Althouse: Colorado high country.

September 15, 2011

Colorado high country.

A photograph Meade brought home from his mountain biking trip last week.

62 comments:

edutcher said...: Very nice. Looks like a shot from "True Grit".

The original, of course.; 9/15/11, 8:52 PM
David said...: Nice one, Meade.

Welcome back to Crazyland.; 9/15/11, 8:53 PM
Anonymous said...: I'd love to extend my reach that far from here on LI but....; 9/15/11, 8:54 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Looks a lot like part of Route 2 I was on in Montana.; 9/15/11, 9:05 PM
Sprezzatura said...: I can picture the scene at Meadehouse:

A: Well it's back to the grindstone.

L: Have fun, I'm going mountain biking in Colorado.; 9/15/11, 9:06 PM
Paul said...: Any pics of the trails? I ride all over CA and the Southwest but haven't had a chance to go to CO yet.; 9/15/11, 9:19 PM
Sal said...: Mountain biking sounds painful. If I go to Colorado, I prefer to cooperate with gravity on waxed boards, rather than battle against it. But that's just me.; 9/15/11, 9:21 PM
Titus said...: Tapas Restaurants are the it thing in Boston now.

I don't like Tapas places or mini "shared" items.

I want my own fucking meal.

Also, Kendall Square is the new hot Square.; 9/15/11, 9:39 PM
ricpic said...: High Country Rancher: And this is my spread, Mr. President. Ain't it got the prettiest view?

Obama: Nevermind the scenery, pass the damned bill!

High Country Farmer: ?; 9/15/11, 9:41 PM
MadisonMan said...: A: Well it's back to the grindstone.

The grindstone is the end of the semester. The start of the semester is exciting because you once again get to talk about the subject you love!; 9/15/11, 9:41 PM
Meade said...: Thanks, guys. It was a terrific several days around Steamboat, Keystone, and a beautiful cattle ranch bordering national forest. We were 3 old men so we used the gondola to carry us to near the top at Keystone and then pedaled on up to 11,700 ft. before zooming down. 3 or 4 times. Heaven.; 9/15/11, 9:47 PM
ricpic said...: Obama: If you don't pass the bill all your goats will jump off the faulty bridges that are somewhere in the vicinity of this ranch, I'm sure!!; 9/15/11, 9:47 PM
Titus said...: The lounge/bar/restaurant I went to last night served Poutine.

Poutine, Poutine, Poutine.; 9/15/11, 9:49 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Titus,

Are the Brazilian Grills or Steak Houses popular up there?

I've been to a few up and down the left coast. Some friends seem to really like them. IMHO, they're fine, but not that great.; 9/15/11, 9:49 PM
ricpic said...: Obama: Pass the bill or Meade gets it!...or the bill gets it...or sump'n. Jeez guys, for the love of ME pass the bill...willya?; 9/15/11, 9:51 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Jean Poutine; 9/15/11, 9:53 PM
Titus said...: Also, SeaPort District is Boston is booming.

The economy is on fire.

And the Real Estate Queen across the hall said the market is crazy busy with multiple offers above listed price.

The LIbtards in Mass must be doing something right.

It's really all about the "talent" and the "creative economy".; 9/15/11, 9:53 PM
ricpic said...: What'd they charge you for gravy and fries, Titus?; 9/15/11, 9:53 PM
Titus said...: I didn't eat any Poutine.

I think it is from Montreal, originally though.

The restaurant/lounge has a huge Witch on A broom suspended in the air above the entire place. I lifted her dress to see what her vag and tits looked like. She has a full brazil with saggy tits. I felt her.; 9/15/11, 9:57 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Tapas was more like picking what you want from a buffet and pairing those picks with glasses of wine rather than ordering a dish of appitizers sharing with the group. It is not supposed to be like TGIF potato skins or an Outback Bloomin Onion®.

Count on Bostonians to fuck things up.

Oh, and yes Kensington, there is a Titus...; 9/15/11, 10:00 PM
Titus said...: I am speaking to my Indian UK husband who is in Mexico and going off in Obama.; 9/15/11, 10:04 PM
Sal said...: In the spirit of Titus, let me say what I really think about mountain biking. I can better show off my massive thighs and awesome gluts to the ladies in yoga class, which I do three time a week. Lucky ladies...

BTW, my favorite yoga instructor wasn't wearing her ring today for some "strange" reason. Class again on Saturday...wish me luck!; 9/15/11, 10:11 PM
Shanna said...: Gorgeous! Colorado is one of my favorite places.

Tapas Restaurants are the it thing in Boston now.

Hasn't that trend been going on for over 10 years now?; 9/15/11, 10:11 PM
deborah said...: Cool, Meade. That sounds like a blast. Any hairy moments?; 9/15/11, 10:15 PM
Fred4Pres said...: There have been decent tapas bars for well over ten years in the States and Canada (and over twenty plus in major cities). Which just goes to show what a provincal backwater Boston truly is.

