Since the theater offerings were light this year, I had more time on my trip to do some sightseeing and exploring. After the plays were over, I stayed on one more day in Boulder, and in the afternoon I traveled up to Nederland and had some lunch. It was beautiful traveling up Boulder Canyon along the river and getting up into the mountains. I’m not sure I’d ever been to Nederland before, other than traveling by on the way to Eldora when we went skiing in college. After coming back I traveled up to NCAR and did a little walking around, and finally had a nice dinner on the Pearl Street Mall.
The next day I left Boulder and drove up to Estes Park. It was a beautiful drive through the hills. I got there just before some strong rains set in, and I had a nice breakfast. I don’t recall ever being here before. After the rains let up, I drove down through Big Thompson Canyon, again through beautiful scenery and a river alongside the road, eventually coming to Loveland. It had been a long time since I had been here, and I ended up staying the night by the highway. The next day I went and spent some time at Lake Loveland, where I hadn’t been since my teenage years. For about a decade since I was 5 years old we spend almost every weekend here water skiing. It was bigger than I recall. Unfortunately, the sky was fairly overcast due to smoke from the western fires, but it was nonetheless fun to visit. Afterwards I headed down to the Denver area to a picnic my cousins had arranged. On the way, I stopped by the parents’ gravesites. It was nice to see several of my cousins and other family members. I guess we’re all getting older.
After the party, I headed to Castle Rock for the night. I used this as a base to do a little exploring, and the next day I headed down south to Colorado Springs to drive through the Garden of the Gods. I was surprised at how many people were there, making for a long line on a weekday. I guess since parts of the country had started opening up, people are taking advantage of the opportunity to travel. The next day I headed home after a varied and fairly relaxing visit.
Tonight I saw my first Shakespeare play of the year at the 
The first play in this summer’s lineup was Homer’s The Odyssey. It was a very warm night and I didn’t even bring a jacket. In the theater, all groups were spread out with 3 seats and a row in between each group. We had to wear masks when entering the theater, but not when seated. When the first actor started speaking I became surprisingly emotional. I suppose because I’ve missed live theater more than I realized. The play was really well done. A fairly minimalistic set (partly because they wanted less craftsmen involved due to Covid). They used some great symbolism to represent the various adventures that were undertaken. A very enjoyable evening to start my return to live theater.
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