A Herd of Buffalo

Denver has one of the more successful Urban Malls, shown here along 16th Street.  It is also apparently home to a herd of Urban Buffalo.........

 

Final Taste of Colorado

View of the Civic Center Park

 

Long view of the Denver City County Building.

Colorado has several ways in which a town can be incorporated.  It gets pretty complicated,  but one type is the City-County.  Denver is both a City and a County and has some kind of combined governing structure.  Since I don't live there I haven't bothered to delve into the details, but there is a Wikipedia entry on Colorado City Charters.

More From A Taste of Colorado

Of Course food tasting is the objective.  But we decided to take a pass on Famous Dave's Chocolate covered Bacon.

I was told that their BBQ is very good though.

More Warm Summer Thoughts

It snowed a bit today.  Just a dusting and nothing to photograph.  So let's continue with more warm summer thoughts.  There will be plenty of opportunities to revist winter between now and the end of March.

The Taste of Colorado, held at the Civic Center in downtown Denver, is the big end of summer festival:

The Civic Center is a Prak and Colonade area between the State Capitol Building and the Denver City-County Building.  Here a veiew across the park towards the Capitol.

 

And a closer view of the Denver City-County Building.

These Photos were taken with a Lomo Plastic Fisheye Camera.  There is a whole world of Plastic camera Fanaticism out there.  Just search on Lomography and see what you find.

Take the Long Way Home

Welcome to Night Moves my adventures in Night-time photography, as I share my less than wonderful 60 minute commute home, along Wadsworth Boulevard.

In December it was well into night time by 5:30 PM. 

African-American Heritage Rodeo

For MLK Day they have an African American Heritage Rodeo (They also have a Hispanic Heritage Rodeo Day).  We were so excited with the events, that we really didn't take any pictures.

It was also just a little dark inside.

They began with fireworks and of course, trotting out some of the sponsors in wagons.

Denver's National Western Stock Show

A contrast in cows.

Here we have a Texas Long Horn. Pretty much as close to a wild cow as you are going to find.


Here's another one. A cow with an attitude.



Compare this with the cow below. A french cow. Notice the square shape of this animal. Its been bread to have the shape of a refrigerator box.






Also had goats and pigs.

Calendar: January

This is actually a photo from Springtime, and our First trip to Mt Evans in 2009.  Spring meant June in this case, as the road is only open from Memorial Day to Late September.

January Photo: Views from Mt Goliath

From the Cover

For several years now we have been making photo calendars for our family and friends.  I wanted to share this years calendar here, because it is a Front Range theme.  We have three 14000+ ft mountains in the Front Range: Longs Peak, Mt Evans and Pikes Peak.  The latter two have roads to the summit.  At least twice a year we venture up Mt Evans, and made it the theme for our 2010 Calendar: Summer on Mt Evans.

Today let's start with the Cover, and tomorrow we'll see the January photo.  Then each month we'll see the calendar photo for the month:

Calendar Cover:  Rocky Mountain Goat on Mt Evans

Looking Forward to Spring

Eldorado Canyon State Park, South Boulder Creek at peak flow in the Spring.

Melting of the Winter Snows provides our water for Summer

Fog on Lake Waneka

More from the Lake around the corner.

We will leave Lafayette for a while, because I need to go out and take more photos of the Hometown.

We'll also move away from the theme of winter for a while.

Longs Peak from the Dog Park

To end our dog friendly tour, this is the view of Longs Peak from the Park.

About 35 miles away as the crow flies.

Again, more of those 'houses' sprouting in farm fields!

A Perspective from the Great Bark

You can see in this view looking East, that Lafayette is really where the Plains begin.

Notice that the Park Fence has protected the snow/ice from melting.

Fresh Snow

Sometimes a place for the humans to sit at the Dog Park in better weather.  But dogs being dogs, they often mark this territory.  So sit at your own risk!

Lafayette has a Place for All Dogs

One feature not always found at dog parks:  A special place for small or fearful doggies.

From the Great Bark Dog Park

Lafayette actually has one of the larger and better kept dog parks in the area.


Here Donald walks around the grounds with our babies

Meet the Family

Our dogs love snow!  Meet Kelly (left) and Andy (right).

Kelly is a mature lady of 8 years; Andy is not quite 2 years old.

This photo is from our first snowfall in October, which so far has still been the largest.

