Well I’m back from a glorious long weekend in Boulder! Actually, I’m tardy – it was last weekend but never mind that. The weather was beautiful, the food was fantastic and good times were had by all. The only downside was that the lacing mechanism on my new hiking shoes broke and I resorted to hiking four hours in the Rockies in my slip-on Merrell Mary Janes. Yeesh.
No bears were sighted but bear hair was in abundance on the trail. In fact we saw no prairie dogs, no bobcats, no nothin’ except for a lone woodpecker. But we did encounter plenty of hikers and runners, including one guy running in huarache sandals. We turned around at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and took a little tour before heading back. A little bit of trivia for you – Woody Allen climbed down the side of the building in the film “Sleeper”. But enough of that. It’s been a while since we’ve had a slide show so here you go:
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
We also had some yum, yum, yummy ginger cake at the Boulder Tea House.
mmm...ginger cake
The building was a gift from Boulder’s sister city of Dushanbe in Tajikistan. Beautiful.
Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse
So glad I was able to go and experience Boulder. But, the best part was just hanging out, relaxing and having a good dose of girl talk. Must do that more often.
The great thing about traveling, especially alone, is that it allows plenty of guilt-free time to catch up on reading. So, I zipped through a few more chapters of No Ordinary Time. I know this is a book about FDR and Eleanor but the more I read, the more I empathize and want to know about Eleanor. Sure it’s interesting to learn about FDR and get insight into his character but, so far, I’m on the fence about what I think of him.
On the one hand, he’s the husband who lets his mother dominate him and doesn’t make the effort to secure a seat for his wife at the dinner table or near the fireplace – instead leaving her to find a chair wherever she could. It was not until Val-Kill that she finally had a chair of her own. I don’t know if I would have put up with that. More likely, I’d have brought in my own damn chair and smacked a label with my name on it.
On the other hand, he respected Eleanor enough to speak for him at the Democratic National Convention, basically saving his nomination. And I didn’t read anything about advisors reviewing her speeches prior to that or any other event. That’s trust.
I’m interested to see how this all unfolds.
Filed under: * Heather, books, food, life Tagged: | Boulder, Boulder Tea House, Colorado, Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR, NCAR, No Ordinary Time
Looks like you had beautiful weather in CO. I’m a bit creeped out by the bear hair. I had a mild “encounter” witha bear in TN years ago. Creepy. Fab photos! I’m too on the fence about FDR and more fascinated by Eleanor. Yeah, the chair issue! At least she got her very own house. She is at once so loyal to him yet fiercely independent. I’m impressed.
I was very happy not to encounter a live bear in person. I did see a bear of the taxidermy variety at the Boulder Fall Fest though. It was smaller than I expected.
I love Boulder. It looks pretty dry there though. Love the mountains.
I’m still amazed by what was allowed in those days. Maybe we are just used to knowing everything realtime and having access into so much of peoples lives. They could probably keep things relatively private in those days.
Have you gotten to the part about Eleanor’s “girlfriends”? The ones who wore trousers and short hair and lived together and talked about interesting things.
That would have been blown way out of proportion these days!
I’ve taken a week long break from NOT, but am back into Chap 11 this week.
No running for me unfortunately….unless I take the kids with me and we know how that usually turns out!
Yes, privacy is not what it used to be. I’m just starting Chapter 8. Had to take a short break from reading. I’ll try to get back to it this weekend.
But I have been running. Slow going. I’m in the second week of the Ease into 10K program. So far so good.