you can burn but either way, if you’re lucky, a place will shape and cut and bend you, will strengthen you and weaken you. You trade your life for the privilege of this experience – the joy of a place, the joy of knowledge gotten by listening and observing.

Rick Bass, The Sky The Stars The Wilderness

Went on a hike today after work in the rain. The trail goes by the old Eisenhower fishing cabin. Ike used to fish up here in the Fraser Valley. Just a short walk down a trail from his cabin is the Fraser River.

Here is Ike’s cabin:

Down in the valley is the Fraser River and the Union Pacific railroad tracks. Amtrack goes through here twice a day:

And, a video of the dogs on the hike:

This is about the new Fraser Valley Recreation Center that is suppose to be built soon:
Black T-shirts appearing around the Fraser Valley declare, on the front:

GRAND PARK WRECK CENTER
Wreck the Meadow, Wreck the Community
Wreck Incomes, Wreck Friendships
Wreck the Wetlands, Wreck Local Businesses
Wreck the Fraser Valley

The shirt backs state:
GRAND PARK WRECK CENTER
“It ain’t over ‘til the kids are peeing in the pool!”

Read full article on Grand County’s Newspaper

This book is amazing. Hall grew up in North Hampton just south of where I grew up. She is now a writing teacher at UNH. The story is about growing up in NH and getting pregnant and forced by her parent to give it up for adoption. Her family abandoned her and after finishing high school she travelled all over, never forgetting the child she gave up. It is such a touching story of forgiveness, family and love.

“Sometime I cry, pain rising from the place before he came. Now he is here and I finally grieve, crying in the field while Alex and Ben play in the house. My friends tell me, ‘This is a miracle. It is a fairy tale with a happy ending.’”

“I am memory. Everything I have been is carried here in my body. I am written, the pain and the great love, the surprises, the losses and the findings. The young woman’s body I live inside still, the unforgotten home, is a text. It is engraved with memory, my life.” (pg 211)

“We cannot plot out the future. We are a family. We love each other. We need each other. That is our only map.”

 

I’m going to work on the trail tomorrow.

“Dear old world,” she murmured, “you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.”

Interesting article

“We knew that we had to grow or we were going to die, literally,” said Ted Wang, former mayor of Granby.

“Our sales tax was completely flat,” Wang said. “Inflation alone was eating us alive. We knew we absolutely had to do something to increase our economic engine.”

As a result, developments such as Granby Ranch, which includes SolVista Basin, Grand Elk Ranch & Club and Orvis Shorefox, were brought into town limits. Although these projects are geared toward second-home owners, Wang said the town required a strong commercial component be a part of each project. Grand Elk, for example, includes 350,000 square feet for commercial use along with its 730 housing units. In its initial submittal to the city of Steamboat Springs, Steamboat 700 proposes 272,000 to 331,000 square feet of commercial with 1,837 to 2,243 homes.

Every step in life is a run from safety to the dark, and the only thing to trust is what we think is true. - Richard Bach

I’m reading Wallace Stegner’s biography on John Wesley Powell, who explored the Middle Park area of Grand County (where I live) and into Utah in the late 1800’s. I just came across this website with photos. Also a synoposis of his career. Pretty cool.

Winter Is Over-*

Hiked with dogs, skied, hot tubbed (therapy for my ankle), now getting ready for work. Here are some photos skiing SolVista on a bluebird, cold morning just before the crowds.

Trails just above my condo:

My new favorite trail: Desperado on the West Mountain:

And cool photo looking east:

All the local business can enter a contest to create the Best Mary Jane. Here’s is Destinations West’s version:

Who is Mary Jane and how is she affiliated with Winter Park Resort: From Winter Park Resort’s website:

A well-known madam and local lady of the evening, Mary Jane’s good fortune for services rendered would turn what was once a lonely sheep trail used for grazing into a highly sought-after winter playground. Mary Jane lived in the town of Arrow, about 3-4 miles up the old railroad bed.-* The parcel of land that is the base of Mary Jane sits on what-*was called the Mary Jane Placer.-* It is unknown whether Mary Jane bought this parcel of land with her earnings or if it was given to her by a grateful client.

While Mary Jane may have been a lady of ill repute, her namesake trail is one of the finest to be found anywhere in the country.

Self Portrait:

I got home from work at 8pm and decided to go for a run in the moonlight. It was warmer (20 degrees) than it was this morning (0 degrees) so I went for it. It was great to not need a headlamp but scary when some clouds came in and I couldn’t see the ground. But I made it home safe and feel great. Now, at 11:15 pm it is snowing and 18 degrees.

I’m going to write an outdoor blog for the local paper. Check it out:

Featuring the people, places and outdoor lifestyle of Grand County

We got about 6 inches of snow overnight and it’s still snowing. I took the dogs for a snowshoe hike this morning through the rolling hills of Granby Ranch. I-*saw an interesting tree ahead and decided to take photos of my perspective as-*I walked closer.

There are no remote places. The center of the world is where you are alive and happy.