Goodbye Colorado (and a Bear Update)

I am linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner for their Weekly Rundown. Here’s a summary of my week of running (and other activities) in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

First, the running

My hubby Bill and I have been in Colorado for eight days so far and we have run six of those eight days. Sounds pretty good, but all the runs have been short ones. Our total Colorado mileage is only 20 miles.

Our runs have all been in the early morning, before my son and daughter-in-law leave for work so that we can be back in time to babysit our grandson.

We run two loops around the neighborhood (a little bit over three miles total) each time.

As I get older, the altitude, about 6,800 feet, affects me more. Hills I would power up at home, I often walk up in Steamboat.

I like variety in my running, so it is not completely satisfying to run the same route each day, but without driving somewhere else to begin our runs, there are not a whole lot of options in the short amount of time we have in the mornings.

It is gratifying, however, to look back at my running log and see that we make progress each day. With each successive run, we run a little bit faster, walk a little bit less, and feel a little bit better.

The runs end on an uphill, though, and I always arrive back at the driveway gasping for air and doubled over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

Next, the hiking

On our last full day in Colorado, the whole family decided to go for a hike at Rabbit Ears Pass. There, at nearly 10,000 feet of elevation, gorgeous scenery awaited around every bend.

The high alpine meadows were awash in wildflower blooms, creating a heavenly scent.

The wildflowers were humming with native bees, flitting from flower to flower, taking advantage of the brief summer season to collect nectar.

My four-year-old grandson, who carried water and snacks in his own Camelback, and his best pal Junie (whom I wrote about in this post)  decided to take a break at a mountain stream while the adults looked on.

Finally, the bear update

For our final dinner together, we decided to get pizza and hoagies delivered. As we sat around the dining room table talking after dinner, we noticed a Cooper’s hawk eating her dinner in a tree about 10 feet away.

We watched, thrilled and a little bit saddened for the songbird who provided the hawk’s meal.

After dinner, we took another short walk to look for treasures, played for a while, then went to bed.

In an earlier post, I wrote about bear warnings that were posted in my son’s neighborhood. Three black bears had been sighted, and I began running with bear spray just in case, but we never saw any signs of bears.

 

Image by Brigitte Werner from Pixabay

Shortly after we went to bed, we were awakened by a noise outside our bedroom window. The guest bedroom is directly over the driveway.

 

Bill and I sat up and looked out the window. There was a big black bear in the driveway, directly under our window, rooting through the trash can!

I jumped up and alerted my son, who went out on an upstairs deck and turned on the outside light. The light did not scare the bear off, but when my son began clapping and yelling, the bear turned tail and ran – straight up the steps and onto the deck!

Fortunately, the deck is at ground level and not completely enclosed. The bear ran across the deck, onto the lawn, and across the street, where we lost sight of him.

An hour later my heart is still pounding and I cannot get back to sleep, which is why I decided to write this post while the incident was fresh in my mind.

The bear notwithstanding, I am very sad to be leaving my Colorado family tomorrow and I am already plotting our return.

Bill and I now travel on to Oregon, to visit another son and his wife. Who knows what adventure awaits us there?

 

I am linking up with Shank You Very Much for Global Blogging, Esme Salon for Senior Salon, Jenn @ Runswithpugs,  for RIOTS, Random-osity for The Good, The Random, The Fun, and My Random Musings for Anything Goes.