Go West, Young Man Part 2.

We stayed at the Stone Mansion Bed and Breakfast - a 9000 sq foot Victorian/Edwardian style home renovated and run by our adopted grandparents, Jane and Robin. Jane had read our flyers and notes that our friend Sharon dropped off for us before we got there... Oh she did not read them out of being nosey; she read them for accuracy. We were talking with her about our plans and she quickly quoted them to us from the literature we had yet to see, making remarks like "and you'll have no trouble getting up there, your friend gave you excellent directions", etc. So funny. Needless to say, we were very well taken care of. She even made sure I had a hat or sunscreen as we left for the day.
So on Friday we met up with Sharon's family and travelled up to the ranch to help clean and set up. When I say "clean" I mean shovel llama dung out of the area where the ceremony was to take place. Oh, did I not mention this is a llama and horse ranch? Oh sorry - and Daisy the donkey. Yepper, full fledged Colorado breeding ground, Valhalla Ranch is. Even run by it's own singing cowboy, Dennis.
This was shaping up to be a very, very fun event.
So I took some pictures and marveled at the scenery while Sharon's wonderful parents cleaned inside the cottage and the other guys worked around the area. I didn't really notice what the girls were doing...

Let me say something about the scenery... Ever go somewhere, maybe a remote island, a leading museum, the Playboy Mansion... you know, where you are so impressed by the beauty surrounding you that you are rendered mindless and all you can really do is whisper "wow" and point a lot? After a while it simply becomes a dull fuzzyness in your conciousness that you immediately recognize in others around you, causing you to say incredibly articulate things like, "I KNOW, RIGHT??"
If you haven't been, that's Colorado. At least to Stace and I.

Okay, that said.. Where was I?
OH! So we got the area cleaned up, had part of the driveway freshly graveled, grabbed some beers and headed out to Suzy Bang Rock, where Kress proposed to Sharon. And I thought the view from the ranch was something... . Unfortunately I missed part of the story, however Suzy Bang was a local who, if I heard correctly, raised a family by herself, and died of sickness. Her sons buried her and chiseled her headstone into this very large rock. Rather impressive. After taking in the view for a while we headed back into town for the rehearsal dinner at Blackjack's Saloon.

After a very nice steak dinner - Hey, it's COLORADO - we all headed to the brewery and met up with the rest of the travelers. Oh yeah, we ran out the locals. Cowards. Thirty-something thirty-somethings all cavorting and goofing off in a brewery that had a maximum occupancy of 18 or some nonsense. Good times.

Saturday we had wonderful weather. It was actually the warmest it had been all trip at a balmy 73 or so I believe. Earlier in the week the area had some snow and in the upper elevations (8,000+ ft.) it was fresh and abundant. Sharon looked beautiful of course. Kress looked nice in his linen pants and white linen shirt. The ceremony was lovely and their friend Roddy was the marrying official and did a great job. Kress's sister's family did a small clogg for the new couple as it seems she lost a bet somehow and this was her penance. Very entertaining. They actually had a very tasty caterer come from around the Denver area and if you have not tried tri-tip - http://www.askthemeatman.com/tri-tip.htm, I recommend it. They brought their own big cooker, coolers, settings, everything. We all dug into the grub and adult beverages and readied ourselves for some heated horse-shoe competition. As the sun began to set, we lit the tiki torches, the fire pit, and packed the playlist for the Singing Cowboy.

Sunday Stace and I headed back to Denver, stopping off in Manitou Springs to, oh, drive up Pike's Peak! Well, what did you expect?? It was there, we were there... It was simply fate! We were told at the gate that the last mile was closed due to mud. Luckily for us that was not the case when we got up there. Ok, maybe "luckily" is a subjective term. And in case you didn't know, 14,100 feet is VERY VERY HIGH. In Jack Kerouac's wholly wonderful tome, "Dharma Bums", one character seems to discover that it is impossible to fall off of a mountain.
We think Kerouac's a liar.
There were kids snowboarding from close to the top and hitching rides back up the mountain as we Charlotteans were having trouble taking regular steps and not passing out due to the lack of oxygen. Acclimation is KEY. At 14,100 feet the air has roughy half the amount of O2 in it then at sea level. I'm not sure that's exactly right, but it felt pretty close. And Everest is TWICE that high. I mean REALLY. Oh, and according to a very informative sign we passed on the way up, there are over 52 points in the Rockies that reach 14,000 feet or more. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE my Appalachians - but DAMN.
To be honest we didn't do much that night other then drive into Denver as, well, we were both VERY bummed at having to leave. Isn't that sad? I mean we didn't even go down to the bar for a drink we were so ticked. But all in all it was a wonderful trip and Stace and I A) had a great time and B) did a wonderful job of understanding each other, which made it all the better. We are thinking of going back next year if we can swing it.

Now I just need to finish working on Sharon and Kress's pictures...

Be safe, hug hard.
Justin