Month: August 2010

On a whim we decided to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park for some hiking. The weather’s gorgeous– not too hot today– and hey, it’s Sunday afternoon and there’s not a whole lot else to do. So we piled into my car (not the van for a change!) and drove up there.

Much to our surprise, it turns out that today is National Park Free Day, and we were waved through the gate without any fuss. We had planned to drop 80 clams on an annual park pass, which we’ve done every year for the past fifteen, so it was great to slip through for free.

The kids voted for Alberta Falls, one of their favorite hikes in the park, so we rode the shuttle up to the trailhead and enjoyed tromping along through the fresh smell of Ponderosa pine.

What a beautiful day, and a great hike.

The kids posed for a fun little Sears ad sort of picture:

Alberta Falls itself. The picture doesn’t really do justice to the size of the waterfall.

And of course a little critter.

This evening we made our annual pilgrimage to Lakeside amusement park, a turn-of-the-century (that’s 1900, not 2000) place down in Denver that gives out free passes to kids who complete a summer reading program at the library. I don’t know if we’d ever pay to go there, but since it’s free we’ve made it an annual tradition for the past six or seven years.

All three kids brought friends, so we had a gaggle of half a dozen running around the place riding the roller coasters and the whirl-and-hurl sorts of rides. Whee! A good time for all, especially since the weather held and it ended up being a gorgeous night despite forecasts of thunderstorms.

On the way back home we pulled off I-25 somewhere between north Denver and Longmont, heading out east into farmland looking for a spot without a lot of city lights. We found an old gravel road, pulled over, and climbed out of the van to look at the night sky. Far enough from the city lights, we could see the Milky Way stretched across the sky in its dusty splendor.

After our eyes adjusted a bit for night vision, everyone was able to spot a few meteors here and there. It wasn’t prime time viewing for the Perseids yet, but the kids were thrilled to see a few shooting stars. Then we piled back into the van and headed home, tired after a long day.

Good times.

I’m officially an internet celebrity. My friend Jeff posted an entry for me on Wikipedia under Shoeless Jeff:

Due to Wikipedia’s moderation guidelines, I don’t know how long it’ll stay up before someone in charge yanks it, but for a brief moment I enjoyed my fame and had a good laugh.

So a few months ago Bill Gates and Warren Buffett challenged the billionaires of the world to give away at least half of their wealth, with the intent of changing the world. One could argue that both of these men have already made a huge impact with their generous contributions to many causes, so it was really cool to see them call others to action.

They created the Giving Pledge list, which now includes about thirty people with over a billion dollars in net worth– all of whom have pledged to donate the majority of that money to worthy causes. (The causes are selected by the donors.) We’re talking about a serious amount of money here, all for good.

Without getting too political in a feel-good post here, I can’t help but wonder what other world-changing things could happen if, say, the United States government stopped spending billions of dollars every month in Afghanistan. They should take a hint from these generous people and consider how to make a difference that doesn’t involve bullets and smart bombs.

Just back from the Rockies game tonight with the Zing crew.

Good times as always, despite the 10-0 spanking we received at the hands of the Giants.