So I'm still trying to figure out this place, the Upper Arkansas Valley. I wake up in the morning, looking to the west, Mt. Princeton across the valley floor. Went skiing at Monarch...no new snow so I kept to the groomed trails, sometimes in the trees. It is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow...could use some new snow. The signs at the base warn of "Early Season Conditions" but, dude, it's February...getting toward the end of the season. Soon the signs will say "Spring Conditions," meaning the snow is more moist, tending to melt in the April sunshine. So, like, when does winter begin?
and then on my way into Salida (where the Arkansas leaves the Valley, making an abrupt turn to the east to carve out the Royal Gorge on its way to the Mississippi), I noticed this cemetery off to the side of the road...wooden crosses...a barbed wire fence. I stopped and parked and could not make sense of the names or the dates (it seemed to be a cemetery for children...they were all so young) and then I realized it was an improvised pet cemetery...wooden crosses (are all these pets Christian...is there pet baptism?)... But it caused me to realize I'm not just in this valley...I'm in this valley with communities, with people, with history, and with pets. Hmmmm....it's not all just about skiing.
