Whew! It’s good to be back. I’m home after being away for a week and a half. I enjoyed my trip: I drove to Santa Fe and ate green chile. Pretty new car goes fast! I drove to Denver the next day and explored Colorado for the first time. I spent a productive few days at a college teaching workshop and presented a paper at the American Astronomical Society meeting. I always enjoy seeing old friends at these meetings – Brant, Murray, Ravi, Haojing… makes me look forward to the next meeting in January!

Of course, there was time for fun, too. Greg flew in on Monday night and we hit a local brewpub and Tattered Cover bookstores in Denver. (Yes, we went to both locations.) I also spent a wonderful evening in Boulder with beloved former student Philip and his lovely girlfriend Faith. Then Greg and I drove back to Tempe, spending some time in Moab, Monument Valley, and Flagstaff. All in all, a wonderful adventure.

The most challenging part of the trip for me was wrenching myself away from Rocky Mountain National Park. What a gloriously beautiful place! So quiet and peaceful. So few people up on the Trail Ridge road. I only spent an afternoon there, but I know I need to go back there someday. I’m surprised I ever left – I wonderful if the Park Service needs an astronomer there? I’ve posted a few images below, but they don’t nearly do justice to the beauty of the place.

I hope that you all behaved while I was gone!

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You just know, looking at this, that it'll be a nice drive through the national park.

Yeah, I could handle seeing this every day.

At this point, a nice gentleman offered to photograph me with the scenery, to which I replied, "And ruin this view?"

I enjoyed my hike in the climate zone referred to as "arctic tundra" - in this part of the park, wind is often recorded at 100 mph and the temperature doesn't get above freezing for 5 months out of the year. That's lichen covering all the rocks.

Hiking above the treeline in the tundra, over 12000 ft above sea level - above the trees, above the cities, above the people - hmmm...sounds like a good place for me!