A Moment in the Mountains

Welcome to Breckinridge, Colorado

Before my visit to Breckinridge slips into memory, I want to be sure to share a few photographs. I'd been to Breckinridge in 2021 and had a great time. I remembered that it was lovely, but my memory didn't prepare me for the beauty that I (re) found on this return visit. Breckinridge is surrounded by mountains and the center of town includes the Blue River. Many of my photographs show the river, but for now I find them too upsetting to post. Tonight we're staying with mountains. 

This area -- right in town -- is the Bristlecone Woodland. I loved seeing the mountains in the distance, still snowcapped, but I was especially captivated by the birdhouses. It was a serene place to sit, think, read a book and just enjoy the beautiful setting. The Bristlecone Pine is one of three species of pine trees native to the Western United States. 

Despite the dramatic clouds, there was very little rain while I was in Breckinridge.

One of the questions I've been asked is "What do you do in a ski town in the summer?" There's lots to do and I definitely didn't have time to do everything I wanted to do. We -- I was with my college friend, Jane -- found two concerts and we had tickets for a community theater production. Breckinridge is a center for summer music programs and the quality was outstanding. We loved hearing a brass orchestra performing Disney Music at the wonderful concert center. There's an area with artist studios we didn't get to explore and several towns in the area, which we also didn't get to. 

A very fun evening seeing "Young Frankenstein" at the community theater. 

I enjoyed the beauty of the area, the friendliness of the people we met, the cool mountain air and the wonderful arts offerings. I enjoyed it so much that I'm thinking of a return visit next summer.  There's an arts festival in August that caught my attention, so there may well be another trip to Colorado in 2026.

Big day tomorrow, friends, Pep and I share a birthday. He will be 31 and I will be the milestone age of 75, which seems impossible even as I type it. I'll be back tomorrow with a few reflections about when I'm 75. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care.  

  

Throwback Thursday Goes (Back to Last Thursday) in Breckenridge

A view of Tenmile Range from Breckenridge

Actually all of these photos aren't from last Thursday, but they're some of my favorites from last week in Breckenridge. I'm now back in New York for almost a week and my sleep is back to where it was before I went away. I'm happily breathing at sea level (instead of the 10,000 feet above sea level of Breckenridge), and I've gone grocery shopping and started cooking again. But with getting back to my somewhat normal routine -- not what it was in 2019 -- every few hours my thoughts to turn to Colorado and beautiful Breckenridge. 

The gondola to the slopes, not open until this week.  This was as close as 

I got to the gondola and the slopes. 

I realized that I have a number of photographs I want to share and this is my first batch. It's somewhat random, but includes some of my favorite moments in Breckenridge. 

The Willoughby Cottage on Main Street

Much of the central area of Breckenridge dates from the Nineteenth Century and the early years of the town. This cottage, and it's incredibly welcoming gate, was one of my favorites. As much as I enjoyed where I stayed -- about a mile away -- if I return to Breckenridge I'd love to spend time in this cottage. It looks like a storybook setting.

Coffee, Smile, Love. Repeat! 

I was able to pursue my love of coffee and found several places that had fabulous coffee. But this store also had a fabulous window. It might be my favorite set of sayings in all of my travels with coffee. 

I would be remiss to not introduce my new cousin, Heidi. 

One of the high points of the trip was a get-together with one of my cousins who lives in Denver and two Connecticut cousins who were visiting. It wasn't planned, but what great fortune. After our lunch in Breckenridge we all came out of the restaurant to find Heidi. We affected introductions with Heidi's non-goat friend and took photos together. I titled my post on Facebook, "Four cousins and a goat." One of our cousins suggested the title should be "Five cousins." I'm officially claiming Heidi as our new cousin, and happy that Heidi is part of the extended family.    

I've got (at least) two more Breckenridge posts. One will feature my visit with Pat and Vinnie and the other will be a Pink Saturday post commemorating Juneteenth and showing another aspect of Breckenridge's early history. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care.

Pink Saturday Goes to Colorado

 

Greetings, Pink Saturday friends, from beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado

Actually these greetings are coming from my desk in New York City. I arrived back last night after a totally uneventful day of travel and a fabulous week in Breckenridge. My goal for this trip was a change of scenery and it turned out to be so much more. I spent time with family -- a definite bonus -- and blog friends Pat and Vinnie, who may be the best tour guides ever. I walked a lot, swam, went for a spa treatment and spent hours enjoying the extraordinary scenery. 

