Colorado Aspens and a Bit of Science

Fall in Colorado is a pretty big deal. 

Well. Winter is a pretty big deal too, since it's skiing season. And spring and summer are a pretty big deal because of hiking and the wildflowers. So. Pretty much Colorado is a big deal, and you should probably move here.

In the fall, everyone clamors to the mountains in a single weekend when the Aspens are at their peak color in order to capture it on camera.

 I guess that's what we did too.

 But first we visited The Donut Mill in Woodland Park to ensure we had enough energy to sit on our butts for the drive.

 Evan discovered a new way to eat a doughnut.

 I love the beauty of Colorado in the Fall, but I especially like the weather during this time frame. It's been in the 80's but it cools way down at night so that we can keep our window open and allow the cool refreshing breeze to surround our bedroom. It also allows us to hear any hoodlums on the prowl. Bonus.

I'd also like to add that if I were a cow, I'd happily graze in this field because it's a way better view than grazing in Indiana. And I know cows in Indiana.

 We opted to visit Victor this year, rather than going to St Elmo  because I've managed to wear Jason down in his fear of the town.

He actually summoned the courage to park the Jeep and get out to walk around. I was ecstatic. Last year I had to beg and beg him to stop the Jeep on the side of the road so that I could get out to take a picture of an awesome old jalopy.

But not this year. We explored.

We found a quaint little park (is quaint little redundant?) where we had a picnic lunch and found this photoboard. Evan doesn't quite grasp the importance of the face being proportioned for the picture and was more like a worm.

We walked right past a mining museum that had exhibits outside and I found this awesome sign:

There are plenty of abandoned buildings which, if I made the choice to go back to college and choose another major, I'd choose abandoned buildings. That's how much I love them. This was an abandoned pizza joint and I took a shot of the inside through the window. That's totally not trespassing. Just don't do that through my windows.

Soon we had found our way back to the Jeep in search of more Aspens.

  Before we were entirely out of Victor we came across a hiking trail we had never noticed before and stopped to investigate.

 Trails of Gold is a 2 mile loop around a dilapidated mining community.

 I wanted to walk around inside each abandoned mine without dying by falling through a mining shaft.

 As you can see, when we hike, we opt to hike in order by age.

  I asked Jason if we could take this mine home and he said no.

 As we were nearing the end of the loop, we came across an abandoned house! Oh the glory! 

We went in because it wasn't barricaded off. Just look at the awesomeness.

I was ready to move in.

 Dawson just reminded me that there's a slight possibility that I might be poisoned because I touched the wallpaper.

We found the sign with the information about the ownership of the house. I don't know about you, but I like that name Bebee.

And just now I discovered that the picture above is the last one in my long line of Aspen photos and therefore, I have to come up with a clever transition into my brief discussion about Dawson and his science share project.

Only I can't think of a transition.

If Aspens encountered earthquakes...

There we go!

Dawson recently had to research and present a tri-fold along with a speech and model about earthquakes for his class project. 

4th grade, people.

We missed his presentation speech in class, but we took video of him practicing at home:

Then Evan felt left out and wanted to give his own presentation:

But that one wasn't good enough and he kept going.

We did get to visit his class and see his display and model:

And today he told us he got a 100%.

75% of that goes to his dad.

 I feel strongly that Dawson should be able to graduate right now and earn a comfortable living. And let me mooch off him.