Guster, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros & Folks Fest

August 14, 2010

Guster

Bruce

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Guster, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros & Folks Fest

One of the main reasons for our visit to Colorado at least at this time, is to attend the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest music festival in Lyons. This year marks the fifth out of the last six years that we have made the trek to Folks Fest, missing last year after the somewhat scarring experience of “Soaks Fest’ the rainy, cold and somewhat miserable event two years ago.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

We were back this year in full force for the entire experience, camping on-site and partaking in all the strange yet fun rituals that make the Folks Fest experience so unique. We had a big camping group of close to a dozen friends including Kathy, Jim & I along with Kerry and her friends Jill & Kathryn, Rick and her sister T & her husband Chuck and their kids Nathan & Ella. With Estes being such a small town and Kerry & Bruce owning such a popular restaurant, they also had all sorts of additional friends and acquaintances around. Kerry’s parents Mike & Donna also joined us during the day at the festival

The Rock Inn

Daisy

Rick & Kerry

Our first stop was at the Rock Inn where we loaded up our camping gear, ice, beer, wine jagermeister and the like. Unfortunately Bruce had decided that there was too much work going on during the Rock’s busy season for him to take the weekend off and he opted out of attending the festival. He did help us load up and sent us on our way to the line-up.

Jim & Rick





Campers at Folk Fest line up in a nearby park where they are assigned a number and placed in a line that lasts all day Thursday, for us at least. At 5 PM there is a convoy over to the Planet Bluegrass grounds and a mad scramble to secure a camp site. The line itself is somewhat of a party and we started the celebrating there. For lunch we walked over to the nearby Oskar Blues brewery and restaurant for a delicious meal and some of their tasty brew, they brew the likes of Dale’s Pale Ale, Old Chub and Mama’s Little Pils.



Rick

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

After camp was set up, Kathy & I hustled down to Boulder, about 15 miles away. Kerry loaned us her Mercedes convertible for the drive to the Fox Theatre where we had tickets to even more music, a concert featuring the bands Delta Spirit, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and Guster.

Guster





We often try to pack as much in to a vacation as possible and we cut this one a little close having to rush from camp set-up to the Fox, but I really wanted to see Edward Sharpe and Guster is one of our favorite bands. It was well worth the effort as both bands put on terrific shows for a sold-out theatre. The crowd was primed and the energy in the place was electric.

Guster



We arrived back at camp well after one AM and were surprised to find Kathy’s dad Jim in line with our friends to collect entry lottery numbers for Folks Fest. This is one of the magical, crazy things at Folks Fest is hold a lottery for spaces in line each night between midnight and 4 AM creating a line of hundreds waiting in a well organized party line. It wasn’t until 2:30 on Thursday night that they gave out the Friday numbers, allowing us all time to drink Jager and watch the incredible Perseid Meteor shower. Another magical day in Colorado.

Rocky Mountain High

August 13, 2010



Michael, Kathy, Scott & Charlie



Rocky Mountain High

Our trip in Colorado moved from Manitou Springs to Estes Park midweek as we spent our last day in Manitou before driving up the front range to another little mountain town, Estes Park. Estes Park is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park and is home to our friends Bruce & Kerry and their wonderful restaurant The Rock Inn Mountain Tavern. We were planning to attend the weekend Rocky Mountain Folks Fest and wanted to send a day in Estes prior to the music fest.



Scott & Kathy



Before leaving Manitou though we had one final breakfast at Adams Mountain Café, meeting with our friends Scott & Charlie. Both had lived at one time in Key West and now reside in Colorado Springs and we wanted to make sure that we had the opportunity to catch up with them prior to hitting the road. We had a most enjoyable breakfast and then spent some time taking photos in the kids arcade next to the restaurant.



Estes Park



After breakfast, we said our goodbyes to the Colorado Kilroy clan and headed up the road to Estes Park, where we had rented a two bedroom cabin with a fireplace at the Estes Park YMCA & Conference center that borders Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a nice lunch in town, dodging the masses of tourists that are found there.



YMCA

Chickadee Cabin

After checking in to the cabin and taking a brief siesta, we were off again to the Rock Inn where we visited with our friends Bruce & Kerry, and were surprised to find a fellow Key Wester and friend already there for a visit. Rick Keith was out to possibly do some work for the Rock as well as attend the Folks Fest. Dinner at the Rock was amazing as ever, I truly recommend the delicious Devil’s on Horseback appetizer, one of my favorite appetizers ever.

Bear Lake



We were up bright and early the next morning heading up into Rocky Mountain National Park to take in some of the incredible scenery and do a small bit of hiking around Bear Lake. We didn’t see any bears, though there was a huge bull elk munching on grass near our cabin and we encountered a lot of friendly chipmunks along the trail near Bear Lake.



Michael & Kathy

Kathy & Jim

The park is truly an awe inspiring place, the vistas are beautiful and the incredible weather only added to the great experience that we had exploring the park. One sad note was that there were a number of dead and dying spruce trees throughout the park. Apparently there is some sort of invasive beetle that has infested many of the trees causing them to begin to die. A bitter winter is needed to wipe them out.

Kathy



After spending part of the day at the park, it was time to start preparing for a weekend of camping, music and friendship at the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest in nearby Lyons, where our Colorado would be completed.

Pikes Peak

August 12, 2010







Pikes Peak

Dominating the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains 10 miles to the West of Colorado Springs is Pikes Peak, one of the most famous and accessible of the 54 fourteeners (mountains over 14,000 feet). The mountain is along the Eastern edge of the Rockies and its dominance over the surrounding area make it one of the most visited, historic and famous of the many peaks in the Rockies.

James



Kathy’s brother Chris and his family live literally at the foot on the mountain, in fact the famous Barr Trail trailhead and Cog Train station are only a few hundred feet up Ruxton Street from their home. The peak is one of the most accessible as one can either hike, drive or ride the famous Cog train to reach the summit so it is one of the areas greatest tourist attractions.

James & Michael





The peak is home to some famous races each year as well as the famous Pikes Peak hill climb auto race is held each year up the twisty, turny, no barricade having road that leads to the peak. Each year the peak is also host to a running race up the Barr Trail that Kathy’s brother runs each year in late August during which runners run up the Barr trail 13.2 miles up the side of the mountain. The very next day a Marathon is held in which runners run up and back down the mountain in a grueling test.



Garden of the Gods

There would be no such daring antics for Jim, James and myself who choose the slowest, but possibly most interesting way up to the peak, the famous Manitou to Pikes Peak railroad that is better known as the Cog train. The Cog railway uses a toothed rack rail between the running rails that mesh with a cog wheel on the train that enables the train to go up very steep gradients.





James

The Pikes Peak railway has been in operation since 1889 and provides a pleasant ride up the side of the peak that passes by many historic sites and reaches the peak in about 70 minutes or so. It is a strange sensation going up at such a steep incline, but well worth the effort as the views from the peak on a clear day such as we had are fantastic.

Jim, James & Michael



It is cold up there, it was 37 degrees on the day we were there (The temperature in Manitou was in the 80s), and the air is really thin as you might expect. The other thing is the train doesn’t allow as much time as you might want to take it all in. At least for us it didn’t though the vast majority of train-riding tourists in our group did little more than take a quick glimpse and head to the gift shop located on the summit.





We made a brief stop in the gift shop area to grab some of the world famous donuts that are made there. Something about the elevation makes them special, whatever it is they are tasty and well worth braving the gift shop hoards.

Kathy & Sophie