Hot, Hot, Hot!

I'm hot! Are you hot?  I'm talking HOT here!  It's hard to think or talk about anything else.  (I am including these lake pictures not to taunt you, but to help you think cool thoughts!)  No wonder countries around the Equator have a slower paced lifestyle.  It's way too hot for a power suit!  Heck, it's too hot for even a bathing suit these days!

Yes, here's a big ole heatwave sweeping across the country, and it has definitely hit hard here.  It's 3:30 PM and it is 97 degrees, but it feels like 109.  It sure does all right!  In fact it feels like 115, give or take a degree!

Yesterday, we went to a friend's pool to cool off.   Even when wet, the cement was downright scalding, enough to truly burn your feet.  I had never experienced that pain before!  And then when we went to leave, the steering wheel in the car was way too hot to even touch until a few minutes of air conditioning kicked in.  It's insane.  Even the crayons had succumbed to the heat, melting into Crayola rainbow soup.

And here's another tidbit for you!  Tomorrow and Saturday are supposed to be EVEN HOTTER!  How is that possible?!  Thankfully Sunday supposed to be only (only?!) 94, but that is before the heat index is added on like the blanket of humidity it is.  It is hard to believe that two weeks ago we were in Colorado wearing fleeces of all things and playing softball with a snowball!  And why did we think it was a good idea to leave?

Instead of being snowed it, we are pretty much "heated in."  It's too hot to move, but at least we don't have to shovel it or bundle up.  Then again we don't have snow angels or hot chocolate either.

Keep cool -- if you can!  In the meantime we all need to keep our cool.  This too shall pass, right?

LibbY

The Lovely Aspen Tree

We've been back from Colorado for over a week now, but I still have a vivid image of those gorgeous Aspen trees shimmering in the breeze and blowing in the wind, creating a faint rustling sound.   As an East Coaster I had never really heard of that particular tree, but I had heard of the chi-chi ski town of Aspen.  After taking my first good look at some Aspen trees, I realized this is why Aspen is called "Aspen!"  (I'm quick there!)  No wonder why movie stars buy second (or third) homes there.  If I had that kind of pocket change, I probably would, too!

Here is a row of Aspens in the Betty Ford Alpine Park in Vail with Vail Mountain in the background.

Here is a whole forest of Aspens on the outskirts of Aspen.  This was perhaps my favorite sight from the entire trip, and there was steep competition.

Here are some smaller Aspens, also at the Betty Ford Alpine Park.

We saw these Aspens on an incredible jeep tour we took in the Vail area.  (Yes, it's is a typical touristy activity to do in Colorado, but we were tourists in Colorado after all!)  So do you see where the bark has been scratched right off?  That is where a bear sharpened his claws.  Yes!   That is one big paw, huh?

Apparently Aspens have some of the softest wood to be found, so they make for great scratching posts.  Plus its bark is more of a loose skin, so it's easy to scratch since it is not so firmly attached to the tree itself.  Here's a little trivia for you!  Since the wood is so soft and doesn't splinter much, it is the type used in manufacturing toothpicks and tongue depressors!

Aspens resemble birch trees quite a bit, but apparently aren't at all related.  Here is a crazy fact for you via our jeep driver.  Aspens appear to be white, but in reality are a light green color.  The tree creates its own white powder that is covers the tree, creating the white effect.  It acts a sun protectant with an SPF for 40!  You can rub your hands on the tree and see the white powdery film on your hands.  It's wild!  Sam was also impressed, shouting, "Free sunscreen!"  It is also supposed to be an effective mosquito repellent!  God sure knew what He was doing when He created the Aspen!

We definitely noticed that Aspens appears in groups.  It was quite rare to see one standing alone amongst other trees.  According to our guide, all Aspens that grow in a particular area are actually ONE organism, connected by roots.  Amazing!  I'd never heard of such a concept in trees, but it makes sense when you think about it and probably helps them survive through the long harsh Colorado winter.

Speaking of the snowy Colorado winter, Aspens have another ingenious defensive feature -- the base of the tree does not have the same "skin" as everywhere else on the tree.  Instead it is covered in traditional rough, tough, dark bark -- to protect the tree from the freezing cold snowdrifts.  (Sorry, no picture of that!)

Hail to the Aspen, one amazing tree!

LibbY

The Incredible Melting Vacation

Why is it that vacations seem to melt like ice creams on a hot summer day? Ours is melting away right now; we are leaving on a jet plane tomorrow.  That's the thing about vacations -- you plan them out, look forward to them, and hopefully enjoy them.  Deep down, though, you never really expect them to come to an end, and you certainly don't expect reality to take hold once again.  Oh, but it does, doesn't it?

