…how I love you. (Warning: lots o’ pictures.)

It was an awesome trip, and that damn state is seducing me all over again. The whole family went down to Mt.Princeton, where my brother’s friend lent us a cabin, and we stayed deep in the woods, on the side of the mountain, and watched crazy thunderstorms, black squirrels, and riotous gray birds. If you have to go on a long car trip with someone, choose my brother, because he plans out interesting stops along the way that are actually interesting…the multi-hour trip in the car gets a lot less painful. The whole trip there and back was full of interesting stops.

We set out on Monday afternoon, driving from Boulder to Mt. Princeton via Kenosha Pass and Fairplay. Kenosha Pass was AMAZING, because I saw my first wild moose ever.

(I know, it’s a pretty distant shot, but 1. you don’t get too close to moose, and 2. my nephew is 3 and does not care about ANYTHING but trains. This includes moose, and he wanted to go somewhere else.)

Fairplay is surreal, because it’s the home of South Park (yes, that South Park).

Exhibit A:

And B:

I love me a good Mr.Hankey photo op, as you can see.
After all that excitement, we headed on to Mt.Princeton, by way of Buena Vista. We actually stayed on the lower slopes of Mt.Princeton, but we were only about 10 minutes from the town of Buena Vista itself. B.V. is a remarkable place: it’s teeming with whitewater rafters, it’s completely surrounded by 14,000+ foot mountains, the climate is awesome, and there’s a coffee roaster/cafe in town. If I could telecommute from anywhere, I think this would be the place. The only drawback is how far it is from Boulder/Denver.

Here’s the cabin,seen from the walking path down below:

We spent a few days there, taking a daytrip to Salida (another pretty little town, with gorgeous views), where we had coffee at a wonderful outdoor cafe & watched cyclists climb the strange, “S”-marked tall hill that rises above the town.

As I said, my brother’s a pretty great tour guide: he has a way of planning stuff to do on the way to the destination and stuff to do on the way back out. On the way out, we trekked a short distance to Agnes Vaille Falls, which everyone enjoyed immensely (except the twins were disappointed at the lack of trains), and then stopped for lunch (I bought some coffee from the coffee roasters in B.V.), and went up to Cottonwood Pass (where I scared the shit out of myself, clambering around on skinny trails at 12,000+ feet).

But damn, it was worth it. The Continental Divide is the most awe-inspiring sight I’ve had yet.

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