Make Time: Savage Lakes

Friday included a fantastic breakfast sandwich at a place called Sunny's in Denver. The sandwich actually included two grilled cheese sandwiches, each serving as the bread/toast for this monster. In between the grilled cheese was lettuce, tomato, chorizo, avocado, and a few fried eggs. Yeah - a bit excessive. Add some tater-tots and an orange juice to that, and if you don't nap afterwards you have something wrong with you. Eventually I got up and went to see the movie The Drop, which was James Gandolfini's last movie before his death. Suspenseful. Very good. The next morning I drove a few hours south to go camping with my friend's Justin and Leah. There are two beautiful lakes in the mountains near Aspen called Savage Lakes. Justin had heard about a short-but-good hike to these lakes where we could camp. The hike was difficult due to the altitude (almost 11K feet), but it wasn't too long, so we eventually got up to the lakes and it was incredible. Sun going down. Amazing colors on the lake. We encounter a few others who are preparing to camp on the lake as well, and we pass their sites before finding the highest and most beautiful campsite on the lower lake. The pictures below will help, but wow it was breathtaking. Justin is a very good out-doorsman, so he made an incredible fire and then made us all dinner. Indian food! Ha - my favorite. We enjoyed dinner and then I played the harmonica before calling it a night early. Of course, we looked at the stars for a while before falling asleep. So plentiful. So beautiful. Wow. Wake up the next morning and do some fly fishing on the lake before heading out. Justin catches a fish on his second cast, and although I got a few bites, I never caught anything. Oh well. It was still a beautiful day and I felt lucky to be out enjoying the weather and the scenery. We head back to Denver where I embark on a painting for Justin and Leah, which I was unable to finish because I then went to camp in Rocky Mountain National Park...