Buena Vista and Nathrop

Friday, 4 July 2014

Having gotten up early (of course) and sampled the motel’s breakfast, we went wandering around some of the side streets, and found a deer in the middle of town. Our friends later told us the deer are real problems here, especially when the apple trees ripen.

Any number of festivities are planned for Buena Vista today, but we are mostly destined for Nathrop, Pat and various friends and family. We ate breakfast at the motel, wandered past the Optimists’ pancake breakfast in the park, but balked at paying another $7 apiece for not a lot more than we had already eaten.

Jacky wanted a picture of a happy Dave. Well, I’m always  happy, but here’s a completely frivolous shot.

There is an art fair in the park. Vendors were busy setting up their displays. Here’s one that’s totally politically incorrect!

We found Pat’s place in Nathrop, right near the river. She took us across the private bridge to the hot, open country of Ruby Mountain across the river, for a brief hike. Pretty country, but I think I prefer the lush green of the exposed watershed further north.

Here is the bridge. By rhythmically jumping on it and pulling on the suspenders, I was able to rock the bridge, enough to get a protest from certain accompanying females.

This bridge leads into a story, so bear with the pictures. Here are the cables that support the span.

And the span itself, a plank deck flanked with chain-link fence.

The story is that a small child fell through an opening in the Golden Gate bridge some time ago, a gap that was thought to be too small to pass even an infant. When that happened, Pat noticed that this private Nathrop bridge had big gaps in the chain-link bordering the deck.

The good part of the story is that, instead of lobbying Washington for a billion dollars, Pat and a few volunteers got some strapping material and secured the chain-link to the deck themselves.

Maybe it’s standard practice in this kind of construction, but we also noticed that the bare ends of the suspension cables have been torch-melted into soft ends, no protruding sharp wires. Good for them.

Going over to Gary’s, we passed a grow house, where Colorado’s state herb showed every sign of thriving. Gary had a couple jars of herb on his coffee table. I asked about the rock-ribbed conservatives who believed in substance control, along with any number of other violations of individual rights. The answer: “We told them their opinions were no longer popular here!” Don’t really know how widespread this atmosphere of tolerance is, but it is certainly an encouraging sign.

We have seen dark afternoon clouds on several occasions, but today it actually rained, sometimes fairly enthusiastically, for a couple hours. Glad we weren’t on the trail this afternoon, but ensconced in Gary’s place instead, soaking up blueberries, cherries, pineapple, bananas, strawberries, crackers, hummus, chips, and conversation.

After Dorthey and Maggie and Roy and all their friends and families and kids had showed up, we spent some time talking, then made our excuses. Brews at Eddyline in BV [the real locals call it Buni!], then to the Asian Palate, where I invited them to make it spicy and they obliged. Good day, good show.

It rained again, beginning as we reached the motel, and after an hour or so, the sun shone under the clouds and produced a pair of wonderful rainbows!

Tags: Buena Vista