At least you know you had a great vacation if you are sad it's over.  I suppose the better the vacation is, the sadder you are when it ends.  So I'm pretty darn lucky to be so sad, right?

This the view from our place in Vail.  At least it is ours until 6 AM tomorrow when we head on out of here and back to reality.  We actually came out here two years ago and loved it so much, we decided to come back again.  Usually I'm not up for going anywhere a second time, but this was well worth the exception.  It actually made it more relaxing and more like a vacation because we already knew our way around and pretty much already knew what we wanted to do - rafting on Gore Creek, taking a jeep ride off-road, and heading back to the Continental Divide in hopes that Sam would actually get out of the car this time.  And, oh, we also wanted to take Sam back to the super-cool huge pirate ship and the amazing Betty Ford Gardens. Thankfully we managed to achieve these lofty goals without having to study the map! Yahoo!

Here we are with our windblown "jeep hair-do."

And here we are at the Continental Divide.  As you can see, Sam did get out of the car this time.  It doesn't matter that we had to bribe him with Oreos, does it?

Here we are all geared up for rafting.  I didn't realize until way too late how cold the water is.  It had only melted from snow 8 hours beforehand.  Ouch!

Here is Daddy Mac at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, some of the most gorgeous gardens I've ever seen as well as one my children's parks anywhere.  I just read that she passed away today.  She is leaving behind a wonderful legacy.

What a great place to play!  Thank you, Mrs. Ford!

Here's the super-duper-cool pirate ship. AAAARGH!  Pretty cool, huh?

We definitely fit in some goofy behavior as well....  Here''s Sam gettin' down (or something like that) on top of Vail Mountain.  In his own words, he said, "This is the life!"   It sure is, bucko!  It took me 40 years to get to Vail and he has already been there twice at age 6.

Well, I'm really melting now as I finish this up!  We are back in hot, humid Richmond, with rain pouring.  Even after the Rockies, there's still no place like home!  And there's nothing like a hellish flight home to make you really want to get home!


LibbY

East Germany, Vail & the Fourth

Today we were having our 4th of July breakfast at our favorite place in Vail, the Little Diner.  I've never been much of a breakfast person until finding this place when we were here two years ago for vacation.  So there we were, eating away, and Sam started rambling on and on to one of the chefs about his latest LEGO creation, some sort of Alien thing with a homemade escape pod (TMI, I know.)

Trying to get Sam to talk TO the man and not AT him, I prodded him to ask the man if he ever played with LEGOs when he was a little boy.  The man responded, "No, I grew up in Germany, but I didn't play with LEGOs."  We laughed, thinking he had lived so close to the LEGO headquarters in Denmark but never played with them.  How naive are we...

The man said, "We didn't have LEGOs where I lived."  What? No LEGOs In Germany?  He continued, "I grew up behind the Wall."  I think I gasped out loud!  Yes, he really was referring to THAT wall, the Berlin Wall.  Wow!  What in the world do you say to that one?

Daddy Mac and I have never been quite so speechless and just stared, aghast.  Sam was confused by the whole conversation and started firing off all sorts of random questions.  "What wall?  A wall with no LEGOs?  You didn't have LEGOs?  What did you play with?"

The man explained, "I just had some wooden blocks that my father made for me."  Now it was Sam's turn to be speechless.  He had no idea what to say.  A childhood with no toys?  No LEGOs?  No Target?  Say it isn't so.

Our leisurely breakfast turned out quite an interesting history lesson for this six-year-old, learning about the Cold War via LEGOs -- and the lack thereof.  We told him about the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall, communism, and how repressed the people were.  Phew!  That's a lot to explain over French toast, even if it is the best French toast in the world.

The man told us he grew up in Dresden, a city that was bombed and pretty much obliterated at the end of World War II.  We sat there in stunned silence.  Really, what do you say to that?  He reassured us that it has all been rebuilt by now and actually is a nice place to live.  

Then he went on to tell us that his father had been part of the Secret Police, the Stasi. His father must have been pretty high up since he said his family lived right next door to the station.   Holy cow!  He said he used to watch people being taken away to jail or worse for unknown crimes against East Germany.  Yes, all that and he had no LEGOs to boot.

The man continued, "I still remember getting my first Matchbox.  We had a 'Euro Store' with Western goods controlled by the government.  We were only allowed to buy two things a month, and everything was really expensive.  My mother took me there once because I got a good report card.  I looked at all the Matchboxes for half an hour before I finally picked one out."  Unreal.  I kept thinking of the 25 or so Matchboxes that Sam has at home and doesn't even notice their existence.  Whew!  There's a reality check.

We finished up there and headed out to watch the 4th of July Parade, each of us appreciating our freedom -- and LEGOs -- much more than we had before we heard his story.

God bless America!

LibbY