Rocky Mountain National Park - Day 2 - Morning

[Composed 7/24/2023]

Today our Rocky Mountain National Park adventure started in earnest. The plan was to take in the sights of Trail Ridge Road and acclimatize ourselves to the elevation. The hope was that we'd see amazing views, unique wildlife and give our bodies the best chance to prepare for our upcoming long hike. In short, Trail Ridge Road more than delivered on all these goals.

We arrived to the park entrance at about 6:45am and asked the ranger his thoughts on how quickly the alpine visitor center would be at capacity. His guess: soon, if it wasn't already full. We took this as our cue to make our way up the  11,796 feet to try to score a parking spot before they were gone. Along the way, we ooh'd and ahh'd at the stunning mountain scenery. The day before, we'd shown the kids* the snow capped mountains in the distance. Now we were eye-to-eye with snow fields. Add to that the marmot and gang of elk we saw, and the drive was proving to be as impressive as I'd hoped.

We arrived to a closed visitor center and a half-filled parking lot. This was perfect. Well, almost perfect. With the visitor's center being closed, M had to use the pit toilets and he returned with a 0 out 10, must skip, review. Sorry M.

From the visitor's center parking lot, we took the .6 mile alpine Ridge Trail up to a staggeringly beautiful overlook. Because we arrived at the visitor's center so early, we had the overlook mostly to ourselves. The perfect weather conditions made the scene look even more Instagram worthy. As if all this wasn't enough, a gang of elk with impressive antlers made their way into our field of view.

The experience reminded me of one of the best pieces of photography advice I've heard: If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff. Jim Richardson was right: with the scene in front of us, it was impossible not to feel like a National Geographic cover photographer. Needless to say, I loved every minute of this.

While we made it up and down the Alpine Ridge Trail without incident, the 12,000 foot elevation humbled us all. Even the uber-fit kids had moments of being out of breath. The goal of this trip, like most of our adventures, was to encounter unique experiences, and dealing with the altitude was one we'd all not soon forget.

From the visitor's center we made our way 10 miles, and 2,000 feet down, to Milner Pass. Here, Trail Ridge road crosses the Continental Divide. We paused here to stretch our legs and snap pics of this notable geolocation.

From Milner Pass we made our way another 11 miles and pulled off in at a seemingly randomly location. However, the stop was anything but random. It's at this point that the 3,100 mile Continental Divide Trail (CDT) passes Trail Ridge Road. The CDT, along with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and Appalachian Trail (AT) form the triple crown of US long distance trails. Shira and I have enjoyed logging miles on the AT in a number of different states, so I was excited to get some time on the CDT.

The section of trail we covered starts by crossing an anonymous looking stream. We posed for pictures at this point and I collected up a few rocks from below the shallow, cool water. It's hard to believe that we'd just encountered the 1,460 mile Colorado River.

The plan was to hike the CDT in until we hit Gaskill Cemetery. The cemetery is a remnant of an 1880's ghost town. While I had a couple of different maps that told us the location of the cemetery, none could be found when we arrived. We searched high and low, but all we found were blown down trees and elk scat. Oh well, it would have been a fun find, but it wasn't meant to be.

We made our way back to the car, where we refueled on  snacks. Next up was the end of Trail Ridge Road, Adam's Falls and hopefully ice cream.

*M, P, B are not kids, they're young adults. Brilliant, thoughtful and accomplished young adults at that. But for the purposes of writing, and because I'm old, it's easier to type 'kids.' Sorry guys. If it's any consolation, in a few decades, you'll be calling anyone in their mid-twenties or younger 'kids' too.

Rocky Mountain National Park - Day 1

[Composed 7/23/2023]

This photo, right here, is one of my favorite pics from our Rocky Mountain National Park adventure:

I know what you're thinking: really? A cheesy jet bridge pic? That's your highlight? Yes, 100%.

To appreciate this moment, you need to realize that it was 364 days in the making. Nearly 1 year ago to the day, we *tried* to all go to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), but a last minute case of Covid derailed the trip. So, to walk down the jetbridge, the five us, was victory! Sure, at this moment our plans could have easily gone awry; but at least we would have been on an adventure together!

The flight to Denver and car pickup was uneventful. We were then lucky enough to grab lunch with my cousin Lindsay (sorry Doug!) and her kids. After a delicious meal and time catching up, it was time to make our way to Estes Park, stock up on food and supplies and finally land at our Airbnb.

Last year, when we drove from Denver to Estes Park I remember the scene being just perfect, with big puffy clouds in a blue sky and tempting mountains in the distance. I figured there was no way this scene was going to repeat itself, but it did. B, P, and M were all treated to a perfect Colorado afternoon. I can see why people want to live out here, it's just gorgeous.

Our Airbnb appeared to be a winner, with plenty of space for everyone. The decour, especially in the kitchen, feels like 1970's chic. But, everything is in great condition and the kitchen is fully stocked with supplies and food.

While the kids did what sane people do, and relaxed, I did what I like to do and dragged Shira out for a hike. Yes, we'd been traveling since 5am, and yes the elevation here is challenging on your first day. But who can resist the call of the mountains? A short distance from our Airbnb was a random trail that looked like the perfect place to stretch our legs. We'd found Thumb Open Space, which had opened in July 2022, and included a trail with stunning views of the area. It's a testament to how flush this area is with amazing trails that you can have such a high quality trail that's on nobody's radar. The only tricky part about the trail at Thumb Open Space is that it's all uphill. Shira was not amused.

After the hike, we made our way back to our Aibnb for dinner. Everyone was wiped from a fully day of travel, but we were all excited to finally be on our adventure. It had taken an extra year, but it was totally worth it. Our plan is to hit up Trail Ridge Road tomorrow and see if RMNP lived up to the hype!

