Glen Haven

Thursday morning we go to Glen Haven for sweet rolls - there are no better and 25 cent coffee

 

Then late Thursday the YMCA is visited by a large Elk - which is not that rare.


 

Flower Walk with Zelma - Endo Valley

We were well into our flower hike when some youths came up the trail with, what looked like mattresses strapped to their back.  Gee when I back packed, we carried a sleeping bag and tent.  I was told these were not back packers - they were "pad climbers"  They go to a rock formation, cliff, etc....put the pads at the base and "freeclimb" up the face about 15-30 ft.



Why aren't they normal like us and go crawling around on our knees in the mountains looking at tiny flowers smaller than a pencil lead.


This squirrel is building a nest - mouthfull at a time


This is one of about 30 flowers I photographed.  many of the flowers are  so small that they are passed up by many people.


Some of the flowers were just flowers and others were much more.  This yellow spyder crawls around on yellow flowers and ambushes bees and other bugs when they come to feed on the flower.

There are more photos at  www.flickr.com/photos/carrollmayhew  under Domestic Trips and stuff.

Tomorrow(our Last day) we will either go on a geology hike or go to Glenhaven for "world famous" sweet rolls.
This is really going to be a tough decision.

The Little Book Store Around the Corner - McDonalds

It’s Tues morning and we have just scratched the Moraine Park Nature Walk and decided to go into Estes Park, have some coffee and go to McDonalds Book store.  This is a small store on the main drag, in an old log house.  There are comfy chairs placed around, just inviting you to sit down and stay a while – read a little – listen a little…. So I did.   I bought a magazine and a book by the naturalist Enos Mills, “In Beaver World”, with a beautiful water color of a Colorado landscape

I settled into an old leather/wood chair with a view through the book store, past the “pay here” desk, past the “new arrivals” and out through the front window.  As I started to leaf through the Beaver World book, I thought I was in the little bookstore in the movie, “You’ve Got Mail”.  The owner of the bookstore, Paula was constantly greeting friends (and their dogs) and discussing local events of the day and helped one man pick out a gift  book for his wife to read.

 After listening for a while, I told Paula that I was enjoying just sitting in the old chair and absorbing the atmosphere of her book store.  She said the bookstore was “part of the family” and the chair was her grandfathers.  I guess there is some magic in “local charm”.  I ended up buying 5 books, before leaving .

Hike to Bible Point

This was a short but steep hike.  A mom from Korea and her two daughters joined us.  All live in the US now - Frisco Tx, Denver and Corpus Christi.

There is an interesting story of how Bible Point got it's name - see photo



We were like mountain climbers when we reached the top - we took our photo and signed the book in the mail box - but we didn't have a flag



On the way down, we got a pics of a blacksmith, a flower and a blurbird - hey..., who says all of the pics have to go together ?  Go to  www.flickr.com/photos/carrollmayhew  "Domestic Trips and Stuff"  to see the other pics.

Tomorrow we go on a Morraine Park Nature Walk and a Beaver Walk with a lady that is a "beaver expert"

Hiking and Beaver Watch

Today I hiked to Emerald Lake with Clyde and Bobbie spent time helping Fran in the Admin. bldg and visiting the Craft Ctr and the library.  Fran and Clyde are volunteering at the YMCA of the Rockies for the 2nd summer (May- Sept) The hike was about 5 miles with a lot of snow on the trail to Emerald Lake - the weather was nice.




More Emerald Lake pics at  www.flickr.com/photos/carrollmayhew

In the evening we went to Mary's Lake to do a "Beaver Watch"  We saw beavers - Major!!  They had built a series of dams along a small creek to form small ponds for their lodges.  They fed on the lush grass along the creek and ponds.





The beavers travel between the ponds by going over the dam at the "spillway" which in usually near the center of the dam.  They climb up the dam or down the dam with equal ease



More beaver pics at www.flickr.com/photos/carrollmayhew

We will hike to Bible Point tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

YMCA of the Rockies

Bobbie & I have escaped the Texas heat for a week.  We are enjoying the YMCA of the rockies - hiking, birding, photographing, eating, etc....  The temps are in the 50 - 75 deg range with a little rain.  There is still quite a bit of snow in the mountains and some high trails aren't open yet.

 

  Today we hiked around Lake Lilly and enjoyed the flowers, birds and ducks

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We went to a bird banding in the afternoon.   Birding is the 2nd largest hobby and is a muli-Billion $ industry.  Researchers use banding data to study the lives of birds - some species live as long as 60 years and some species will peck your nose off if you get too close.

We also saw elk in Moraine Valley

More tomorrow

Flower and Garden Tour Addison Tx

The Texas Master Gardners and the County Agrilife Extension sponsered this tour.  The purpose is to provide education on water conservation native plants.  Homes/Gardens around the Dallas area were featured.  Here are a couple of photos. 

To see other photos go to www.flickr.com/photos/carrollmayhew and click on the "Domestic Travels, Events and Stuff."

Work-in-Progress

In an earlier post I had mentioned that  by "subscribing" to this blog meant that you would receive an Email when new "posts" are done.  However, I have received some feedback that clicking on the "subscribe" at the bottom of the screen, resulted in some confusing questions/screens for some. 

To hopefully help with this I have added the abilility to submit your Email address if you want to be notified when new posts are made.  So, we will see how this works 

Horses and Environment and Urban Development

There are wonderful images everywhere.  The trick is to see them.  This painted horse in in the lobby of the Dallas Craft Guild, where Bobbie is taking painting lessons.

Bobbie & I watched an outstanding documentary Tues. night – “The Unforeseen ", A new film about urban growth and its impact on our environment  from Executive Producers Terrence Malick and Robert Redford  -  The Unforeseen premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. 
We got the film from Netflix.

Description: The film is about how the American dream of owning a house with a white picket fence, goes head-to-head with environmental sustainability in our fast paced modern world.  The Unforeseen is an urgent, beautifully crafted documentary set in the Texas hill country around Austin. When an ambitious real estate developer sets out to transform thousands of acres of pristine hill country around Austin, Texas into a suburban development threatening the nearby natural springs, local treasure and swimming hole known as Barton Springs, the community fights back. In the conflict that ensues, we see, in miniature, the struggle between development and preservation that today plays out in cities and towns across the country