Cousin Weekend 11

Last weekend was our eleventh annual Cousin Weekend.  Three of us have gotten together for a weekend in the summer each year since 2002.  This year we met in Colorado.  My flight out was in the morning and the sky was cloudy.  I was so disappointed because summer is the best chance to have clear skies and, as a result, a great view of Mt. Rainier, Mt. St Helens, and Mt. Hood.  I have only seen this view once (in February!) but I didn't have a camera ready.  This time, I was ready!  Luckily, there was a break in the clouds and I could at least see Mt. Rainier.  That mountain is just so beautiful!

On Saturday, after having stayed up really late chatting and watching the opening ceremonies, we headed into Boulder to a very cute salon where Granny treated us all to a pedicure (thanks, Granny!)  It was a very cute salon with a shopping area that sold interesting jewelry, scarves, sandals and various lotions and make-up.  The girls who took care of us did a really good job and we ended up with pearly, purple, and orangey-pink colored toes!  

Afterwards, we headed into the foothills of the mountains, where we saw some incredible views.  Amy is always eagle-eyed when she sees a car pulled over on the side of the road because it often means interesting wildlife.  This ride was no different and we came across a biker on the side of the road with a camera aimed into a field next to the road.  At first we (somewhat scornfully!) thought the guy was taking pictures of a horse!  But then Amy realized that it was not a horse...it was a moose!  I have been wanting to see a moose since I was in middle (or high?) school and I went outside after lunch and found that I had missed a large moose in the field by about ten seconds.  I saw a baby moose, once, in Amherst, which actually ran right next to my car, but that was also sort of sad because there was no mother with it.  Anyway, this time we hopped out of the car grabbing our cameras and realized this was a mother and a calf.  They were not very far away and we were all just a little nervous but there was a small fence that they would have had to get over to get us and we figured that would give us enough of a head start if we needed it.  The mother moose did not seemed to be at all concerned that she was attracting a crowd (about four other cars and the biker all stopped during the few minutes we were there.  

The baby was shy and had hidden itself on the other side of the bush by the time I got my lens cap off.  However, they were both pretty calmly enjoying their snack when the owner of the field showed up.  You'll probably have to enlarge this picture by clicking on it to see the details.  Anyway, the owner showed up and chased off the intruders!

Since we were stopped, we took our annual "three heads and a background" shot and then hopped back in the car and headed down the road.  The views were stunning and I had fun taking pictures from the passenger seat as we rode along.

We of course had an excellent time visiting, seeing the mountains, and watching the Olympics.  As always, the weekend came to an end too quickly. Lucky for me, the consolation prize was another chance to see the big boys from the air!

And our feline hosts were very social (as are all of our furry friends, no matter which ones they are!) so the blog wouldn't be complete without these handsome pictures of Tunison and Jackson!