Outlands Crown Tourney

...in which the fighters battle to determine who will be the next King and Queen of the Outlands for the next six months.

As is traditional, I paid basically no attention to the actual fighting part. There was too much else going on.

I wish my chair were this nice, but it's not, so Loiosh stole someone else's:

And was very comfortable the whole day.

Plus he got loves and quite a lot of roast beef from his various admirers.

Dwen and Bri show off their lovely Viking garb. Loving the bling.

Crown Tourney is usually held outside -- it's rare we find a big enough space inside where they can actually fight. Not a lot of damage to be done that the livestock hasn't already tried, though. The space was a little allergy-ey but otherwise worked very well, and it was much cooler inside than out in the sun.

I did catch a little of the fighting.

Some folks even camped inside. I wouldn't have been able to without having massive allergy problems, but most people were okay, and it really is kind've nice not having to worry about rain.

Eulasaid and David have a lovely camp:

It takes longer to set up and break down than I'd want to take, but for them it's totally worth the time and effort. And it really, really looks awesome.

Plus I ended the day with some of the best foods ever.

Gold Camp Road

Last week it was hot. Heat makes me whiny, and we haven't got air conditioning, so...yeah, I was whiny. Fortunately driving up the hill is nearly always enough to make me feel better.

I poked around online to find somewhere new to go. Gold Camp Road looked interesting, and I've never been to Cripple Creek, so I thought I'd head up that way.

I stopped at a bunch of places on the way up -- really, anywhere that looked interesting. My first stop was kind've neat, but still low enough that it was warmer than I like. Loiosh thought it was too hot, too, and stayed in the shade.

This path really did look tempting, but I think it would've just taken me to the REALLY RICH neighborhood visible in the background. So we kept going.

This is a bit after the road turned to dirt. I have no idea what that road is down there, but I think I want to find out and drive it, too.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the whole outcropping -- I tried climbing it, but I'm way too out of practice, and the rock was too rough to go barefoot. So we just sort of scrambled around the lower bits for a while.

Further up there were rough-hewn tunnels -- apparently this used to be a railway right-of-way. A lot of this part was one lane wide, and the tunnels definitely were.

Since I've been pretty scared to go underground, even into tunnels, before, I thought I'd see how I'd do.

Closer...

Closer...

 

...I did walk through (and, of course, back) and it wasn't too bad. I think I've gotten over a lot of that fear. Of course, Loiosh helped.

Then things got exciting, as they will. Not only did it start absolutely pouring rain, it did so right where Gold Camp Road is closed.

...so much for Cripple Creek. Next time, I guess?

Loiosh got rather dampened.

MOM WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME UNDER THAT BUSH IT WAS NICE AND DRY THERE

Believe me, as hard as we were getting rained on, if I'd've fit, I'd've been under that bush with him.

We returned home to a letter from Autumn, my roommates' leashcat, who is...less than fond of my boy.

I think she'd've been happier if Gold Camp Road had been open the whole way and we'd been out for longer...but then again, so would I.

(On the other hand, given how haunted it apparently is...Tunnel 2 is the one I walked through. Really glad I didn't get groped!)

Fighters Folly

Fighter's Folly was a small, first-year event at a new site -- in other words, not a lot of people showed up. Those of us who did had a really good time, though.

I could have taken I25 up to Castle Rock and then driven uphill, but you know me by now, right? So instead I took 24 up to Woodland Park and turned right on CO67.

I drove through a whole lot of this. I think it's from the Hayman Fire back in 2002, but I could be wrong.

What I didn't know is that 67 turns into a dirt road for part of the way. Which is fine -- it's a nice dirt road -- but where I come from, 'roads big enough to have route numbers' and 'roads small enough to be dirt' are a non-overlapping Venn diagram. It really is one of the things I love about the West, though.

I got to site, got told there might be bears around, ignored this as it's true everywhere in the mountains, set up, got told that there was definitely a bear on site and he kept trying to eat their archery targets, grumbled a lot, and tore back down. But I did get a shot of the sun through the trees.

I also got told I shouldn't be walking in the woods alone, by a guy who was far more likely to be a danger than anything else while I was walking through the woods alone. I don't think he has any idea why I was so eager to turn down his 'help', even after I told him that I am, actually, a grownup and perfectly capable of making my own decisions about what I should and shouldn't do.

This made me really, really angry, but Loiosh is a good distraction. Also great at guarding my cashbox.

One of the big things at this event was the archery -- quite understandably, since it's an archery club when we're not there. I didn't get a chance to see more than a little of the shooting, but what I saw looked like a lot of fun.

Also, when you have to walk half the site to get to all the targets, a wagon is a lovely thing to have.

Extra-specially when you're also carrying a baby. (Tobias is almost a year old already, holy crap, when do these things happen!?)

The other merchant on site had nommy foods! Alas, I had brought enough hummus to get me through and didn't bring in enough that I felt okay spending some of it on dinner. Alas!

