The Living Beauty of Waterton Canyon

(Originally wrote this on Sunday but I am just getting a chance to post now.)

In a little under 4 weeks - March 16th,  I will be heading to Moab, Utah to run in the Canyonlands Half Marathon.  Since the beginning of the year I have been slowly and steadily preparing myself for the physical stress and challenge I will put my body through on March 16th. 

This morning I undertook one of the longest runs/walks I have undertaken as part of my training regime.  My original plan was to cover 7 miles on the High Line Canal trail near Waterton Canyon.  Arriving at the parking lot for the trail, I found it closed due to construction.  Quickly deciding upon a fall back plan, I headed to the Waterton Canyon trail head a short distance away.  Instead of covering the 7 miles on the High Line Canal Trail - I would instead cover that distance in Waterton Canyon.

The parking lot for Waterton Canyon was dramatically fuller than the last time I had been there on New Years Day.  There were probably close to 100 cars there along with half a dozen horse trailers for people who were riding their horses into Chatfield State Park.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous so I expected the trail to be full of walkers, runners and bikers.  Due to the Denver Water restrictions dogs and horses are not allowed into the canyon so I didn't expect to see any pups or people on horseback.

Moving as quickly as I could, as I wanted to get back home to Zack who was doing "puppy poop" cleaning duty in the back yard, I hurried though my run/hike preparations.  GPS turned on and satellites acquired - check.  MapMyRun app running on my cell phone - check.  Keys, wallet and camera securely in my backpack - check.  Car locked - check.  And I was off into the canyon.

There were quite a number of people for the first mile or two into the canyon.  Despite the numbers of people there was still a herd of mule deer contentedly grazing at the side of the trail about 1/3 of mile into the canyon.  They were totally undisturbed by the constant stream of people going by and I stopped to take a few pictures of them.

Briskly hiking into the canyon, I moved at a very good clip to mimic the approach that I will need to take to successfully complete the Canyonlands Half Marathon.  Before I knew it, I had put over 3.5 miles behind me in well under an hour.

Arriving at one of the bigger diversion dams in the canyon, I decided to turn back and head for the car.  Running a good portion of the way back out of the canyon, I quickly covered 2 miles before I spied some sort of commotion ahead of me.  There were a number of people congregated ahead of me blocking the entire trail.  I couldn't figure out what they were doing.

It took me about 10 seconds to come to understand that all these people were there observing a very large group of big horn sheep.  It was a very large group of big horns.  There were about 15 of them milling around in the middle of trail and then there were another 10 or more over the hill standing on the ice that covered the South Platte River.  The remarkable thing about these sheep is that they were letting people get very close to them.  In some cases the people were being reckless coming with 5 feet or less of the sheep.  This seemed a little too close to me as the horns on some of the big males looked particularly fearsome.  Even the smaller horns on the females did not look like something with which you wanted to tangle.

For the next 10 minutes I stood there with about a dozen other people in absolute awe of these magnificent animals.  They were amazing!  What was even more amazing about them was how calm and content they were even with so many people right next to them.  Even if I had wanted to move forward I couldn't as the large number of sheep pretty much blocked the entire trail.

Since the sheep were blocking the way, I stood there snapping away with my camera.  The following pictures are the best that I captured.  The light wasn't particularly good and it was hard to get a shot without another person in it, but I did my best to capture the best shots I could.

For all the times I have hiked or biked into Waterton Canyon this is the first time I have every had such an experience with these number of Big Horn Sheep.  It is something that I will remember for a long time - but I do hope that I will see a herd of sheep like this again.

It's late Sunday night and before you know it another work week will be starting.  Zack is off of school on Monday and Tuesday.  He is off Monday because of the holiday and Tuesday is a teacher work day with no students.  He is happy to have only a 3 day week ahead.

The weekend was a great weekend as we had some did some relaxing and fun things.  On Friday night, Lisa and I went out to Brooks Steakhouse which is an upscale steak joint.  We had an enjoyable time, ate some good food and shared some good conversation.  Saturday Zack and I spent most of the day around the house doing things, however we did get out an got pedicures!  I know that may seem a little odd for guys, but it was wonderful.  Lisa got me the pedicure as a Valentine gift - and it was so worthwhile!  On Saturday evening a friend of mine from back on the east coast and her family stopped by.  They are here in Colorado on a winter vacation and are staying at our condo in the mountains.  It was nice to see Lynne and meet her family.  I am glad that I was able to loan them my condo for the coming week.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great start to the week tomorrow!

Thanks and peace to all ~ J.

(Originally wanted to post this on Sunday but I didn't get my photos "developed" in Lightroom in time.)

Onward to India Again

It's that time again.  Time for me to make another trip to India.  It's going to be another whirlwind trip to the subcontinent for me.

I'll depart Denver on February 22nd and be back in Denver the morning of March 2.  Elapsed time of this trip is about 7 hours short of 8 days.  Not too bad all-in-all I guess, though with the short amount of time I will spend in India, combined with the length of time it will take me to get there - I am will return to the US one exhausted person.