Review: A Psalm for the Wild Built

I accidentally discovered A Psalm for the Wild Built, by Becky Chambers, while searching Arlington Library for my next read. I was thinking maybe I'd read something about Tehillim, The Book of Psalms, but when my search brought up a hit with a robot on the cover I was intrigued. Within a few minutes of listening to it, I was sold.

The book immediately gave me Murderbot Diaries vibes. Mind you, the universes and plots of these books are totally different, but the likable characters and accessible writing are common to both sci-fi series. And like the Murderbot Diaries, as soon as I finished the first book I reserved the second one in the sequence.

For a relatively short book, I found A Psalm to be thought provoking. I'll share some of those thoughts below, but do yourself a favor: consider the rest of this post a big 'ol spoiler. Stop now, and read A Psalm for the Wild Built. Then come back and let's compare notes.

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***Spoilers Below***

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With that out of the way, my first thought about A Psalm for the Wild Built was how narrow the plot of the book is. The storyline boils down to one character, Sibling Dex, struggling with having everything yet not being happy. That's it. There's no wars or famine here, just a character who should be happy, but isn't. I think Chambers makes this work based on her well written dialog, interesting characters and the construction of a fascinating universe. Still, it's a bold choice, yet one that I'm glad she made.

And speaking of universes, Chambers has created quite the world. On the surface, it seems to be a sort of Woke Utopia. Humans have finally learned to live in balance with the environment, trading obviously wasteful and ecologically harmful behaviors for those that let us live in sync with the planet. It took 109 years and a civil war costing 620,000 lives for the United States to come to grips with the fact that slaves, which were obviously people, should have the rights of, well, people. In Chamber's world, robots became conscious, and rather than argue that it was impossible for objects to become sentient, humans freed their robots and swear off robot technology. Even throw-away comments from the characters give a sense of how evolved the citizens of Chambers' worlds are: for example, when Sibling Dex explains that they've had the same computer since birth, because, why would ever need to replace a computer? I love that I was listening to that part of the story on my Galaxy S22, which if I'm lucky, has another year in it before I'll upgrade to a new device.

Even what's missing indicates a sort of utopia. There's no talk of war or corruption. You have a monk roaming the forests, and yet there's no sign of bandits or anyone looking to do Dex harm. It's like Chambers had re-read the Hunger Games and was on a mission to create the opposite world.

To complete the wokeness factor, the main character has no gender. This is the first book I've read where any character, much less the main character, is a they.

For those who bristle at the thought of a gender-free main character operating in a ecologically sensitive universe, I'd say: give the text a chance. The individuals who get credit for keeping the world going are the farmers and tradespeople. Without robots, the currency of the day is hard work and clever solutions. Add to that the fact that the religion and religious ceremonies play a central role, and I'd say that Becky Chambers essentially built a planet ruled by rednecks. Well played Chambers, well played.

While having a genderless main character took getting used to, I'm ultimately thankful for this decision. For one, it helps my brain adapt to using they and them as pronouns; something I don't do frequently IRL, but does happen. I also appreciate how Chambers accomplished this.

Consider an imaginary author writing a story about a female astronaut back in the 1960's. In one version of the story, the entire plot hinges on the fact a normally male role has been usurped by a female. The story writes itself: she must prove herself at every turn that she is as capable as man. Alternatively, the same author could have included a female astronaut simply because the story called for a human to be in that role, and women happen to be humans. In the latter case, the choice of a female astronaut doesn't alter the storyline; it just is. A Psalm for the Wild Built falls into this second category: the story called for a main character who struggles to find happiness and the fact that we're talking about Sibling Dex versus Brother or Sister Dex makes no real difference.

With that said, Chambers is normalizing a character having no gender, just like our imaginary author may opt to normalize female astronauts, so I suppose that itself a powerful statement. Time will tell if like the idea of a female astronaut, having characters without a gender ages well.

As a tea drinker, lover of the outdoors and problem solver, I do love that Sibling Dex's job is to putter around the country looking to craft and share different cups of tea with the aim of bringing relief to the community. Tea is delightfully versatile and can be used from everything from jolting yourself awake to calming yourself for bed, so even in our universe Sibling Dex's vocation makes sense. Who knows maybe one day I'll find myself with the desperate need to cosplay a character, in which case, I'm totally dressing up as a tea monk.

And finally, there's the title of the book: what the heck is that all about? I'm probably connecting dots I shouldn't be, but many of the psalms in The Book of Psalms include cryptic titles. Take Psalm 92, its title: A Psalm for the sabbath day would suggest that you're going to read a poem about Shabbat. Surprisingly, the text of this psalm never mentions Shabbat. So Chambers offering a perplexing title to a psalm is elegantly in line with this tradition.

Mulling this over for a few days, I can see the title hinting at two different themes. First, we learn in the book that 'wild built' refers to robots who have been built from reclaimed parts. The title suggests to me that perhaps this story isn't just for us the reader, but also for (wild built) robots. Mosscap, Sibling Dex's robot companion, is able to form a bond with a human that may be considered beyond what a robot would expect. In this context, 'A Psalm for the Wild Built' is sort of an inspirational text for robots: look at what Mosscap, and robots in general, can accomplish--isn't it amazing?

Another take on this title brings my attention back to Sibling Dex. Dex begins to find happiness when they step out of the manicured world that's been fashioned for them. In other words, it's Sibling Dex who becomes wild built and is the better for it.

Regarldless of what the title means, the book was an excellent one and I highly recommend it. On to book two!