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MenopauseIt
Leaf Peeping in Colorado
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A series by UnpauseIt | The aspens in Colorado are practically a wonder of the world during the fall, and everyone who lives here knows that I-70 and all other roads through the Rocky Mountains in our state will be clogged for a few weeks as folks flock to see the gold.
Join Jeremiah and Rachel as they recap their annual day trip to see the aspens, including recommendations of roads to try and how to avoid getting stuck in traffic. Visit UnpauseIt online for more episodes of The Car Ride Home series and our movie reviews!
For more podcasts by the But Wait, There's Moore podcast network, or to learn more about the podcast and Rachel Moore, visit us online at ButWaitTheresMoore.com.
Welcome to the right of the genocide.
SPEAKER_00Otherwise known as autumn. Generally.
SPEAKER_01Genocide. Leaf aside.
SPEAKER_00Leaf aside. I'm leaf aside. Now I am the one in the family. I'm Rachel, by the way. Jeremiah the dude, and I'm the only one in the family, I think, who likes fall. That's my favorite season.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's your favorite season. Georgia likes the colors. She would have came if she didn't have prior commitments.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Maybe not too. She likes being away from us now.
SPEAKER_00She does. It was good to give them some time away from the carbon units who are their parents. Yes. But yeah, we if this was your idea to head up here for the day. I feel like we did a combo excursion, if you will.
SPEAKER_01Somewhat.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I saw on a Facebook group they're gonna do one pass and then go up to Leadville, then go to another pass. So going up Mosquito Pass and then get lunch in Leadville and then take Weston Pass back to Highway 285 in Colorado. And I didn't want to do that. So well I did want to do that. It was like fun to meet some new people. I never traversed Mosquito Pass. It's a very high steep rocky pass, but it's not anything technical to write home about. Spectacular views though for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But the group ended up having almost 40 people saying that we're gonna go. That's 40 Broncos.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Going. And I'm like, you know, and they're like, we're gonna split into two groups of 20, get head out around, get to the trail, head around 10, head around 10:30-ish, you know. I'm like, no. That is insanity. But a day like today, which has been advertised as peak genocide leaf season.
SPEAKER_00It's leaf peeping season in Colorado because the aspens are full force out, and that makes it just about as busy as any very busy ski weekend or a labor day weekend or any kind of really busy mountain traffic weekend. So yeah, that was that'd be a lot of broncos in a current at a time of day when a lot of people are coming up.
SPEAKER_01We're seeing traffic right now on Interstate 70, just outside of the Eisenhower tunnels, because we didn't take Western Pass, we took Independence Pass. How was Independence Pass? We'll get to that in a second. We will traffic is pretty heavy coming up still, and it's heavy going down, it's just heavy. How was your experience? First off, we took the front tops of the Bronco off because that takes a bit of time. So I did it last night because you had to put them in bags and secure them so they don't bounce around, make sure they weren't interfering with my tool bag and nothing was getting damaged. How was the first part of the ride in Denver and then in the mountains when we had the top off with the windows up and the heat cranking?
SPEAKER_00So it was it was lovely. It was it got cold, but that was fun anyway. We both had had the gear to where we like, well, we you know, you like you said, you had the heat on, but crystal almost full moon, clear sky. So we we left the house, it was not light yet.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, pre-dawn.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and it was it was actually pretty pleasant out. I think I had uh my sweatshirt and my hoodie on my hoodie on, which my hood up, and I was fine. And so we stopped for Santiago's. By the way, I will post pictures to all this stuff, including Santiago's. I documented the entire day excessively. I liked it. I I kind of like too.
SPEAKER_01I mean, even though it was quite this guy's gonna pass on the wrong side, go completely bonkers super fast.
SPEAKER_00Yep, the Acura? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's been oh the infinity, he's infinitely a bad driver. But having the tops off, even when the the temperatures did dip, was still pretty amazing because there is just something about being in the mountains or around the mountains and just have being able to look up and see. I y'all, there is just nowhere that has the crystal blue sky we do.
SPEAKER_01So very few places in it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was so that was really cool. It was it was awesome, and like you said, I mean we did fine. It got a little chilly, we both had to layer up at certain points, and but it was great. I did really enjoy it, and I loved the sunrise.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, no signal there at Infinity. Yeah, I should call out his license plate number for all 34 people that listen are there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's growing, right? Slowly. Hopefully no one's driving. I wonder if that guy listens, that'd be wild. Uh be like, hey, we don't want him to not listen.