But Boston does have the market on scrod, quahog, beans, and cream pie nailed down. And I do enjoy a decent grinder.; 9/15/11, 10:21 PM
Fred4Pres said...: I bet Meade could find tapas in Leadville.; 9/15/11, 10:22 PM
Chase said...: What edutcher said; 9/15/11, 10:23 PM
Toshstu said...: Great pic, I can smell the air.

In 1980, I voted for Reagan and moved from VT to Durango all in one week, but what sticks in my mind as most memorable is the Colorado air.

If you manage to be up around 12K feet or more, on a still day in any season, it's like being a little closer to outer space. The air tastes different, even in winter when flora isn't sweating.

If Colorado air were described as a wine, it would be dry and crisp, with a hint of berries and danger, if Colorado Air were described as a woman, Colorado air would be high-maintenance but the best you've ever had, you'd never leave her, even if she broke your leg.

It's pretty good air.

wv: devalize. Clearing a forest of invasive lize.; 9/15/11, 10:24 PM
xnar said...: Why is bucolic nothing like colic?; 9/15/11, 10:25 PM
Toshstu said...: On account of the butane.

wv: guatina. A gal from Gua.

(I only come here for the captchas.); 9/15/11, 10:31 PM
Meade said...: Sometimes cows do have colic. It's not very beautiful when they do.

@deborah: Nope, nothing hairy. Or scary. Well, riding ski lifts do always seem to cause the hair on the back of my flatlander neck to stand up.

Especially when your halfway up and it stops.

Nice description, Toshtu. Hard to beat Durango for mountain biking. I hope to be back there myself soon.; 9/15/11, 10:39 PM
Meade said...: And when my halfway up and it stops, man, now that is reeeally scary.; 9/15/11, 10:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Just got the poll from CO. The word is that GOP is going to lose the state, badly, very badly.; 9/15/11, 10:51 PM
JAL said...: Ha. He missed the snow.; 9/15/11, 10:52 PM
JAL said...: I skied at Keystone a few years back.

It was all white then. No green.

Pretty place, even at that.

(I took a lift to the top ;-) ); 9/15/11, 10:54 PM
Toshstu said...: If y'all do visit Durango, you can mention my name, nobody knows me there.

When I die, I'm going to come back as a hippy with a trust fund and learn the guitar and ski all day in Telluride when I'm not playing guitar, in Telluride. They have medical marijuana, ya know, nobody's feeling any pain, in Telluride. The town is named for chemical elements, how sweet is that?

The Million Dollar Highway is worth every penny as well, unless of course you accidentally drive the bimmer off the road, then it's more like the $26,000.00 highway, not counting medical costs. It's a long way down, in that Colorado air.

wv: reautche. What What Austrians do after the bars close.; 9/15/11, 11:07 PM
Trooper York said...: Holy half pint Batman!

Meade spent his vacation at The Little House on the Praire!; 9/15/11, 11:59 PM
Saint Croix said...: Sorry for the OT post! Or are photos usually free time on Althouse?

Anyway, I came to a Palin realization today. I've heard people complain about her voice. I always thought they were talking about her accent. But what I think they're really talking about is her pitch, how high her voice is.

She has a girly voice.

Here are two conservative women, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham, talking about Palin.

What's interesting is they discuss her voice. And, as Ingraham notes, both of them have a deep voice.

I just find it interesting, this argument that to be a President, it's all about how deep your voice is.

Why does she have to have a deep, husky voice? Is that a criterion now?

Isn't that a stupid way to talk about a candidate?

Ingraham says at one point that Palin can "warm up the crowd." So she's like a cheerleader. That's how Ingraham sees her in her mind. She's not serious. Because she doesn't have a husky voice. And as we all know, all the serious candidates speak like men.

So maybe there is a mini-panic on the political commentary side. If Sarah Palin opens the media door to women who sound like women, uh-oh. All those husky-voice women who get to be authoritative on TV might have to find a different line of work! Yikes.; 9/16/11, 12:07 AM
Sal said...: Meade spent his vacation at The Little House on the Praire!

The Little House on the Prairie was in Minnesota.

Whenever I think of Laura Ingalls Wilder, I think: "End Women's Suffrage!"

We can all get on board with that, right?!; 9/16/11, 12:09 AM
Dustin said...: So much color!

Here in Texas, everything is dry. It's usually very green, but it's just shades of yellow.

Was that picture color enhanced?; 9/16/11, 12:12 AM
RB said...: Solid picture.

Next mtn biking trip needs to be to the Bay Area, the birthplace of mtn biking.

Our politics suck, but the biking rocks!; 9/16/11, 12:31 AM
Trooper York said...: Hey I was just being nice.

It kind of looks like Brokeback Mountain!

Not that there's anything wrong with that!; 9/16/11, 12:51 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Wish I had known that you were going to be in CO when you were there. Would have enjoyed meeting you, and was in Dillon (about 10 miles or so west of Keystone) about that time.

Grew up in Golden, CO, but started to come to that area of the state in about 1964 on Boy Scout trips - one of the families there had a cabin from the earlier town of Dillon (before it was flooded to make the lake). Then, raced in HS for A-Basin, just up the road from Keystone.

