Colorado

How I ended up here involves somebody's secrets, so I can't fill in that detail. Here is amazing. Amazing to me are the Rocky Mountains and the gorgeous snowy vistas, and the snowy trees, the frozen lakes and the only barely bubbling wee streams. These mountains are high, high, high. What were people ever doing up here in the first place. First there were presumably hunters, then miners, then lumber people. And then skiers. Ski bums on a hippy trail, then entrepreneurs that bought it all up, built unbelievable infrastructure that determines the experience of all these rich people. I presume they must all be rich. The houses and apartments are luxurious to the nth, particularly given the range of weather they must protect from. I was very taken with the underfloor heating in the bathroom, but then discovered even the pavements are heated. It says so on the many, many notices that explain everything, and of course there is no snow on the heated pavements. Up above is the real snow, and then they blow in other snow, also real, when the first snow doesn't fall in the right place. You get a very red face, on one cheek its windburn and on the other sunburn. Beaver Creek is clearly a luxurious resort. Breckenridge looks as if it is a normal town, but try looking for an Elastoplast or a pint of milk on the Main Street. I think the rich people must all lose their luggage and have to stock up on ski gear from scratch every time they come. And forget about it if you need a tea bag and a sweetie, and I need a tea bag and a sweetie. And speaking of teabags, there is a much more serious problem (I actually never travel on this continent without tea bags about my person). Water looks as if it is boiling, but it isn't. The best solution we have found is to pour the pretend boiling water on the teabag, then microwave the lot before you put milk in. I never touch the stuff, but the coffee suffers from the same non-boiling problem. How do people manage?