SPEAKER_01He does.
SPEAKER_00We saw you, you're at mile marker 20 222 right now. Oh, and I think what my one of my favorite parts was because we had left early enough, and this is where you were like, you you were saying, I don't think we want to go to that group because they're leaving too late.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, was we did get to witness the sunrise over right after we gotten over Kenosha Pass.
SPEAKER_01No, the sunrise was before that, but we got to see it in Bailey. Yeah on the way to Kenosha Pass on the mountains, just like hitting the gold speckles that are in there. It was quite nice. And then we saw the purple mountains of the song. Yeah, it must have oh geez, it rained here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it did. See, it's a good thing you had something. But no, it was really it was really enjoyable, and it we only did just put like we've been out for hours. We only put the top on like what an hour.
SPEAKER_01After eight hours in, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So we had clear skies above us, and yeah, we it was cold for a lot of the time, but then you know, of course, as the sun progressed and as we moved through the state, we experienced some warmer temperatures, so it was great, and it really did make for I think my my neck's probably gonna be a little tired tomorrow because I was just angling the whole time, like wow! So it was cool. So I I would highly recommend the Bronco without the tops on for if you're doing some mountain driving at and or leaf peeping, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's very cool. Also, so that was fun. Stopped in fair play for pee, breaking, and then topping off fuel, and then the trail hit to Mosquito Pass is outside of Alma, which is about seven miles north of Fair Play. It's basically where South Park TV show has kind of got its inspiration for it. It's in South Park County. Yes, the south part of Park County. So we get to Alma, turn on Mosquito Ghost or Mosquito Pass. How was that? How was your rating of the Mosquito Pass to the top?
SPEAKER_00It was a bit wild because I know I've been on four for off-roading with you. It was so quiet.
SPEAKER_01Um because we were the only vehicle, well, there were two other vehicles we saw at the bottom, but they weren't, they were like camping or getting ready or meeting people or something. We didn't see them.
SPEAKER_00We were we didn't we passed two people on the way up and then we didn't see anyone else, not one other soul for over 90 minutes, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, until we saw two vehicles on the way coming going up the opposite direction as we were coming down from Glenn.
SPEAKER_00It was cool. It was definitely different than like, you know, I know we'd done what was that other pass we did with the Broncos?
SPEAKER_01Red Cone.
SPEAKER_00Red Cone. So once you get up above treeline, of course, you're just it's just rock fields and stuff like that. So it's not a whole lot of vegetation. How we were seeing some good color on the way up, and when we did get high enough, basically you look back the way we had come through the valley, and I I told, I think I told you, I was like, that view just keeps getting better because you just kept seeing a broader view of the whole valley and more aspen and layers upon layers of mountains. It was very gorgeous, so yeah, it was lovely, and then of course we get to the top of the of Mosquito Pass, and that was glorious because you can see Leadville down there at the bottom, and I took many pictures, of course. Yeah, it was it was quite lovely, and I I I kind of liked the quiet.
SPEAKER_01It was nice to be alone without a bunch of people, without the radio going off. Yeah, look at this, look at that, gonna need to stop for this and stop for that. You know, it was nice. And this is not a very technical road. There are some spots where you could get into trouble if you didn't have a four-wheel drive or you took a car or even a tall Subaru would have a very hard time getting up on that thing. Yeah, you gotta have four-wheel drive for sure. That being said, that's usually when I'm like, okay, we don't need a whole group. Also, we knew there was gonna be 40 others coming up. If we did get in trouble, someone would be like, hey.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we were, I mean, and and granted, we were up there early, but I think had we just waited an hour, someone would obviously someone would have come along because we passed people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so never wheeling alone is one of those things. But this one was a calculator risk, if you will. So on the way up, it's very rocky. It's open. We saw a few deer, didn't know what to do. They were like confused that there was somebody on the road, you know, that we were driving.
SPEAKER_00So like two of them crossed the road and the other one didn't, and he kept kind of flitting around. She sorry, she kept flitting around, and you when we said, Don't run to the side of our car, which is real, that was a real danger, y'all. They will do that. But she didn't, and so we finally we passed and it was fine. And then we saw we saw what did we saw some little wildlife, what are those things called? Pikas, I think.
