Top of the world - Colorado 3

When we left Estes Park I drove us 9 miles up a very steep and winding road, to the Chasm Falls (there will be photos on Tony's website in due course) which was so crowded with people skidding to a halt, trotting down the path and taking a quick snap and moving on again, that there was no chance of just enjoying the view. Tony was trying his new technique of photographing running water, which involves taking up a lot of space and lying, or standing, very still for a long time. Not long now, I kept telling people, just a few more seconds.... I am a very faithful and understanding photographer's assistant. I think I should get a certificate, if not a medal, even.


The road is one-way, so after you've done your bit at the waterfall you have to keep on for another 19 miles or so (at 15 miles an hour), as it gets steeper and steeper - and narrower. Luckily we wanted to go that way anyway, as we were on our way to Leadville, for the Independence Day Parade. The views were breathtaking. I am going to run out of adjectives very quickly on this holiday. There are not enough of them to do justice.


Here's a photo of Tony near the top. The white stuff by his feet is ice. You can see the road behind him, where it's levelled out and got easier. It was hard work driving. Total concentration plus elevation gain - by the time we got to the top I felt as if someone had been bashing me about the head repeatedly with a large firm object. Also my ears felt all clogged up (this does not count as a bodily fluid, Margot...) so when Tony eventually found me in the gift shop (I didn't realise he'd lost me, actually, but you know what boys are like in supermarkets, even very very small ones) and was waving his arms and mouthing something in an agitated fashion I had no idea what he was saying. I think he was accusing me of dithering, or wandering off, or somesuch. I was buying gifts, for god's sake... 


The food in the Alpine Visitors Centre is wonderful. I had freshly made chicken noodle soup followed by chile con carne... fantastic. Tony doesn't do soup. I feel his life is poorer for this fact, but he was happy with his sandwich. 

Altitude, altitude...

Margot says I'm not allowed to talk about bodily fluids any more, but I have to warn you about another little problem that you might encounter at 9,000 feet.

Do not bend over from the waist - which you might do if you want to take a close-up photo of a tiny plant with a lovely blue flower about the size of a pinhead which has captured your heart with its brave battle with the howling wind and lack of topsoil - because you will feel most peculiar when you bend back up again. Light-headed and not entirely of this world.

Ordinarily, if you were at sea-level (or even 6,000 feet, I discovered later) you might attempt the squat or crouch with some degree of certainty that you could hold it for long enough to focus the camera and get upright again unaided, but at 9,000 feet your knees are thighs are telling your brain 'do not even think about it. You're not going to be able to get down there, never mind get back up again...'

So if you want the photo badly enough, you will have to get down on your hands, knees and elbows, bum in the air. To get back up again without mechanical assistance you will need to do that first-knee-up, push up with hand, waggle bum around and grunt a bit thing until you get enough momentum going to get the second knee up and hope it will keep you going till you're upright, without falling over.

I think it was worth it,though.

Crocs in Colorado

Crocs are a form of footwear that no self-respecting adult over the age of, say, 30 should be seen wearing. Why would anyone choose to walk around with two lumps of primary-coloured plastic, shaped to fit a flat-footed elephant, stuck to their feet? How could a person of even average intelligence fall for such an obvious money-spinning con?


I was visiting Maggie and bemoaning the loss of my much-loved Nike sandals that they don't make any more, and she said 'Would you like some Crocs? I have some that are too big for me, they might fit you.' 


'Phtooey-crumph' I replied, aiming for polite non-committal, missing by a mile and hitting disdain and distaste.


'They are khaki green', she said, "not tangerine or petunia. And they are not made of plastic'. 


"No, I don't think so, really, thanks very much anyway, but....'


Why don't you just try them on' she said, more than once. So eventually, just to shut her up, I did.


People, they are lovely. It's like walking on two bits of sponge. Soft, but firm. Lots of room for toe spreading. Not the least bit sweaty. Easy to slip on an off. Cope well with many different surfaces, including stony paths...


I don't care what people like me think about them any more.


The only drawback so far is they don't cope too well with rain - at least not the torrential, thunderous, sheeting downpours that we have been having daily for the past three weeks. That makes them go a wee bit slippy/slidey. 

Blogging in America

It's hard work. It's going to take me longer to write about this holiday than it is to live it - we've been here for four and a half weeks and I've only managed to blog about the first two days. I think from now all I will be abandoning all attempts at chronology (Tony is doing that on his website - see this link)

http://tonyswash.com/Tony/

The hurdles in the way of putting a relevant photo with text are way too high - take photo, download to the computer, add label and wait for Tony to do something technical which will make it easy for me to import it to my blog page and for yous lot to actually see it. He keeps offering to teach me to do the technical bit by myself, but as we are already jostling for keyboard time on the laptop, the threat keeps going away, so from now on photo may or may not have anything to do with the content of the entry.