Coming soon, Help for Haiti?

Help for Haiti may finally be on the way?

The Stillness of Winter

Venturing a bit further afield, our local power plant is actually in Boulder.

Lake Waneka was the original site of our first regional power plant.  The reservoir was built to provide water for the steam turbines.

This power plant, built in the 1920's replaced the Lake Waneka Plant.  Now powered by natural gas rather than coal, although you can see the proximity of the railroad tracks for ease of coal delivery.

Lake Waneka

A view looking across the Lake from the boat house this Winter.

An unfortunate 'growth' of houses in former farm fields.

Mainstreet Lafayette: Along Public Road

Continuing the theme these next few days of getting to know our hometown:  A view down our main street: Public Road.  We are standing on the east side of the street looking north.  Local lore says that the original owner of the land, Mary Miller, would not allow any alcohol or drinking east of Public Road; strictly temperance.  The town is named for her husband Lafayette Miller.  He got the name, but she owned the land, and several coal mines.  We will delve into the coal mining history of the area later.

Celebrating Oatmeal!

We attended the Lafayette Oatmeal Festival Saturday.  Having lived here for 3 years now, we had never managed to make it.  Aside from ostentatious product placement (see below), it was actually a community health fair sponsored by our local hospital.

In addition to 'healthy eating', we sampled the oatmeal baking contest and actually learned some interesting information about services in our community at the health fair.

 Baking Contest Awards

Around the World.......

I've been notified that we are now listed with 'Around the World' a daily photblog about places rather than Cities only.  That's great and just what we were aiming for.  And Welcome to any new visitors from'Around the World'.

Dedication of the New Boat House

The Ribbon had just been cut and in rushed the crowd.

Much of the landscaping and finishing work was provided for free by local companies and volunteers.

Detail of the pavement leading to the main entrance.

East side of Baot House and part of the pier.

Tomorrow we are heading out to the Oatmeal Festival.  We'll let you know what is was like.

Just Around the Corner

I thought it was about time that we began introducing you to our town, Lafayette, Colorado.

Around the corner from our Home is the City's reservoir surrounded by a park.  We often walked our dog here as did many residents.  A few months after we moved here, bad teenagers burned down the Boat House, where people could rent canoes and paddle boats to float around the lake.

Last July the new Boat House was dedicated. and we also had an opportunity to learn more about our town's history.

Here a view of the New Boat House.  Both photos were taken with my grandfather's 'Argus Brick'. For more on the camera follow the link.

Tomorrow I'll post color photos from the opening. And over the nexr week or so we will continue the introduction the Hometown Lafayette.

Closed for the Season

Trail Ridge Road crosses the Continental Divide into the Grand Valley, headwaters of the Colorado River.  It closes in October each year, ending direct access to the far western part of Rocky Mountain National Park until June.   You can still get there, but its a long ride around!

At the end of October, they pack up and closed down the Alpine Visitor's Center for the season.  It is up there quietly waiting to be re-opened in the Spring.

(And Yes, we did decide to change the Blog name before we got too far into it).

Summit of Longs Peak

A Close-up of the summit area taken from the same vantage point as the banner.   I had wanted at some point to climb Longs Peak but having read its history, have changed my mind.  But I do plan on hiking to Chasm Lake for my Birthday in May (or perhaps June, depending on the snow cover).

Taking a Ride in the Park

Yesterday we took a ride through Rocky Mountain National Park.  This is one of many glacial valleys, looking west and into a snow storm that was passing through.  We'll share more photos from our ride this week.

Also see above our banner photo of Longs Peak taken from Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP).

Gardening Prep?

First, Thanks to my two new followers!  CDP had not yet notified me that I was registered, but now let's get started!

I know that it doesn't look like a gardening prep area at the moment.

I am a frustrated mid-westerner trying to grow flowers from my childhood in a climate not quite suited to it.

I tried starting my own seedlings last year, but the growing season is too short, and many of my plants were damaged by a late snow storm.

An organic farmer that  know suggested starting the seeds indoors in my basement.  This will require significant lighting, but anything to get my flowers started.  Once I get my 'indoor farming' setup I'll share it with you.

Happy New Year!

Sharing a Front Range Winter scene for the formal Launching of our Daily Photo Blog.

Shown here:  Eldorado Canyon State Park, near Boulder Colorado.