[at-l] Some mellow trip reports...

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

In September '01 my Dad came for his first Colorado
vist.

Along with Dad, came his (then) girlfriend Donna and
my brother Steve.

The trip was marked by much driving, seeing every
giftshop in Colorado (or so it seemed) and being very
tired by the end of his visit.

You can read about the visit from almost three years
ago in the archives:
http://www.backcountry.net/arch/at/0109/msg00259.html


Just my Dad came out this time. Dad did not want to
bring his current girfriend.  He did NOT want to do
the tourist thing, just to hang with his son as he
turned 30. (Yep, turned 30 on May 19th. Don't look any
different from last week, but I now have a different
digit for the next ten years. :D) The theme was to
hang around Boulder, relax and have a true vacation. 

He flew in the day of my birthday and we did the ever
popular father-son bonding over wings, burgers and
beer. Why stray from the classics? :-) Dad was still
on East Coast time, so we called it an early night.

Thursday, we went hiking! Did a local hike in Boulder
of about 3 miles R/T. He could not have picked a
better time to be out here. Everything is green and
wildflowers were everywhere! He is coming from sea
level, so we took it nice n' easy.  

Friday, had a 30th b-day bash at a local
establishment. I seem to have a good amount of friends
and/or they received my checks for bribing them to
come to my b-day get together. :-) Dad was quite happy
to meet my friends and see who make up such a large
part of my life. 

Saturday, drove to Trail Ridge Rd in Rocky Mtn NP.
This road goes up to 12200+ feet and just opened for
the season. The large snow moving equipment was just
still around! The views were magnificent to say the
least. Drove the entire length of the road. Seeing the
expanse of the divide was a great sight, esp. for
those who normally would not be able to see it.
(Somehow I think a hike coming from sea level and then
hiking to 12200' would not be too good for Dad!)  On
the way up to the park near a town called Ward (9500'
or so) ran into a freak snow and hailstorm! The
weather was again something unique for Dad. Then it
became sunny again shortly thereafter!

Sunday, another local hike. Again, many awesomely
beautiful wildflowers. It was meandering hike with
beautiful scenery. 

The whole point of this visit for my Dad was to do
"non-tourist" things. And we succeeded. Other than
RMNP, stuck to Boulder. We hiked in town, went to many
of the places I enjoy, and he met many of the people
who I see in my day to day life. Much more relaxing
visit for both of us than three years ago! 

Been almost two years since I saw Dad, so it was a
good visit. Had some good conversations, and though it
is "just a number", these milestone b-days make you
think. 
For Dad to see his oldest son turn 30 was as much
milestone for him as it was for me. Talked about times
gone by, my late grandfather and other parts of our
lives. (Over some delicious dark beer. Some things are
genetic it seems!) And not one giftshop was visited!
:-)

All in all, a good trip for both of us.

Pics to follow.





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The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau
http://www.magnanti.com