The gods of communication have not been working in harmony - who knew there were so many things that had synchronise? Wifi, ambient lighting (as in I need something more than a 40 watt bulb), something to lean on, available computer time when brain still functioning...

Also I swear I have designed and changed and SAVED!!! the settings about four times on this blog thing, and it just keeps defaulting to to its basic ugly stuff. I will get to grips with this when I get home and have access to computer set-up which is not going to ruin what is left of my eyesight, posture and good humour.

I'm going to put a photo in now. It will no doubt appear at the top of the page, even though I would like it to be here, at the bottom....

Rocky Mountains 2

Emerald Lake. This is one of Tony's photos....

Photos from the Rocky Mountains 1

Tony taking a photo of Alberta Falls

America....

Estes Park, Colorado.

30 June - 2 July

... is a pretty town, a short drive from the Rocky Mountain National Park. It has a lake, views of the mountains, lots of shops (including a really nice bookshop) and a lovely river walk which goes all the way through town. We drove (well Tony drove and I navigated) our monster car (a Jeep SUV) from Denver and we got here early afternoon to the Econolodge. There must be about 40 motels in Estes Park, and we chose the Econolodge. It sounded good on the website, especially since it had views of the lake. It was clean enough, but had this odd smell... We could see the lake if we stood on tiptoe and peeked out of a small slot window in the back wall. There was nothing econo about it, either - I think they charged us a lot more than the online quote. We were so whacked from the journey that we didn't have the energy to do anything about it, like ask for our money back and look for somewhere else.

We were here for three nights, and we did some walking in the park. I'm going to put the photos on another entry because I can't work out how to put a photo anywhere other than at the beginning of a post and this wifi connection is so slow....

Beautiful and wondrous as the park is, with waterfalls and lakes and so on, the main impression of the three days we spent here is extreme discomfort. Jetlag plus high altitude plus encroaching age-related decrepitude equals misery. There's the disrupted sleep, for a start - waking up at 4 am etc. Everything I've read about mountain sickness says that any existing ailments are likely to be exacerbated. OK. What this means in real life is that the vaguely troublesome (at sea level) sinus condition becomes a from of torture, and just about the only think you can think about. How can your nose be producing gallons of snot per hour and simultaneously be completely clogged up so it's impossible to breathe with your mouth shut. Where does it all come from? And how can it keep on coming, for days and days and days. It didn't stop till we got to Utah...

A short walk in the evening to Alberta Falls (about a mile - but up a very steep hill) takes an hour and a half, stopping every few yards, gasping for breath. Knees creaking. Lungs heaving. Head thumping. And it wasn't dehydration because it would not have been possible to drink any more water than I did. I feel so old and decrepit.

Tony keeps saying, it's the altitude, but that doesn't help much. Next day we walk to Emerald Lake via Nymph Lake and Dream Lake. Tony is feeling quite chipper, and I feel like my bones are made of lead. It's about two and a half miles, 900 feet elevation gain - it took TWO HOURS, and we only did little stops at the lakes (they were really crowded - lots of people and not a lot of space). I'm in despair. I feel ancient. Is this how it's going to be from now on? Get me the power scooter and the oxygen tank NOW. Instal the Stanalift before I get home. The only place I'll ever be able to walk again is Holland.

The scenery is beautiful: soaring snow-capped mountains, clear blue lakes, pine trees, shrubs and flowers that all smell wonderful. Some amazing birds - an especially startling bright blue one called Stellar's Jay. (We know this because Tony happens to be standing next to birdwatching lady expert, and she told him).

It took us an hour to get back down. I took some paracetamol which at least did for the headache for a few hours, but didn't improve the sinus situation. Shiatsu point pressing on the head helped temporarily (I put this bit in for Helen....).

The other thing is that it is very expensive here, and not just because the pound is so week. Also there is lots of mental arithmetic to do to work out how much stuff costs. You take the price - say $27.99, and you add tax (which can be anything from 9% to 12% depending where you are) and then you have to multiply by 7 to get the cost in £s.

Day three and I'm feeling better but it's Tony's turn to feel like crap. I learn to drive the SUV by going round and round the car park at the motel and driving into town, doing left and right hand turns and manoeuvres in traffic and reversing into parking spaces. At least they give you lots of room to park.

I'm actually writing this on Saturday 17th July, in Moab. This is taking ages. I'm not sure I'm going to ever catch up with myself. I will post this and then put some photos on, hopefully....