My itinerary will be different than my last trip.  During my travel in August I flew in and out of Dehli.  This time my travel will have me arriving in India at Pune.  This will be the first time I will fly an international flight into Pune and I am frankly surprised that it's airport is capable of handling international flights.  Let's just say that the Pune Airport isn't very big!  As a matter of fact I think the Centennial Airport - the small regional airport about 2 miles away from my home is bigger than the Pune Airport.  The landing infrastructure consists of exactly one run way!

Leaving Denver next Friday afternoon, I'll first fly to Frankfurt on a Lufthansa 747.  It's not going to be a pleasant trip as I am in the back of the airplane - row 59.  And I am in a middle seat to boot!

Arriving in Frankfurt at 8:40AM, I'll get to spend 7 hours hanging out there before my flight departs for Pune.  The unusual thing about this flight is that it is 8 hours long and it is on a 737!  I can't say I have ever flown for that long of a time or that far on a 737.  I am sure it will be an interesting experience.  It might be necessary for me to drink heavily on that flight to avoid going crazy.

I will finally reach Pune at 3:30AM on Sunday - India Time.  That means I will spend almost 24 hours in transit.  Getting to my hotel room on Sunday morning is going to be a joyous occasion for me.  Thankfully I'll have a full day to recover before I need to be in the office on Monday.

The trip to Pune will only involve Monday and Tuesday of the week and then I will be off to Dehli on Tuesday evening.  I'll spend the rest of the work week in Delhi before flying home very late in the day on Friday, March 1.  With another 22+ hours of travel time I will arrive back in Denver around 9:00AM on Saturday morning, March 2.  Needless to say by the end of this trip my body and mind will be exhausted.

Making all the arrangements for my travel is the easy part of a trip like this.  The more difficult part of the trip is getting every thing set for Zack while I am gone.  This takes a lot of coordination and effort to put everything together.  Thankfully Tim and Celinde and Nancy are close by and can manage getting him where he needs to be.  Additionally, Lisa has volunteered to help out, so that I feel that there is a pretty good support system in place for him while I am gone. 

It's hard to believe but the time will be coming in a little over a year that I will be able to leave Zack on his own while I go on business trips.  Perhaps it will be pushing the envelope a bit, but I figure once he turns 16 he will pretty much be able to handle most things that come up.  However, I will wait and see how mature he is at that point.

There will be some more tales coming of my time in India I am sure.  Due to the short duration of my trip I do not expect that I am going to be doing any kind of fun activity while I am there.  This will be another one of those see the inside of my hotel room and the office and that is about it.  Not sure when I will be returning to India after this trip, however I have been invited to attend a wedding there at the end of April.  If my work schedule happens to coincide with the wedding I will try and attend. 

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.

Denver's Big Blue Bronco

If controversy and conversation is the mark of a great artist's work than Luis Jimenez can rest in peace, as his last sculpture and the work that killed him has inspired lots of controversy and conversation.

Jimenez was the artist who created the great blue bronco that graces a large hill in front of the Denver International Airport.  The sculpture was commissioned in 1992 with Denver agreeing to pay Jimenez $300,000 for his work.  The statue was to be completed and in place by 1994.

The delivery date was never met and it would be another 14 years until it was finally installed in front of DIA.  While working on the final assembly of the sculpture in 2006, Jimenez was killed when a portion of the statue fell from a hoist, landed on him and sliced through an artery in his leg.  Trapped underneath the large metal section, Jimenez bled to death on the floor of his workshop.

The statue was finally installed and dedicated on June 12, 2008.  Immediately after that people started to complain about the statue and its garish blue color and blazing red eyes. Opinion on the statue has been divided ever since.  Many city residents want to do away with the statue.  What they would replace it with if anything makes me wonder.  Would they prefer a bland white statue of a horse like "Thunder" on the top of the football stadium in downtown Denver?.  That just sounds so incredibly tame to me!

Obviously I like the statue.  I think it adds a ton of character to the airport and by extension the city of Denver.  I have become very used to the statue since I first saw in it the summer of 2008 and now I would definitely be unhappy if it were to be removed!

Unfortunately, that may just happen.  When a Denver city commissioned piece of art is placed on display there is an ordinance that says it must remain on display for so many days or months or years - I really don't know the exact details of the code.  After that time is up, the art can be removed, placed somewhere else or simply left alone.  That default display time for "Sparky the Demon Horse" (as I call him) is coming to an end.  In the coming weeks the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs and City Art will make a determination as to what is to happen to the statue.  I hope that it is retained and can become a major symbol of our city.

Embedded at the top of this post is a wonderful, amazing, beautiful picture of the statue taken at night.  This picture was highlighted on a Facebook Page called "Visit Denver" today and I stole it from there.  (Actually - it was listed as shareable, so no stealing was necessary!)  I like the picture so much that I have updated my Facebook cover with this photo.  Even the picture is a truly remarkable work of art!

Well - that's it for a Monday night.  I hope everyone had a great weekend and has had a good start to the week.

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.