SPEAKER_01Little rodents.
SPEAKER_00Yep, we saw those, and then we saw these weird thistles that look like Yeah, they're invasive, they're not supposed to be there. They basically look like something from Little Shop of Horrors, but mountain version, frozen tundra version. But no, it was cool. What did you think of it? Because you've never been on it.
SPEAKER_01It was alright. It was beautiful. It was it was definitely more for scenery than for the drive itself. Yeah. You know, as far as technical versions, you know, things like that. I did almost a quarter of it in two-wheel drive. Uh and then decided to take a hard line. It got a little uh slowed down, so then I just put it in four-wheel drive. And then also, it's pretty steep on both sides. So going down, you definitely want a low range, keep it from getting that excessive speed. But you know, it was good. So now at the top, we get there, we're on the way up, windows down, it's like it says it's like 40 degrees, it's sunny, no breeze. We round this corner into this valley, and it's like ice cold death finger wind coming across windows up right away. And there's like uh mining structures down there. It's this beautiful open valley, and you can see uh the few lakes in it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh now we've hit the traffic, we are stopped before Georgia. It's gonna be like this pretty much the whole way back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, which uh by the way, for those of you who either live in Colorado, you'll know this already, or for those of you who don't, um there are a few rules for living in Colorado. One, always have a water bottle with you you can refill because you need to stay hydrated.
SPEAKER_01Hydrate or hydrate.
SPEAKER_00Two, apply sunscreen and reapply it because you are closer to the sun.
SPEAKER_01For those of you who are melanin challenged.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, it makes a difference, and you should totally do that. Three, never try to drive through Eisenhower tunnel with a compromised bladder. I have done that before. I was on a girl trip and I was driving, and one of the girls actually had to pee in a Starbucks cup in my car because we were stuck on Eisenhower in Eisenhower tunnel-cause traffic for two and a half hours, and you know, there's nowhere to pee on the side of the road because it's literally just a guardrail. So those are those are the three main rules. But we are through Eisenhower, but yeah, we're now.
SPEAKER_01Never rub another man's rhubarb.
SPEAKER_00Never rub another man's rhubarb. So yeah, so that was fun, and uh we did because we got started so early, we we like oh god, we got down and we were starting to head toward Independence Pass and it wasn't even noon yet.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we had lunch in Glenwood Spring, so we're gonna talk about the top still.
SPEAKER_00Okay, sorry.
SPEAKER_01We're kind of we're jumping ahead, doing random things. I said talk about the top. Talk about the top. You wanna keep talking about the top? So the summit is what 13,000 plus feet. Then it goes up from there. There's a couple of like, I don't know, weather stations or mining stations. Because there's functioning mines still in that area.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01The monarch mines like the bottom of the trail, and then there's the climax mine. They're still pulling minerals out of that whole area of Legville. It's a thriving business or an industry, if you will. There's a little story up there, there's a grave at the top of the which I did not know. That's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So if you want to know who that is, you need to go to the top. But you can see a vast amount of Park County's valley, the Fairplay Valley, and uh you can see Leadville, you can see Mount Elbert, you can see through Highway 24, it's just this expansive view of two different sides, or basically of the continent of I, basically. It kind of feels like that's what it feels like. Very grandiose, and you can see forever.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was it was very worth it. It was beautiful.
