Boulder Blowing Glass

Drove a relaxing and stunningly beautiful few hours from Steamboat to Boulder, where I spent less than an hour last Sunday with Oliver, to meet up with Alex at his glass blowing studio. On the road down there I could have gone the freeway but decided to go through Rocky Mountain National Park instead - a decision I feel lucky for making. Stunning beauty. There was a rain and thunder storm in Boulder and Denver, but I was above that still, so it was fantastic to drive through the cloud layer and into the storms. At one point I see a bunch of cars parked and people out on the road, so I slow down and see a heard of Elk right next to the road. UNREAL. I jumped out of the car and took a pic, but it was beautiful to be that close to such a foreign animal. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures below. I get to Alex's studio, the warehouse district of Boulder. The area is full of artist studios, mechanics, food distributors, bicycle builders, and anything else creative-related you can imagine. I walk into his studio and there are three other guys in there, each looking like a cross between hippies, skateboarders, hobo's, and artists. Alex is in the midst of finishing an order of 10 glass pieces for a client, so he continues on his work and I engage the hippie hobo's. Great guys. All are from upstate New York, and two of them are just visiting the artist-friend who's also blowing glass in the studio. They are hilarious. I could see each of them having their own Bam Margera-style show. We all laugh when I talk about my road trip, and then we kill a few minutes talking about art and music. I leave the characters and the studio and walk around Boulder. Very cool town. Mountain. College. Young. Energetic. They have a nice promenade you can walk, and I kill a few minutes before heading up to Alex's house where he is cooking a big dinner. Pasta with his own flare - simple and good. The hobo hippies were there, of course, and we all went on the back porch and watched in awe as the first snowfall of the year came (September 11). After dinner and plenty of funny conversation, the hippie hobos left and I passed out at Alex's for the evening. I woke up to a snow-covered car and a very cold frost in the air. Cleaned off the car and headed into Denver again…

On my drive from Steamboat to Boulder 

Entering Rocky Mountain National Park

This patch of color was so beautiful in the landscape 

Alex at work  

Tree rings at a store in Boulder 

Frank Zappa was one of my late-uncle Patrick's favorites. Incidentally, my cousin Scott in Charlotte NC also loves him. It was a good sign to see this hanging up in Alex's home.