There will be several more posts about my travels in Colorado, but this post is a special Pink Saturday post. From my first day in Breckenridge I started to notice the color pink around me and decided I'd do an all pink post starting with the glimmers of pink in the sky. 

These bright beauties greeted me on my walk down Main Street.

I did very little shopping on this trip, except for window shopping. There were lots of cute things calling out to me, but in the interest of Sensible Spending June, I kept my shopping to window shopping and window photography. 

The pink bench called out to me and I think the pillow may have been custom made. I did contemplate buying the pillow -- I've never seen a Buttercup pillow before -- but while I was contemplating the pillow went home with another Buttercup. Happily I have the photograph to keep as a sweet memory.

I feel as though I followed my bliss into the mountains and

 left a piece of my heart in Colorado.  

I spent a fabulous afternoon at the South Park City Museum in Fairplay, Colorado with Pat and Vinnie. There are forty authentic buildings from the days of the Colorado gold rush mining camps. I found it fascinating and the Museum will get an entire post, but this pink room (from an original saloon of the era) deserves to be featured on Pink Saturday. For anyone who watched "Gunsmoke" back in the fifties, you'll appreciate that I fully expected to see Miss Kitty and Marshall Dillon walk in any minute.  

I've got one more "pink" picture, but it will be featured in a Monkey Monday post. There was a little drama with Pep's love life which I'll be sharing tomorrow. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and have a great week!

 

Greetings from Breckenridge

 

Just a block from my hotel

I’m doing this post on my iPad and it’s a lot more difficult than my computer, so please excuse any issue with format. My iPad aside it’s been a great few days in Colorado. Easy flight — as though it hasn’t been forever since I’ve been in an airport — and an easy transfer to Breckinridge.

The scenery is even more stunning than I remembered from past visits to Colorado and it’s the perfect place for a change of scenery. The town is very walkable and restaurants, grocery, cute stores are an easy walk from my hotel. 

This was my breakfast view yesterday. I had eggs and a biscuit at The Blue Moose right across the street from my hotel. Today I’m going with yogurt, because I’ve got lunch ahead with a blog buddy, and yes, I’m so looking forward to our get together later today. Tomorrow I’m scheduled for lunch with my Colorado cousin. So happy to see friends, family and scenery.

Now it’s time for coffee and the gorgeous views anywhere in this town. 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take care! 

(Almost) Back in the Air

 

And the first long distance destination of 2021 is Colorado -- next week!

For the first time in sixteen months -- possibly the longest time since 1972 between flights -- next week I'm off to the airport. I'll be heading to Colorado for a week of Rocky Mountain air, sunshine (I hope), swimming and walking. I'm excited and nervous, which is pretty much how I feel before every trip. 

I made the plans just a few weeks ago and it's only in the last few days that I realized I'm really going away. In the past I'd planned my travel with a long lead time and started putting the details in place months ahead. I've got a couple of phone calls to make to clarify a few things that I couldn't find on line -- mostly questions about needing to make reservations ahead -- but otherwise I managed to put a tentative schedule together for the almost week I'll be there. 

Tomorrow I'll put together the list I make before every trip. I need to remember to cancel my Sunday newspaper, do laundry, reserve a trip to the airport and plan a dozen other details that are part of going away. But for this trip I need to remember extra masks and my vaccination card. The latter is not all that different from the international vaccine card I brought to the Amazon to show I'd had yellow fever vaccine a few years ago. If I forget something it won't be the first time and I hope it's nothing more difficult to find in Colorado than a new toothbrush. 

 I'm so grateful that life in New York City is more vibrant daily. I'm back on the subway as much as I'm riding the bus, the gym in now open seven days a week instead of six and tomorrow, for the second week in a row, I will be attending my Weight Watchers meeting in person and not via Zoom. Just a year ago none of these activities were part of my daily life and I had no idea when they would be. 

As a note about the snow globe above: yes, it's a little worse for wear. I dropped it packing up the snow globe collection before the gas pipe reconstruction last year. I bought Elmer's Glue to seal it and didn't realize that Elmer's Glue now comes in colors. It's held up, but I think I may be time to find a replacement.

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care.