SPEAKER_01That's what it drives worth. You gotta stop at the top, take some pictures, or just take a look, get the binoculars out, you know, just kind of enjoy that view that you can't really get too many other places, especially paved places. You don't you know, Mount Evans and Pike's Peak, you can kind of do that, but this is a lot different.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think we made that point before with our redcone episode is that we could yeah, about rarely are people gonna be able to get up there, but when you do, you're just seeing a part of Colorado you can't really see from everywhere, so it's super worth it. But yeah, it was lovely, it was gorgeous. And I I did ask you at the top too. I was like, so what's the decline on this? You know, what's the grade? Because I know off Red Cone we were looking at up to 12. Yeah, we were looking up to be at 20, but you had made mention, which I thought was pertinent because you know it's a two-way going down, uh it's not gonna be super steep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there was a steep section that we didn't take. We should have taken it, didn't know the first time. It didn't say this is the way down or anything like that, and there was no signs. But it's a that's a one-way, and that was a little steeper, it would have just taken a little time off and it was not nearly as steep as say red count or something. Yeah, I think redcone is the steepest in the state at 25 uh degrees.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we kept thinking are we gonna get for 27, 28, 29? Didn't quite get oh, it was 25, you're right. Yeah, it was 25. We never quite got there. Well, at least we didn't. Somebody else on the trip might have.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, longer wheelbases may have dipped in differently, definitely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we are in stop and go traffic. This is the ride home. So that was the top. So then you can see Leadville, then you just crisscross down. We did encounter two vehicles coming up, that was it. A classic, look like a 71 Bronco, tricked out, clean, no rust, lifted, a bunch of armor underneath on the drivetrain, just with that beautiful old 70s V8 engine smell. And then follow him was a Rubicon Two-door Jeep coming up, and they didn't have any problems. And by the time we got all the way down, they were still traversing up. It's this back and forth of just a switchback after switchback to get up the side of this hill. Yeah, it's not an I would say an easy direct way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But coming down, gorgeous colors. We're just gonna assume that you know this, it was gorgeous colors, whatever. It's not my big deal, but it's my big deal. Yeah, it's super down in there, she's like, oh, there's like paved roads over there. Like, we were passing like neighborhoods, basically.
SPEAKER_00Well, I didn't know. I was like, are we still like in you know, kind of off-roady territory? And right after I said that, you basically the road we were on turned into a paved road. I'm like, I guess we're back in civilization.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, then you end up right at Moe's barbecue in Leadville, basically.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Then I made a right turn. I should have taken the left at Albuquerque.
SPEAKER_00So Poughkeepsie. Yeah, so we we got on 24 East.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I totally spaced I I need to go, you know, towards Green Vista instead of towards Mintern.
SPEAKER_00Yes. My bad. Yes, but what the intent was because the next phase was we wanted to go through Independence Pass, which I really love. How do you feel about Independence Pass?
SPEAKER_01It's definitely grandiose, and I don't know about what how it's convert compares to West End Pass. However, Weston Pass gets you on your way back to Denver, and Independence Pass took us to Aspen and Glenwood Springs basically took us away from Denver. Yeah, but I'm like, you know, we got the early start so we could do something like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, so you go south of Leadville, for those of you who don't know, then you have to turn on highway 82. No signs.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, that was weird. They were like popped out. We had to check the map, and we're like, no, we're right, and then a sign for a little bit in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it was like no turn here for Independence Pass, no 35-foot vehicles not allowed at that intersection, because they're all over the interpens they're intersecting, because there's like a one-way, you can't take a long vehicle on Independence Pass. It's just not possible. But it's a paved road and it's closed in the winter because it is super dangerous, avalanches everywhere. It's you know, pretty epically gorgeous, except for the two look like maybe you know Western Asian persuasion stopping in the middle of the road looked like to take pictures, yeah, but they were like 30 feet from a pullout.
SPEAKER_00And there were 20 cars behind them. You're like, guy, guys, no.
SPEAKER_01You can't pass.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's I I just think they so for those of you again who aren't used to going on mountain passes, there are places to pull off. You should go to those places if you absolutely have to stop. Do not try unless you have vehicular damage or a mechanical problem or someone's literally having a seizure or something. Don't try to just do your hazards and go, oh, let me hope hopefully everybody's got enough room to get around me. Go to the pull-offs. There's always pull-offs. And yeah, I was like, oh, I'm sure they've got an ear full as people went were trying to go by them. So they probably learned their lesson.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, it's you know, check our time. It's beautiful. You know, the wind goes down. I can't wait by time.
SPEAKER_00We just need to hover on the beautiful park.
SPEAKER_01That's up to you.
SPEAKER_00It was it was so oh, y'all. So, like, we get on get on 82 and get a bit into there, and so there's this beautiful blue, smallish lake, and behind it, you've just got mountain, mountain, mountain, all this aspen, and then you've got that blue sky above it. It was just perfect. And again, check the blog uh page for this particular episode. You will see the pictures. Um, this is one reason why no, I will not move from Colorado unless it is like literally a life-changing opportunity that will make sure I can fly back to Colorado often. But I don't want to leave because it's amazing. We got to do this in one day, and we get to see it, you know, so it's ha ha so good. But yeah, it it definitely is a balm for my soul. You know, I like I said, I love autumn. Aspens are beautiful. One of my favorite parts of the whole autumnal, as he likes to call it, the leaf genocide. Okay, is the red and orange colors.
