What's Right with Boulder?

Everything else! Haha--I've just had one of the very best weeks of recent memory, connecting to my friends here, always good to do that physically. The altitude is mind-adjustingly extreme in the way I remember from having lived here for eight years. I'm very glad about that. California was lovely in its own ways--America is vast, folks who haven't been here or haven't been here a lot, or who have just been to one or two parts of it. But for some reason many of the closest friends ever have been from Boulder.  Is my psychoanalyst of 21 years my friend? Oh, sure, why not. He took a huge shine to Simon (9) who has been a total treat for me and everyone else who's been in his presence. Simon is one of the big reasons this trip has been amazing. My daughter Claire (14) is at a meditation camp in the mountains. I'll find out tomorrow whether it rained too much up there. Simon and I drove up to the highest road in America (well, the highest you can enjoy--another one, also in CO, is about 100' feet higher but you can't really stop and admire the way you can on this one), Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park (it's part of highway 34). It's like Tibet up there, aka tundra and tiny alpine flowers, no trees, then no flowers, but lichens still. Amazing. We chanted the heart sutra in the ornate and magnificent shrine room at Karma Dzong (I like the old name). Alfalfa's proves to be a lovely shop, and now I can afford it, just about lolol. I crippled myself financially here when I walked there all the time for groceries (didn't have a car, it was the closest shop available). Zooming around hairpin bends (or whatever you like to call them, switchbacks or whatever) has been great too. Thanks everyone, see you soon!