Friday, June 25, 2010

Camping Out West...Day 8...Thursday, June 24, 2010...An Idle Day




I was up at 5:00AM this morning...hung around camp until 6:00 before setting out for Boulder to the REI store.
A pretty drive down the mountains and into the city. Boulder is just as I imagined...lean and tanned bicyclists, solar panels, recycling centers, natural foods...a mecca of "green" in the Rockies.
Got in to Boulder a little before 8:00...REI didn't open until (:00, so I stopped across the street for coffee. A disappointing visit to REI...normally they are( so friendly and helpful. But this time, their somewhat hostile and skeptical attitude took me by surprise. Unable to find definitive proof of my Coleman stove purchase ("Well..I see a Coleman stove on your purchase history, but I can't verify that it's THIS stove"), they are not willing to help at all. A 90 mile drive wasted! As I'm leaving REI, a guy tells me to drive two blocks to a place called McGurkins...a legend in Colorado for carrying anything and everything. And...five minutes and $18.00 later, I'm waling out with a new regulator for my stove.
By the time that I return to Estes Park, it's lunchtime, so I stop at the "Grumpy Gringo" for nachos and a big Margarita...pretty good. Then, it's over to Don's Laundry for a $5.00 shower (even "Mountain Men" like me need to clean up once in awhile). Then, over to the Estes Park Brewery for a few "staggering Elk Lagers"...refrshing! On the way back to camp, I see a few Elk...I can snap a photo because the road is backed up for a quarter of a mile. In the photo, the animal on the left is an Elk...the animal on the right is known by it's Latin name "Gawkerus Touristae"...known for stopping their vehicle in the middle of the road to get a photo of a chipmunk.
Back at camp, I'm not particularly hungry, so a few snacks suffice before bedtime...it's a full moon tonight...gorgeous!
Late in the evening, a Ranger stops by...a cute gal named Kristi. She's working the summer as a ranger in the Park. She's thinking about going to Ranger School and joining the Forest Service full-time. Having just read "The Big Burn", I'm big on the Forest Service...so I'm encouraging her to become part of something with a great history...a great tradition. She's also thinking about Law School, so we talk about that as well.
Then...Kristi's off, it's almost 1:00PM...time for bed. Big hike tomorrow!

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