I'm ready for better days.....

 Colorado is burning.     Glenwood Canyon is one of the most beautiful places in our state.   It follows the Colorado River as it winds it's way westward.     This mighty river carved a deep narrow canyon in  15 miles of raw beauty.     The highway in the Canyon is a major east/west route. It was a remarkable  engineering feat to construct a two lane interstate concrete ribbon through the narrow pass without destroying or detracting from the best of nature.   

This is the very beginning of the fire.    These two avid hikers were tubing on the Colorado and saw the fire and smoke.   They saw fire trucks racing to the site but it was already consuming large pine swaths.  And so it began..... they think it was from a cigarette thrown from a car window.    We are in a severe drought and this was all it took.     Over one week later, the fire is not contained and 1-70 remains closed. 

   

This is the view south.    Normally, the San Juan mountains are clearly visible and the Colorado blue sky dominates.    There is another  very large fire, out of control as well,  about 1.5 hours north of us and between the two, we are smothered in smoky haze. 

Yesterday, we went Jeeping up Corkscrew Pass.    It was hazy at 12.000 ft as well.    It looked so dry everywhere.    Last year we had record snows and this year, not much.     It is sad.

I finished "Migrations".   It is a somber,  complex novel.   I feel I should reread it but right now, I need something a bit lighter.    I'm also listening to "Children of God", the sequel to "Sparrow".    I'm thinking that listening is better than reading it.   The narrator is good with the various dialects.   

  On our return from the mountains yesterday, we stopped at our favorite restaurant in Ridgeway.  (Believe it or not, this was the FIRST food not made in our kitchen since we returned from AZ in March).   Taco del Gnar makes tacos that are nothing like what you think.    They had window service only, masks required and they wiped the IPad after each signature.    We threw out all of our thoughts of  plant based food and indulged.    The tacos we ordered are a soft flour tortilla, filled with greens, pico, red peppers ( I think) and marinated portobello mushroom slices.    All dampened with queso fresco,   It is served with tater tots with more pico and queso and a container of smoky baked beans.    We sat in the park and ate our drippy delicious meal.    Of course, there a lot of meat/fish  based tacos.    Normally, there are great concerts in the park in the summer.    We pick up our dinners and find the perfect spot to listen and enjoy the summer evenings.    Not normal any more..... but the tacos are as great as ever.    In case you are in your 2nd home in Telluride, there is a Taco del Gnar there as well....a block from the ski lift.  

I should be out walking and biking but the smoke is irritating and I'm not sure it is wise.    I feel like it is winter and we are confined.   

To all my blogger friends.    For quite awhile, 6 months or more, I haven't been able to comment on your blogs.  I still follow all of you and I have tried and will keep trying.  I type out my comments and they never show up.    I'm doing it the way I've always done it.    I suspect it is operator error but if you have suggestions, I will listen.     Anyway,  I'm still enjoying all you have to say.