It'll have to be another time, though, unfortunately. It was a little out of the way, and it'd have required a decision between Mesa Verde and an extra day here at the Butte. Plus, with the centennial this year, it's supposedly filled with touristas (one step lower than a tourist - we're one step up, we're TRAVELLERS). But next time, I want to really hit it. Same kind of deal with Pikes Peak, as Jen suggested.

The 4th here in CB was REALLY cool. It kicked off with a wacky parade that could only be put on in a town like this. Stuff like the King and Queen of Floshing (that get to be driven in our friend Alan's Jeep) and the students from the biological lab that dress up in skunk cabbage (we thought that they were the ones that were pushing to legalise pot - that may have been a second message there). It's all just so fun. I'll post the photos when I get a chance - I took about a hundred just of that. We've decided that next time we're here for the 4th, we're going to drive in the parade with a sign that says "We Drove Here All The Way From New Jersey Just to Throw Stuff at You!"

Then we went almost to the summit of the mountain. Because of the lightning that came in, we didn't go all the way, but we still saw snow. Another group was near us that had the entire family following a guy and his girlfriend to the top so that he could propose to her at the top. Considering the fact that the lifts closed because of the storm and they had to send us down in a Suburban, they were not happy that they were pressing on and they'd have to send another Suburban up to save them. The Suburbaning down was a ton of fun, though, especially since we didn't want to walk down again (did it yesterday) and my mom is not big on downloading (riding the lift down - strange sensation).

Drove out to Gothic later, where aforementioned laboratory is located. This included driving through the world's largest aspen grove. Also went into the National Forest and took the dirt road there before it got too 4x4 (the Yukon XL may be a "4x4", but it's not a Land Rover, and the 4x4 roads out here are Land Rover roads). INCREDIBLE views, with the wildflowers, mountains, and river. It's really God's country out here.

The bad thing is that I got really dehydrated, and I got serious altitude sickness. I got a huge burger tonight ("biggest in town" at the Wooden Nickel), and I couldn't even eat it (though I'm nibbling on it now). All I could do was drink water - I went through an entire litre of it at the restaurant, and I'm still not 100%. I knew the altitude would get to me eventually, I just didn't know when.

Saw the fireworks tonight which were...okay. I've seen better. But it was still fun, and it was cool, since the sound reverberated around all the mountains.

Tomorrow, we're leaving CB and heading up to Beaver Creek. Whole different atmosphere. Along the way, we're going to visit the Glenwood Springs. It should be easier for me to visit the forums in BC, since the Wi-Fi is in the building, instead of the weak signal that I'm "borrowing" right now.

Photos to come at some point...though there's so many (already over 700 the whole trip) that "some point" may be "when we get home to NJ."