It’s a Pearl of a Street

I’m currently visiting family in Colorado. One of my brothers, Brian (who is living with my brother Chris and his wife and family since coming home after several years in Taiwan), and I went to Pearl Street in Boulder this afternoon. Pearl Street is a restored area of older brick buildings that now houses a variety of businesses–from art galleries to restaurants to head shops. It has a bit of a hippy 60’s vibe with yuppy over-tones.

On this section of Pearl, the center part of the street where the cars used to drive is now a pedestrian walkway, as well as a space used by all manner of street performers. Unfortunately I failed to take my camera and thus have no pictures of the contortionist (who also juggled while being twisted up like a pretzel). Or the gentleman playing a small harp and singing who had a very fine voice. Fortunately, my brother Brian had some pictures on his computer from one of his earlier trips to Pearl, so I will insert some of those so that you can get a little flavor of the place.

Juggler

Drummer

Pearl Street

We stopped and had lunch at one of the many restaurants along the way and it was fabulous.  This particular establishment had a rooftop dining area and we chose to eat up there.   I had a green salad with chicken strips that were perfectly spiced and extremely flavorful. The salad also had fresh tomatoes, cubed apples and candied walnuts with a great raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Yum.

Rooftop Restaurant (in background)

After lunch we cruised the shops, stopping in several along the way, including a cute little art gallery where I purchased a small enameled work of an Eastern bluebird on a branch of apple blossoms for my bathroom wall.

We also stopped in one of the headshops that, for some reason, are all below street level in basement stores. It’s one of those things where, while we didn’t have any real reason to be there, we just had to look. Call it a trip down memory lane…. Of course, since marijuana is now legal in Colorado and will be for sale to the general public starting in 2014, I suppose the stores will be of more use at that time. But with two universities close-by, they seem to be pretty heavily trafficked already.

We also went into an ice cream shop, thinking about a little dessert, but changed our minds when we saw the prices. At $4.50 for a single-scoop cone it seemed a little pricey to the both of us. Heck, I can buy a pint of the good stuff for that price (or less!) in any grocery store. Sheesh.

After that we walked by the courthouse, which is on the same street, and is an impressive stone building with lovely landscaping. There is a monument on the grounds dedicated to the casualties of “the world war”. It was erected in 1935, so the people who put it there had no idea that an even worse war was about to come. There was a large sign at the entrance to the grounds that, among other rules, stated “no camping”. I guess those soft, green lawns were just too tempting to street people and hikers passing through.

Courthouse grounds

Courthouse

Near the center of the pedestrian area, there’s a play area for the kiddies that is painted to look as if a stream is running down the center and is strewn with large rocks for them to climb on. It was obviously popular with the kids, as every rock had at least one kidlet climbing on it.

Kiddy play area

The street was very busy while we were there. I have a feeling that the snow we had yesterday, while very short-lived, served to remind everyone that winter is just around the corner. Thus many people decided to take advantage to the day’s lovely weather and get out while the getting was good. Tomorrow promises to be even nicer with highs in the low 70’s. I have yet to decide if that will become a travel day or if I will wait until Monday to tackle crossing the Rockies.

A Journey to the Center of the…Nation

I took a little side trip with a friend to visit the geographical center of the nation.  Turns out that it’s a bit hard to find.  Apparently it’s hidden down some gravel road, behind a barbed wire fence, in the middle of a pasture somewhere outside of Belle Fourche, SD.

While we were searching, we found a monument behind a fence far up an old, worn piece of black top that was gated off from the main road.  We parked at the gate and hiked up the road then found a path that led up the side of the hill.   At the top of the hill was a fenced area surrounding some old shepherd’s monuments.  The story goes that the shepherds would pass the time by building rock cairns on the top of the hills where they would sit while watching their sheep.

Topper and me at the shepherd’s monument

I read somewhere on the internet that the marker for the geographical center of the 50 states is quite near where we were, but we didn’t see it.   All we saw were the stone markers and an old wooden sign telling about the shepherd’s stone monuments.    On the top of the same hill we could see other stones sunk into the ground in circular patterns.   They were apparently the remains of old tepee stones–the foundations of old native American encampments.  There were also flakes of stone in the ant hills in the same area, remnants of a time when stone tools were formed there.

The view from the top of the mountain was incredible.  We could see for miles and miles in every direction.  Far in the distance we could see Castle Rock Butte and several other formations.  It was a perfect afternoon,  warm, sunny and utterly peaceful.   I read somewhere that the stone formations in the area were full of rattlesnake nests, but I never saw a single snake.   Just several areas where deer had obviously lain to rest.

Castle Rock Butte in the distance

A view from the top

After spending some time sitting in the sun, exploring and taking pictures at the top, we headed back down the overgrown path to the old road and hiked back to our car.   Which was a lot easier to say than do, as a hike of over a mile in each direction hadn’t been anticipated by either of us.  At least my friend was wearing boots, all I had on were sandals that barely clung to my feet, causing me to have to side-step all the way down the path everywhere it was the least bit steep, so that I didn’t fall.  We won’t mention the small cacti that seemed to be everywhere on top of the hill that made every step a new adventure.

Sunflowers

Tepee Stones

But hey, we got up, we got down.  A lovely day was had by all (especially Topper, my little dog, who was in “what is this strange new smell?” heaven), I got some nice pictures and  we were at least in the right area for the geo. center of the U.S., even if we never saw it.