Fourth of July

Arti had a very busy 4th of July! He drove up to Pawnee National Grassland, about two hours from Boulder.

Most of the grassland is shortgrass prairie, that looks like this:

It has rained so much this spring that the prairie is very green, with lots of wildflowers.

He saw a big wind farm on the prairie, with hundreds of wind turbines.


Then he went to see Pawnee Buttes, which rise up out of the grasslands.


Eagles and hawks nest at the top of the buttes, and sweep through the sky while crying.


After a long day, Arti stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and had a bubbling lamb casserole for dinner.


After dark, he went to see the 4th of July celebration from the stadium at the University of Colorado. It was Boulder's sesquicentennial, so there was a big crowd and big show.


Lots of fireworks!

Arti in Boulder

Arti has been hanging around Boulder for the past week or so, tooling around town and helping with some craft projects.

On the way back from a shopping trip, he stopped at the scenic overlook to get a view of Boulder:


On Wednesday, he went to see the preview of Hamlet at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, at least until the giant thunderstorm in the middle of the performance...


Arti has been helping out with cooking. Here he is helping to shell peas from the garden for lunch:


Arti has been learning all kinds of new crafts. He was a little scared of the serger at first, but now he is an old hand at serging.


He helped tie up some scarves for arashi shibori....


Arti mostly just watched the wool picker, because the sharp nails are pretty dangerous for little visitors.


He also helped make a wet felted hat...

Arti in NM

Arti spent a day and a half in New Mexico last weekend!

Getting a view of Albuquerque and the Sandias from the hotel


Touring Old Town Albuquerque, with a historic church and some shops:


Stopping by Pecos National Historical Monument near Santa Fe - Arti checks out the view of a 17th century Mission.


Arti climbed down into a reconstructed kiva, or Native American ceremonial space:


He didn't see any rattlesnakes, but there were some tumbleweeds....


A small remnant of the Santa Fe trail goes under this boardwalk.

Drive to ABQ

Today Arti rode 450 miles south to Albuquerque New Mexico!

He stopped at a scenic overlook near Colorado Springs (Pike's Peak in the background)


Then he saw Huerfano Butte, a volcanic core on the plains near Walsenburg. The marker reads "The isolated cone-shaped butte, east of this point and 10 miles north of Walsenburg, was named El Huerfano,'The Orphan', by early Spaniards. The name appeared in Spanish records as early as 1818. This butte was near the trappers' trail from Taos. Passed by Fremont and Gunnison on their railroad surveys of 1853. The river, and county also now bear the name. Altitude 6150 feet."



Southbound on I-25 approaching Trinidad, Raton pass in the far background.

Arti arrives in Colorado

Arti has been taking it easy during his first week in Colorado. He has napped with the kitties, helped make dinner, and taken a trip to work.

Below, Arti gets a look at the flatirons



It has been raining a lot, resulting in huge mushrooms everywhere!


A partial double rainbow in the evening