My Sunset Years

 I departed from the "Small Acre Farm" around 4 PM. After crawling in traffic through Estes Park, and still ending up in the wrong lane 2 times, I arrived in the Glacier Basin campground around supper time. Estes Park was a cross between Leavenworth and Las Vegas. What a contrast to the park, minutes later! And, yes, that is a power line coming straight through my campsite! It turned out that Glacier Basin is right at the hub of two bus lines. Despite 90º heat, I was determined to have a short hike. I took the northern bound bus to the end of the line at Morraine Park. It was still a 3/4 mile hike to the trailhead. I enjoyed the valley floor scenery, but I gladly accepted a ride back to the bus stop. Too hot!!! After breakfast in my tent due to a small rain shower, I headed for the other bus line. The most popular destination was South to Bear Lake. It was crowded, but it did not impress me. So back to my car and off to cross the park to my campsite on the west side.  It was ...

The original inspiration for this trip was the announcement of a 3-day fiber arts workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado. This event was created and hosted by Tedi Jansen and Toot Gradisar. Well, Toot is a woodworker and helped us make fiber-related tools. There were several guest instructors and many workshops to choose from. I decided on wet felting, botanical dying, and blue (and green) dying. The workshops were in their barn, which doubles as their house. No problem with the heat except for my fridge chest! They also raise Finn sheep. My wet felting workshop taught us how to make a cobweb shawl.  On Saturday, a group of 12 of us were exposed to 4 kinds of botanical dyes. Logwood for purple, Himalayan Rhubarg for gold, Cochineal for red, and fresh indigo for green. We also harvested flowers from TeDi's garden. Tedi supplied us with silk ribbon, a silk scarf, an ounce of wool yarn, and a cotton dishtowel. Play away!! My last workshop was called "Blue" but it included overdy...

 I learned about a 3-day wooly workshop in Colorado that happens every July. I also had friends camping in Idaho slightly before. I put together a plan to go out to CO via Montana and Wyoming, and returning through Rocky Mountain National Park, Utah and City of Rocks. Timing was based on approximately 5 hours a day driving, and the hope of stops at interesting sites as well as a few back roads. It came together in pieces, and sometimes with hope for a large dose of luck.  First night - Fort Spokane in eastern Washington. All reservations in unknown places are a roll of the dice. It turned out my site was away from the "popular" sites and the clusters of families. The next morning I went to see the historic site of a military post and later (1900-1907) a boarding school for Native American children. Only two buildings are left. One is a barn with a museum inside. There is also a walkway around the property.  The next two nights were with "Sunshine Friends" at Bell Ba...