A Walk in the Neighborhood

Last weekend, my sister's boyfriend was in town to use my Christmas present to them...a few passes to hit the slopes. It was pretty fun, especially when Chris and I switched my skis and his snowboard. It was my first time snowboarding ever and I was happy I picked it up fairly well. The feast at Pizza Hut afterwards was legendary. Mmmm.

For a more elequint account of the proceedings, I will reference my sister's blog. http://milehighmarshall.blogspot.com/2009/02/snow-bunnies-on-copper.html

Yesterday, I decided to walk around the neighborhood and find good paths for walking a future dog. There are six beautiful ponds/lakes nearby. All of them are home to ducks, geese, and an occasional Nessy-like creature. Here is the neighborhood.

Here is a quick photo tour. I cannot wait to take Fido on daily walks.
http://picasaweb.google.com/N.Marshall.80/MyNeighborhood#

Speaking of Fido, I met my first dog "match" today. I signed up with two Golden Retriever Rescues which provide foster homes to homeless dogs until they are adopted out. The first dog I met was a 4 year old yellow lab, which I was already hesitant about because I really want a sweet golden retriever. I drove up to near Eldorado Canyon to meet the dog. The foster parent introduced me to the dog and I petted it on the head. It quickly turned and tried to nip my hand. "Umm, no thanks!" I thought. I told the lady I didn't want any part of an aggressive dog (hence the golden retriever rescue) and quickly got out of there.

While I was in the area, I hit up Eldorado Canyon and did some good hiking. It had some good views of the Continental Divide.

Lots of rock climbers were out scaling the canyon's walls.

As I was walking up the trail, a train appeared from a tunnel high above the trail and rumbled the entire canyon. It was very impressive seeing it pull so many cars up such an incredible grade. I noticed it passed into another tunnel, so I ventured toward it to check it out.

The tunnel had 1939 cast into the headwall. Pretty impressive. I walked over to the other tunnel and was considering walking through it to get to the trailhead, but I could not see the end of it. Instead I bushwacked down the steep mountainside and jumped back onto the trail. A bit of an adventure for a Sunday afternoon.