Cheyenne Mountain State Park opened its gates in 2006. Even though this coincided with our return to Colorado Springs, it originally did not engender curiosity enough to make us pay the $7 entrance fee, when the area offers a host of alternative outdoor playgrounds, all free of charge. That changed a few years back, when … Continue reading A Stroll in our State Park
Every foreign language student has put her foot in her mouth, and I recall several such situations. Now I can contemplate them with an air of amusement, but then they were exceedingly embarrassing. Years ago, during a visit to Alaska’s Denali National Park, I enthusiastically told a couple on a hiking trail that I had … Continue reading Of Quill Pigs and Hand Shoes
Out-of-town visitors to Colorado Springs often think of the present-day Hollywood actress when Helen Hunt’s name comes up during my tours as a volunteer docent at the Pioneers Museum. Both share a name and a relationship to California, but Helen Hunt the First (1830-1885) was a trailblazing woman and writer during our town’s infancy, in … Continue reading The Original Helen Hunt
I was in a deep sleep when the alarm jolted me awake at 2:30 AM. The wind billowing the curtains and rattling the windows, the neighbors’ dogs barking, and fear of oversleeping had not been conducive to restful slumber. When a friend had asked me to help her with a Breeding Bird Survey, I had … Continue reading Breeding Bird Survey
In early June, I attended the annual Colorado Field Ornithologists’ Convention in Steamboat Springs, in northwest Colorado. The CFO has hosted these yearly gatherings since the 1960s, but it was my first. I enjoyed meeting birders from various corners of our state, and joining field trips to a number of counties on three consecutive days, … Continue reading A Few of my Favorite Things
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