Settling In

The view from our back porch

With the help of our parents, we were able to move in. All things considered, it was pretty low-stress. I did manage to get them to break in the action to see Rifle Falls. It's a sweet triple waterfall, and was a great break on a hot day.

Also, thanks to our parents, when you come visit us, you'll have a bed to sleep on. Doesn't that sound great?

It was a rushed and teary goodbye, as installing the washer & dryer took up until (or rather past) the last minute, before Mom, Dad, and Mark had to rush back to Denver to make their flight. We were sad to see them go, knowing it would likely be a few months before we would see them again, but at the same time, it was nice to have our place to ourselves, to start to organize it and just relax.

We had to shop for some furniture, so we went to our nearest bigger town, Glenwood Springs. It's a pretty nice little spot; it means I'm not too far from a Target and other such entities. It was late afternoon, and the thought occurred to us: let's do dinner in Aspen. 'Cause, you know, we'd heard of it on the TV. Roughly an hour drive and worth the trip. Here's the view coming up on Carbondale:

I'd only ever thought of that snowy Aspen you see in the movies, but summer is beautiful.

A rainbow we saw on the drive in.

It's lush and green, loading with fantastic art galleries, and oh the shopping and dining. It's designed for a pretty ritzy crowd, which meant most of the food was gourmet, delicious, and out of our price range.

We walked around a while--Patrick got annoyed that I wouldn't just pick a place--but I was sure that if we got a little off the beaten path, we'd find a place that was more our speed & still pretty great. We did: The Double Dog Pub. It's the bar under the more upscale The Steak Pit, the oldest steakhouse in Aspen. We sat on the patio, but I'd go back to that killer basement bar in the cooler weather. I got a shaved prime rib sandwich that was to die for. All in all, a good detour.



That weekend just happened to be the Garfield County Fair, which took place right down the road from us. Then, joy of joys, they offered a free beer & wine tasting Thursday night! We went to that, then stopped to check out the rodeo from the grandstand.


I'm not sure what it is, but I could never get into rodeos. I always feel bad for the animals. It's cool when they're just riding the horses, but getting some bull all hopped up, just to take it down, seems a bit cruel. It's not like I'm a member of PETA or anything, but I just don't get it.


Alas, it's not all mountain views and roadtrips to Aspen (okay, it's always mountain views), we do have to get some work done, too.

Here's the campus of Colorado Mountain College where I'm based (I'll acutally be teaching a composition course at a high school in Parachute, CO.):



And Patrick's been setting up his classroom at Rifle High School:


Patrick insisted on hanging his portrait of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (probably since I was leery of where in our loving home he'd hang it). If you're unfamiliar with the poet, check out this bawdy piece, "The Imperfect Enjoyment," an early lament of erectile dysfunction. Oh, and he died at age 33... does that make him a Christ figure, too?

In any regards, it was agreed if Patrick's students should ask who this guy is, he'd just say, "I liked the picture of the British guy and his monkey" (or words to that effect).



Anyway, doesn't he look teacherly? :) All those times he said, "I think I'll bring this to my classroom," and I rolled my eyes finally paid off for him. Turns out his classroom is all white walls and no windows. The flags on the ceiling were my idea, borrowed from a teacher when I was in middle school. A neat thing though, students will apparently ask at some point to take one of your ceiling tiles home to paint them for you. Maybe Patrick should request they paint him a giant waffle...




By the by, pics of our place really are on the way... I just have to remember to take them when the place is clean.

Kristin Adams-Bondy

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