This is Miss Foxy Lady, who I had custody of while her Momma was off shooting arrows at things. She was very polite to Loiosh, who was awfully confused by this. Also, she had some separation anxiety, which I relieved by careful application of her Momma's leftover fries.

She is a beautiful girl! Also sneaky. As in 'stole and ate the entire bag of Beggin' Strips' sneaky.

Who, me?

Later that evening I saw a wild turkey come strolling out of the bushes, followed by quite a lot more wild turkeys, some of which were TINY FUZZY BABY WILD TURKEYS OMG SO CUUUUUTE and then I started squeeing and couldn't get any more pictures.

TINY FUZZY BABIES

There were also oak threes, except they were sort of oak bushes, which I think is called 'scrub oak' and is kinda cool compared to your standard tall, grand oak tree.

Sunday didn't quite go as planned. Fortunately I had all my stuff in the car by then. Plus my ipad so I could read some Digger until the precipitation stopped.

HEY MOM IT'S WET OUTSIDE I'M BORED

MAYBE I COULD HAVE SOME FOOD I LIKE FOOD (says he who got steak for dinner Saturday night...)

And then my ipad batteries ran out so I couldn't get any pictures of the spectacular drive home, the end.

Caer Galen Defender

Kind of a short post this time, mostly cos my ipad batteries got eaten by a map app I downloaded so I didn't get a lot of pictures.

But it'll do. Caer Galen is one of my home groups and I do always have a wonderful time there. Plus I made a zillion bucks. Plus there was napping.

(Actually I didn't get any naps at all, but here's Loiosh and his Unca Grellan having a lovely one the afternoon of the 4th.)

The ride up Thursday was...cranky. There was traffic, which was gonna happen, but which annoyed me anyway. 70 west was a complete mess -- I decided to take 6 up instead, which was a very good idea, but still slow. Usually my mood gets better as I go up hill, but it didn't work as well this time, and the rather rocky (and car-scrapey) last section of road did NOT help.

My car's okay (as far as I can tell) but I know one person who snapped a strut (apparently this makes a VERY frightening sound) and another who got two flat tires. So, yeah. Kind've a problem.

Once I got on site (and vented at poor Carrick, for which my apologies) things started to get better. The merchants got basically the best spot we possibly could have, right where everyone went past several times a day. Getting my table to sit flat was somewhat of a challenge (there was basically no flat ground at all) but I managed it. And I got a couple sales almost right away.

The flower fairies visited my booth on Saturday.

They also borrowed Loiosh several times, with the result that he spent most of his time actually with me asleep or nearly so.

I did take him for rambles in the woods every morning, though, and he caught a mouse Friday morning.

(This, I will admit, is part of why I've started sleeping in my car instead of in my tent, another being that it's just too bloody small once I've got my table set up in it.)

There were well-deserved awards, excellent meals, occasional rainshowers, very cold nights, both shenanigans and chicanery, and general awesomeness. By Sunday I was quite ready to go home, though, and I'm glad to report that it's been about 24 hours and I have everything unpacked and refrotzed and now all I need is about a solid days' sleep (and a week's worth of production) and I'll be good to go again.

Not Aarquelle Highlands Fencing Camp

Rather, this is the drive up and back, which was awesome, because I actually left early enough on Friday that I wasn't in a huge hurry. Plus I knew it was gonna be ridiculously hot in the Springs in Sunday, so I was quite willing to take my sweet time getting home.

I got lunch on the way up, at a lovely little place called Mountain Burger in Florissant.They have dog treats at the drive-through window, but not cat treats (understandably so). So instead they gave Loiosh a spare hamburger patty.

...he was pretty pleased with it.

The two-legger food was pretty good, too, and I wound up stopping again on my way home Sunday.

I'm always surprised at the beauty of Colorado's mountains. I can't get enough of them.



Loiosh was...less impressed, but at least he found something to sniff at.

Mom can we GO now?

Mom?

So we got back on the road. But what a road it is!

 

On the way up we drove past Antero Reservoir, and it looked like it might be an interesting place to stop on the way back, so we did.

Nearly the first thing I saw (well, other than the largish body of water) was a whole lot of really, really angry swallows flying around hollering at us.

Turns out they had reason, though.

I spotted a couple of babies peeking out but didn't want to stay close for too long -- the birds were already upset enough, especially with Loiosh right there.

Loiosh, on the other hand, was more concerned with the wind. MOM IT IS TOO WINDY CAN WE GET BACK IN THE CAR MOM MOM

DO WE HAVE TO GET CLOSE TO THE WATER MOM WE ALREADY DID THAT TODAY

MOM THE WIND IS BLOWING WATER AT ME I'M GONNA GO HIDE

I made him stick around for a little, though, long enough to listen to the waves and get a couple of pictures. I mean, look at it, it's just gorgeous.

MOM REALLY MOM I AM SO DONE

The thing that really excites me about this place, though, is the little campground -- complete with RV spaces, bathrooms, and a couple of picnic shelters. No fee. Standard 14 days max stay with 7 days in between. Poof! A perfect boondocking spot. I'll definitely be back.