I just got back from 4 days of workshops for school. The instructor was good, the facilities were wonderful, the food was excellent, and the location was breathtaking.
(No really, it literally took my breath away. You see, at over 9,000 ft above sea level, the air is very, very thin. Almost non-existant. I didn't experience Acute Mountain Sickness, but I felt light-headed and was aware of every single breath. Every time someone asked me where I was from, I simply said, "sea-level" between breaths, and left it at that. The teachers from outside Colorado nodded sympathetically while those from the Rocky Mountain State did their best to not look superior. We drank plenty of fluids, and did a bit of moderate walking about town, so by Saturday we felt almost human again.)
My teaching partner and I flew into Denver and then got a shuttle service to take us to Keystone. We crossed the Continental Divide in the rain and snow- did you know there are very few guardrails on those mountain roads?
The view from my room at The Inn at Keystone. Beyond the swampy area (there were some beaver dams) was the Snake River. It was running high due to the greater than average snowpack this year.
The view from the Keystone Conference Center. We ate breakfast and lunch outside almost every day. We also got to experience a severe thunderstorm one evening- complete with high winds, epic lightning, and 25 minutes of hail and rain. It. Was. Awesome.
Purple Columbine. We also saw it in yellow, orange, and white. I like 'em all.
We only heard John Denver music once, and that was while shopping for little things to bring back to our families. I must say, Rocky Mountain High as a marketing tool was very effective...
More later!