SPEAKER_01It's only genocide because people get joy of the death of the leaves.
SPEAKER_00Oh my lord. So anyway, but I love when all those colors mix together. But yeah, of course you get it with blue sky, and then ah, when you see like the gold aspen really contrast up against the dark green pine and the crystal blue sky. Just it's fantastic. It's it's breathtaking. And then you keep losing your breath because oh my god, we'd rounded a corner and the next one's great. So yeah, so he's he drove, he has driven all day. He says, he said he wanted me to take it in. So I did. I took tons of pictures, got some cool shots just up through our Bronco, topless Bronco as well. So it was it was it's been delightful. And uh yeah, and I'm I'm glad we choose Independence Pass because it never disappoints. It's very good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that was pretty gorgeous there. And then you end up in Aspen. Right. Which is kind of you know I think I think.
SPEAKER_00Aspen trees, movie stars, basically. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, it's like you know, today's version of the Beverly Hillbillies.
SPEAKER_01And then the valley all the way down to Carbon Dale Basalt, it's pretty fun. And we stop for lunch in Glenwood Springs, one of our favorite places. You know, this is why Independence Bachelor's alright, because you know, gonna end up in Glenwood Springs. That's one of our best places. You kind of want to retire there, maybe. Maybe but the uh diner that we stopped at, we've always like, oh, we should always stop there, but we never do. The kids are like, I don't want to stop at diner. So we stopped there this time. They got a bar in the back of the diner, so they got a liquor license. And you had what? A Tanya?
SPEAKER_00It's called a Tanya's mule. So it was a vodka, Breckenridge vodka with ginger beer and you know, lime. And they, I think what they did was they filled the glass, it's a cop comes in a copper mug, filled it with vodka, added a splash of ginger beer, and a lime witch, which made my lunch infinitely enjoyable. So, but I y'all let's be clear, had I not had that alcoholic beverage, the lunch would have still been fabulous because it was really good diner food.
SPEAKER_01Good patty milk and uh they had some hot sauces that were actually hot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Some good times.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 19th Street Diner. It's on it's 19th and whatever Main Street is in Glenwood. But uh, what is that highway? Is that Twenty fruit eighty-two, seven-four, nineteen, Albuquerque. So yeah, and that was good, but yeah, I had the they have a half pound burger. I you and I both did uh only half of our stuff. We're gonna eat the rest for dinner tonight, most likely. We totally could have.
SPEAKER_01Should have just split a burger.
SPEAKER_00Totally could have, but it was so good. Yeah, those were good. But yeah, it was really delightful. And the staff was super awesome. Super friendly. So friendly and and really right there.
SPEAKER_01It was so a little lax on that part of it though. But they were like cleaning.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01So they weren't just standing around not doing anything, ignoring you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They were doing stuff.
SPEAKER_00They're busy. And they're I think they were going between the two, the bar and the Yeah, but they yeah, so there was like multiple sections.
SPEAKER_01There's a whole back section bar.
SPEAKER_00Also, the guy cooking in the back, every time order up, he'd yell squirrel, which I I personally loved. Yeah, so that was those are enjoyable. I was really I'm glad we tried it, because yeah, highly recommend. Definitely want to go back.
SPEAKER_01Especially for diner food. Which diners are dying in Colorado. Yeah. Diners used to be thriving businesses in Colorado, but COVID and inflation and all kinds of weirdness. Get rid of the tipping structure, just charge more money.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I'll pay it.
SPEAKER_01And pay your staff.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01You know what I mean? Yeah, we it'll sort itself out. There might be some growing pains, but it'll sort itself out. It really will. And we'll be fine.
SPEAKER_00It really will, y'all. And yeah, whoever's like, oh, well, you tip people let them know they're doing a good job. No, you tip them to give them, you don't tip them, you give them a living wage, they don't need the tips, then they're gonna be like, great, I'm making 30, 40 bucks and I'm serving and I'm doing great.