I worked the summer of 1970 cutting the original trails for Keystone, and got a season pass that first season. So, I can say that I was on some of the trails there before at most a small handful of people. Worked there over the 1972/73 season right out of college, then went back as a volunteer for 5 years in the mid-2000s doing speeder control. Many good years at Keystone. Have had a place in Dillon now for 40 years.

Did do the mountain biking thing there with my kid some 8-10 years ago. The novice route wound its way sedately around the mountain. You could get up some speed, but likely not enough to get hurt. The advanced people would just take off down the trails, which is much, much, faster and more dangerous (back when we were cutting the trails, I would run down them at night, often beating our truck which was on the road that the novice bikers take, and that was fairly fast, even on foot). What seems fairly sedate on skis seems awfully steep on a bike or running downhill.

I was a bit surprised though that you took a chair lift up. When we did it, we rode the gondolas.

Oh, and if you really want to have fun on a chair lift, try getting "rescued" from one. Every season when I was a volunteer, we would be victims for the new ski patrol to practice their evacuation techniques on. Worst problem was when they would leave us up there for an hour before getting us off. Best memory was some female patroller trying to evacuate the guy sitting next to me in the chair - he went down, and she went up, until the experienced patroller next to her grabbed her.; 9/16/11, 2:15 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: As for Steamboat, started going there in HS in the mid-1960s for their winter carnival. Slalom was on the hill in town, and GS on the big mountain. Know a number of people who have places there, including one fraternity brother who was third or fourth generation. Haven't been back much though in the last 30 years - when you have a place near one ski area (in our case, by Keystone, etc.), it just doesn't make much sense going through all the nonsense of skiing somewhere else very often. And, a lot of the runs at Steamboat weren't that exciting - it almost appears that someone had laid them out with a straight edge. Plus, they are lower down, so while they may get more snow some years, the powder seems heavier than in the central part of the state. And, being so low, they run out of snow earlier - in HS, I can remember skiing on rocks during spring break.; 9/16/11, 2:23 AM
traditionalguy said...: Try helicopter skiing at Steamboat Springs. Lifts cannot get up far enough.; 9/16/11, 6:57 AM
edutcher said...: Trooper York said...

Hey I was just being nice.

It kind of looks like Brokeback Mountain!

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Time for Meadhouse to end those separate vacations.

(married only 2 years and they're having separate vacas already?); 9/16/11, 7:00 AM
Curious George said...: "Titus said...
I am speaking to my Indian UK husband who is in Mexico and going off in Obama."

Barry on the down low. Heh.; 9/16/11, 7:35 AM
J said...: God's country

then back to ~(God's) country at the A- blog-phunhouse; 9/16/11, 7:36 AM
Curious George said...: If not for the contrail it would be hard to guess what century this view was from.; 9/16/11, 7:37 AM
Titus said...: going off in Obama, hilarious.

My furniture arrives today.

I know tapas have been around forever but now there are so many tapas restaurants.; 9/16/11, 7:50 AM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/16/11, 7:57 AM
traditionalguy said...: Meade's must beeasy to buy for. All he wants for Christmas is two new bike tires.; 9/16/11, 8:24 AM
J said...: stupid, pointless, unfunny anecdotes from Sixty Grit, CG, titus, MarxG, etc-- must be Hoss the dyslexic mormonic; 9/16/11, 8:53 AM
kjbe said...: Toshtu - we're were in you're neck of the woods, last summer. Hiked and climbed Chicago Basin. It was our first time to CO. We loved it! Love that 12K air, too...the mountains call and I must go. I could definitely retire there.; 9/16/11, 9:13 AM
Known Unknown said...: I know tapas have been around forever but now there are so many tapas restaurants.

Tapas is overrated. And overpriced.; 9/16/11, 9:14 AM
Fred4Pres said...: E.M. Davis, tapas is overrated and over priced in how it is done as some restaurant trend.

Tapas in Spain (or its equivalents in other European countries) is intended to be reasonably priced, tasty, and fun.

My guess is Boston tapas trendy, over priced, and not very good.; 9/16/11, 10:15 AM
Michael said...: Meade: Many many point deducted for taking the gondola. Many.Whatever happened to earning your turns. Shameful.; 9/16/11, 10:22 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Meade: Many many point deducted for taking the gondola. Many.Whatever happened to earning your turns. Shameful."

He wasn't there alone. Don't assume it was Meade's preference.; 9/16/11, 1:51 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "(married only 2 years and they're having separate vacas already?)"

Mountain biking is his sport and I'm a 60-year-old woman who has never been athletic and has no mountain-conquering ambition. He's fortunate to have friends who want to do that with him.

I'm more about plumbing the depths of Supreme Court cases. I'm fortunate to have students who are here to do that with me.; 9/16/11, 1:55 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Ann, Meade's leisure activities sound more fun.; 9/16/11, 4:39 PM
Big Mike said...: Hope Meade didn't bring back any cantaloupes from Jensen Farms.; 9/16/11, 6:37 PM
CharlesVegas said...: That pic inspired me to get off my butt and go for a ride in the foothills of the Colorado front range. If Meade will drive halfway across the country to bike in Colorado, I can at least go out my back door.; 9/16/11, 9:18 PM