Tikkun Olam

 We returned home after 9 pm tonight from our day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, specifically to drive Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous road in the U.S.  It's one of our favorite places, partially because it spans several biomes , including the Alpine Tundra , and because it feels so expansive and majestic, and puts us humans in perspective.  It attests to the wonders of creation... We drove up above 12,000 ft. where the temperature dropped to the 40s; there were huge 8-foot snow "canyons" on either side of the road, which had just been cleared on Friday for the season opening (the road above a certain altitude is closed from Labor Day to Memorial Day, generally, but some years the weather did not allow the road to be cleared until June). On the western, Pacific side of the Continental Divide, we found a picnic area near a trail head, walked a little bit, and then sat down to a fleishig picnic of roast chicken wings, legs and thighs, quinoa salad, veg...

Taking a day trip on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend to our favorite place: Estes Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park, planning on driving up Trail Ridge Road which just opened for the season on Friday (yesterday).  It is the highest continuous paved road in the United States, and it climbs to over 12,000 ft. We sort of have a tradition in the 29 years we've lived here, although we don't do it every year: going up Trail Ridge right after it opens, to get the thrill of driving up a road with 5 ft. high snowbanks on either side.  You sense the power of winter in this area, which, at above altitude of 11,000 ft.  is actually Tundra .  I can't imagine what it takes to clear the road.  Those long poles you see are markers to indicate where the road actually is .                                  ...