Working in a university town allows the extras in life, without the hustle & bustle of a city.
Ok, ok — Boulder is not NYC but still mighty nice to visit a planetarium — on a random Thursday night 🙂
CU’s Fiske Planetarium recently re-opened after a 10-month renovation project – so has been the talk around the office. HD movies, laser shows – and live presentations too. Purchased tickets to a live show titled ‘Colorado Skies’.
“The naked eye can see about 6,000 stars. Our new projector is so powerful that you can use binoculars inside the planetarium to see millions of stars and the beautiful Milky Way.”
I still maintain my starriest night ever was in Steamboat a few weeks back – 3 hour drive, 2 miles up a dirt road, snow camped after. This night at Fiske Planetarium – 10 minutes away, blue comfy chair in a temperature-controlled building.
There’s room for both in my universe. Highly recommended!
Jupiter
Little Dipper & North Star (illuminated)
CU’s Fiske Planetarium
Working in a small work setting during the season change, means lotta passing of airborne illnesses. Last year I was successful in fending off the germ pool with daily doses of Airborne & Emergen-C.
This year – complete fail. Forgot to start the daily regimen. ARGH! I hate being sick. It’s so much harder for guys (ok maybe that’s just my version of reality).
Weekend camping – didn’t happen 🙁 (In addition to being sick, been catching flack for less than stellar church attendance this summer/early fall.) So…kicked around & did nothing? Wrong.
My friend M offered to drive – today’s destination: Red Feather Lakes, CO. And although I didn’t feel hike worthy, lucky enough to see both highlights on my eclectic Red Feather wish list.
About an hour west of Fort Collins, barreled down a series of county roads to the Shambhala Mountain Center. Buddhist temple built deep in the Rockies – seriously? Got to see it.
friendly warning — Don’t expect this to be a popular viewpoint, but I believe my God loves all his people & works through a series of faiths/religions to develop & activate our spirituality. HUGE fan of prayer & meditation.
Temps dropped & snow started to fly. Coincidence, maybe. But nothing lifts & supplicates my spirit like walking/breathing/hiking in the Colorado Rockies. Add snowfall to the recipe. WOW, I’m a blessed individual 🙂
Followed a trail of Tibetan banners to the Great Stupa – maybe half-mile away. Because of the weather, almost had the whole place to ourselves this day. No I’m not a follower of Happy Buddha, so why go? I challenge you to put your mind in the right place – push out judgment & preconceived ideas – get quiet, close your eyes, breathe, pray/meditate.
Watched a small herd of horses walled in by mountain canyons. Amazing, unexpected experience.
2nd highlight – how ‘bout a complete 180? HA!
Walked Elf Lane – a random dirt road off Hiawatha littered with gnomes, dwarves, angels & action figures. (Thanks Leslie for the heads-up and your office desk tchotchke donation. Much appreciated!)
Big flakes now falling – super fun-day adventure. Gnomes hiding under trees, on rocks, hanging from branches, hangin’ solo, coupled, ganged-up together. Holiday gnomes, summer lawn gnomes – who knew there was so much variety?
Fever & a sore throat – ouch. New snow, mountain temples & lawn gnomes – chicken soup for the soul.
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- Shambhala Mountain Center
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- banners & prayer flags lined our trek to the Great Stupa
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- the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya
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- (another) snowy October day – LOVED it!
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- random dirt road off Hiawatha – odd, eclectic, FUN!
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- token tchotchke offering (office desk find – thanks Leslie!)
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- rosy red gnome
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- grampa gnome
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- Rocky Mtn snow gnome – everything’s better in snow, right?
After two weekends of snow camping (LOVED it!), mixed things up & stayed local.
Unfortunately, most trails along the Front Range are still closed because of last month’s flood. Temporary roads to Estes Park (Rocky Mtn National Park) & isolated communities are in place but hear the 45 minute drive north is now a 2+ hour trek.
Wait a sec – I’m in Colorado…there’s a ton of ways to fill a weekend 🙂
In celebration of Ro’s 2nd birthday, started off with a tour of area dog parks. Fave park of the day – the Great Bark Park in Lafayette. Ro raced back ‘n forth for hours. Did my heart good to see Ro so happy.
Bath, quick walk around the ‘hood, 2 dog circles on the rug & bam – out for the count. Yeah, grown-up time!
Purchased tickets to Roller Derby. Seriously.
Haven’t ever been, so why not? And the promo pic showed black eyes, bruises & blood. Heck, yeah! Have had a secret interest since watching “Whip It” years back. $10 admission for 2 bouts – one being the league Championship. Can’t beat that price!
New sport, gotta figure out scoring & the rules. This sport favors big girls – better blocks, bigger hits. Scrawny girls have speed but one well-placed bootie bump results in lotta skinny legs sprawled upwards & out-of-bounds.
Star on the helmet – denotes you’re the lead jammer. [‘star’ has been my symbol of choice for years :)]
Scoring is quick. [I advocate revising scoring during the power jam.] Benching the lead jammer allows the opposing team to post quick scores of 5 during the 2 minute sit-down penalty (similar to hockey).
What I did like most? The lead jammer puts her hands on her hip to end the jam. After all the bumping & bruising, seemed super girlie to end play with a simple hands on the hips. LOVED it!
Orange Crushers took this year’s title in a late comeback. SUPER fun nite!
(New to Roller Derby & already a fan? Yep. Girls with curves ROCK!)
Orange Crushers hoist trophy
