"But it never snows this early!"

We spent Monday night, Oct. 5, in Wichita, KS...but there's really not much to talk about, except for our failed attempt to have dinner at the Zen restaurant which is closed on Mondays. I understand that downtown Wichita is very cool and interesting, but we knew there was a long drive ahead of us on Tuesday and we opted for an early night with the hopes of starting at a reasonable hour the next day. The drive from Wichita to the Boulder, CO area was about 9 hours and the first part, heading north on I-135, was windy but generally manageable. However, the wind hit us head-on when we turned west on I-70 and driving was both tricky and fatiguing for a while until the gusts eased up in the afternoon. Kansas is...sort of brown. There's one interesting bit just past Wichita where there are rocks and hills, but mostly it's brown. However, it's not flat – western Kansas goes steadily and quietly uphill until you're in Colorado, which is still brown and slightly uphill, and then you're outside of Denver and there are mountains in the hazy distance. It's your reward for getting this far.

We met Pat and Sam at Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp in Washington state. We last saw them at camp in March, when we said that we would like to stop by on our road trip and they said, fine, just let us know, we'd love to see you. They live about 45 minutes northwest of Boulder, between the towns of Jamestown and Ward, in a beautiful log house at about 8500 ft with a stunning view of the Rockies. We settled in with margaritas and a few tunes – Pat plays flute and Sam plays bouzouki – and practiced breathing in the noticeably thinner air. Wednesday was supposed to be one of the only clear days in the week, so we hauled ourselves out of bed the next morning and Pat thoughtfully volunteered to not only come with us but also to drive us over to Rocky Mountain National Park. We went to a trail that started at Bear Lake (9000+ ft.) and went up to 3 other lakes; normally it's a moderate hike but there was snow and ice on the beginning of the trail and we bravely joined the other people shuffling upwards. After the first shady bit the snow had mostly melted except in a few other places, and we forged ahead except when I had to stop and gasp for a while. Normal people should not go hiking with flute players. We had a marvelous time – it was a clear day, not too cold, and the trail wasn't terribly crowded. That night, we went to the Irish music session in Erie which was somewhat crowded but good fun all the same. We hadn't been to a session or played with other people since July in New York City...!

Thursday, it snowed. Sam left the house early to take his mother for an appointment and he called back later saying that things were a mess, people were all over the road, no one was ready for the snow and he was going to take a back road home in the hopes of not getting stuck. The three of us spent the day lounging around indolently: reading, drinking tea, watching the snow fall, and (in my case) resolutely not thinking about what we would do if Sunday rolled around and the roads were closed. Friday morning it was NINE degrees outside but it eventually warmed up and we followed through with our plan to go to Boulder for the day. Pat joined us for part of the time and we all had a fabulous lunch at Leaf and then walked around the downtown pedestrian mall area for a while. Pat left to go to her yoga class and William and I went off to try the coffee at Ozo (it was very good). We made dinner that night – Thai curry – and then there were a few more tunes. And then, it snowed. Again.

On Saturday, I was hoping to get back over to Rocky Mountain Natl. Park, and Pat decided that she was in the mood for a hike, so we went to the Lumpy Ridge area and walked straight up a few boulders until we got to Gem Lake. Again, I did a lot of gasping but this time Pat actually ran out of air a few times as well – it's a very steep trail. We rewarded ourselves with coffee and a brownie on the way home and then put dinner together for ourselves and a couple of friends of Pat and Sam's who (surprise!) were coming over to play a few tunes. Dinner conversation centered around Pat's tales of the neighboring development down the road that has a bad bear problem – we learned that bears can open doors, or just walk through them, and that they are perfectly capable of taking your car apart if there's something that they want inside. Also, never shoot at a bear that's gotten into your house because then you either have a) an angry bear (if you miss) or b) a dead bear (if you don't)...and neither one is something that you want to deal with up close.

Sunday morning, we got everything back in the car, scraped the ice off the windshield, defrosted the wiper blades, and said goodbye. 6 hours later, having gone up and down from 11,000+ ft. (REALLY hard to breathe) and through some amazing scenery, we arrived in Pagosa Springs, CO where we would be spending the next week with friends from California.