SPEAKER_01And I will say this in the era before everyone just paid with card, no matter what, I would say keep the tipping structure because that was cash. Right. Cash money, you claimed that okay, I got $400 in tips today. Yeah, I got four dollars and eighty-four cents in tips. Boom. Tax-free money. Yeah, okay. I'm all about that. Now you can't do that when you have to claim it because it has now got a digital record for it, and you gotta tax your tips so they're even making less tips. Just pay them away.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And just remember, y'all, they're making food for you and serving it so you don't have to. So yeah, it's worth it. Go let them get more money.
SPEAKER_01But that was that was a worth place. So then we tried to find Stoneyard, distilleries, tasting room. They were closed. Because you can get most of their stuff in Colorado, they distribute a little bit, but everything but the horchata, and they are a local Colorado distillery, and they use beet sugar to make their like rum style um liquors. Yes. It's definitely hard liquor, hard, clear liquor. And they infuse it with flavors. You can get spicy, like to say the horchata, cinnamon, all kinds of different ones.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, and we like them too, because when we did go visit, they had just opened, I think. And we went in their in their tasting room and they were super cool. Yeah. So we definitely want to support them, especially being local.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think that I mean the tasting room is not their bread and butter distribution, is yeah. So, you know, that's it is what it is. Tis. But they were closed, so then we walked around a park that we like, up and down the river, just a little bit just to get our legs moving. Yes. And we're like, we gotta go. We'd stay here all day. It's Glenwood Springs, like I said. We have things to do tomorrow, three in the morning, that require presence. So we walked around and then we went through Glenwood Canyon.
SPEAKER_00My I it's either my top three, if not my favorite, place on the planet. It's glorious. I know the Grand Canyon is all that. Glenwood Canyon is basically our Colorado's Grand Canyon. It's it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's the same river.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yes. But yeah, so we drove through that, and again, just angling my neck all the way through. I will post pictures of that and video and stuff, but it's glorious, especially you have of course this whole what drove this this Saturday excursion was the aspens poking out, so it's a tunnel that made it even better.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, Glenwell in 2020 or whatever fires, you know, so it's a crapshoot whether or not there was gonna be landslides closing Glenwell Canyon, which adds another. We would have just turned around and gone through independence passing it. Screw it. But not as much aspen, but now they have like the scrubbox or whatever, they were turning like the the low bushes, yeah, and they were turning red. So you saw that everywhere. That's a nice difference from the fire. Like those have started growing, so hopefully that's gonna mitigate these landslides that have been happening.
SPEAKER_00Oh, for our listeners, let's talk a little bit about the aspens and what makes what's what's unique about an aspen tree, I think. I would like you to share that because you'd be very smart about it.
SPEAKER_01The world's largest living organism is an aspen.
SPEAKER_00Yes, right.
SPEAKER_01So when you see aspen on the side of a mountain, that's like one tree, one root system, and it clones itself. It doesn't propagate with pollen. Those are basically instead of you would call them not trees, but you would call them branches or stems, really. But they can call them trees.
SPEAKER_00Offshoots or whatever you want to call it, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But it just clones itself. So that tree that you would see, they can test it and just find its own root system. And most of the clusters of aspen you see are all one organism with many branches.
SPEAKER_00It's pretty cool. Yeah, we we were on like that hike when we went to Steamboat, the one where you got the crap bit out of your leg.
SPEAKER_01I still have that hole in my leg right now. I can feel it. It's I got bit by something or stung or envenomated for sure. Uh no good. And it's still kind of like hard and weird on my cat.
SPEAKER_00It is weird. Well, and you like had a kind of a fever and chills, and you're you're you were felt nauseated, yeah, for a good 24 to 36 hours after that. But but yeah, we were on that hike, and I remember I think we were with a c in a cluster of aspens, and there was a science there that talked about how it was one organism, and it said don't if you carve in one of these, you essentially give it a death sentence. So don't do that. And of course, somebody's some stupid had carved right into that country. You know, because people are stupid. As we've already talked about.
SPEAKER_01Not you listeners.
SPEAKER_00No, we hope you're not. Except for you know who you are. Yeah, if you're listening right now and you know that you're like a kind of stupid. Yeah. No, if you drive an infinity, you're not automatically the person we're talking about, but you did you did enter that black full-size infinity SUV. Who was driving eastbound on I-70 on September 30th. Yeah, you better know who you are. Yeah, so and so like like my husband said, we are doing this car ride home because we are riding home and we are in some it's not stop and go, it's very slow traffic. Yes, same. Yeah, we should have you all, those of you who've ever been stuck in traffic on I-70 in the mountains, you should leave comments talking about your worst story about that, because everybody's got one if you've done it. I think mine was I was coming back from I used to work for a health insurance startup, and I went to Keystone for a fellowship for something, some conference they were having, and we all started driving on the way back, and somewhere up here in in front of us, a semi had caught fire on the highway, which we I didn't know at the time. I wound up getting off at Georgetown and just sat and cooled my jets for about two hours so I could walk around, work a little bit, and recharge my stuff, and uh got back on the highway, but it took me another four hours to get home. It was awful, it was bad. When yeah, it happens, but what else? Anything else?
SPEAKER_01That's pretty much it. We stopped after the Glenwood Canyon, put the tops back on, so because we saw some rain coming. Never really got rained on, but we got some, you know, highway speeds. It's a little loud. It too. So we put those back on. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's about it. So now we're uh coming up, we're gonna start passing Idaho Springs. We are getting ever closer to Denver, but hopefully it won't be too much longer. But thanks for listening, everybody. If obviously rate the podcast, share it with friends. Rate the drive.
SPEAKER_01You right now.
SPEAKER_00Oh you we have to rate the drive. Okay. Calm down. I'm gonna rate this drive uh 9.5 out of no, no, no, no, no. 10 out of 10 fluttering golden aspen leaves on their death knell toward the earth. That's 10 out of 10.
SPEAKER_0110 for you, huh?
SPEAKER_00Yes, it's been glorious and awesome. Also, I zero. Wow, eight leaves. You've been been dri you've been driving and you also like don't like leaves dying, so I get it. It's fine. I like today, so I give it a nine.
SPEAKER_01Would have been a ten if we were staying climate screens.
SPEAKER_00Well, but we couldn't do that. We had okay. Well, okay. That's not in my power or control, so I feel alright. I'm not saying it was.
SPEAKER_01I know that's what would have made it a 10.
SPEAKER_00Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_01That's my rating.
SPEAKER_00Alright, well, that's pretty good. So for those of you who are thinking, hmm, now I should probably try to plan a trip out into the mountains of Colorado for leaf peeping.
SPEAKER_01Next year, because by Wednesday it's probably gone.
SPEAKER_00You can't do it this year anymore. I mean, if you go up tomorrow, it'll be different. Well, it'll still be there, but you have you could still see the same colors we saw. Or it's good. Yeah. Yeah. But if you don't live in the state, don't try to come unless you have a leer jet and you can get out here in the next day or two. It usually is right around the end of September, beginning of October, but it's hit or miss. So that's why we all kind of keep our ear to the ground and are like, okay, who's been up there and who can tell us if it's peaking right now?
SPEAKER_01Every once in a while you get a snowstorm come in, and it the peak was literally an hour. Yep, and it's slightly turned leaves are just gone.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's happened on occasion, but yeah. So you do, it's kind of like uh, well, let me hear what the hot gauze is, and then people are gonna tell me I need to go in there, go up there and see it. So, but this year was glorious, and so was this ride. 10 out of 10, 9 out of 10. Alright, so subscribe, y'all. Go visit the blog, you'll see some pictures, and listen to the other things we are doing. What? What are you posting? What are you putting? Because I'm slapping my leg.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna hear that like it's a it's a car at home.
SPEAKER_00Do you all not make noises in the car on your ride home?
SPEAKER_01Because you're gonna hear that like a clap and your your editing mode's gonna come in and it's like, I need to edit right here.
SPEAKER_00I'm not gonna edit it. I don't ever do that. I leave this pretty like raw.
SPEAKER_01Do you know you?
SPEAKER_00No. Because you know, nobody ain't I ain't got no time, but I ain't got time for that, so. Alright. Love y'all. I don't know if I love you or not. I love you. Fairly tolerate you. I I love you if you're not that infinity driver. How about that? Alright. Take care everybody. I hope you have a good fall. Bye.
