One of the perils of being named as a great place to live in various magazines (are they even still a thing?) and in some sort of poll, is that people wish to move here. As a long-term resident I am somewhat dismayed by the attention (and the increase in housing prices, cars on the road, people, etc.). But of course I do understand it. So how did I come to be here? It wasn’t my first choice. We drove through town after a visit to Grandma, and I couldn’t believe how much the town had grown (way back then). I said in my out loud voice “Look at all the new housing, what a horrible place. I would never want to live there”. So within six months we had packed up and moved here for M’s job. So the job was the reason to come, and I really did not pay enough attention to the other selling point, there is great scenery here.

The mountain is the current selling point, and and it’s why the town has grown I think. (There was originally a gold rush on the mountain that caused white people to move here, plus there is a bit of water and that equals civilization).

The mountain is beautiful, mysterious and ever changing according to the light.

This city park is amazingly popular with tourists, there are even a few hiking about in this picture.

This is the view for people who can’t afford to live in a house. The largest homeless shelter is nearby, and lots of people camp out along the creek (although this is technically illegal). Even at it’s least desirable, it’s still a great place to live. Even the pigeons on the wire are looking to the mountain.

Last weekend my friends asked if I might like to go for a hike, so I said yes. I couldn’t really think of any place in particular, so they suggested this city park. I thought it would probably be full of people, but I had said yes, so this was where we went. That there was no parking available should have been the tip off that this wasn’t the greatest idea, I dislike crowds.

This is a great shot of “the Gateway” (really, that’s its name). I stepped to one side so that the vast horde that was there was not visible, but trust me there were scads of people milling about.

And there’s the Peak, with a few visitors that I could not crop out. It was a beautiful sunny weekend and was pretty warm, about 80 degrees F.

As it was about 5 pm when we finished our walk (3 1/2 miles by her Fitbit) and there were lovely shadows on the ridge to the north. We are outside of the park, because that’s where our cars were. But, it was a nice finish to the day (and we had certainly walked further than I had planned on).

This weekend was a completely different story. It was cold (about 50 degrees F) and the day was rainy. It was quite easy to find a place to park, I had my choice of spaces on a close in lot. And I always have an umbrella in the car, so I decided to take a stroll.

Here’s the Gateway again. The rocks look a lot redder when wet.

And the Peak seems to be missing! (Not to worry, it’s back again today, covered in fresh snow).

All and all it was a great day to be strolling about, there were no crowds to contend with, and I got some pictures that are different than the jillions of photos I already have. 😉

To the west of my house is a giant (14,115 ft) mountain. And as effects of the light is ever-changing I take rather a lot of pictures of this, although some of the most interesting views are the ones seen through the windshield as I am driving along running errands.

A recent evening view. I also get a snapshot of this every evening as the street light comes on, from my doorbell (Oh thanks).

What makes this picture unique is that it was taken on May 21st, last year!

April of last year.

I generally like mermaids and I generally like octopi. but I somehow don’t really like them when combined in this art. But, I suspect that one could not find another city that has one like this (I hope).

I have heard a rumor that there are also beautiful sunrises on the mountain, but I personally have never seen one (perhaps one day). 😉

We have had a string of rather fine days for this time of year lately.  First there was the day for the eating holiday, then there was the day for the shopping holiday, and then today was perfect for just being out strolling around and enjoying the sunshine.  There is a spectacular city park, so my friends and I, and several hundred other souls went out to pay the rocks a visit.

And it was a great day for taking photos of the rocks.  It was cloudy and overcast when we first arrived, but the sun broke through and lit up these beautiful rock formations.

The rocks are so photogenic, I would not be surprised to learn that thousands of pictures were taken this very day.   But wait, what is that tiny blob up there on the ridge.

Why it’s some girl, waiting to get to the top.

Here’s the gang at the top, no doubt contemplating getting down without killing themselves.  That part is apparently much easier (like falling off a log) than getting up, which requires grabbing on to the tiny handholds in the rock and pulling oneself up.   The ropes are just there in case you fall off the log rock.

Then it was goodbye to the rocks til next time (I do have jillions of pictures that I have taken here over the years), and onward to lunch and still more shopping.

There are several attractions here in town for tourists, and as I am a resident, I try to avoid them.  But a group I belong to wanted to go to this one, so I decided to give it a go and see if it was worth seeing.

And it has been a tourist attraction for a very long time.  The donkeys are no longer available, so we parked over by a fancy hotel and took a shuttle bus.  Then we took a tram uphill to the attraction, and then there we were at last.

So this is what we were there to look at.  Those tiny ants are people walking up the 285 steps to the top.   After walking up all these steps, one can go hiking (in case one is not tired yet), or spend $149 to ride a zip line down.  Or if one is old, like myself, one can ride an elevator to this overlook spot and take a photo.

There were scads of tourists roaming about the place, even though it was a rainy, gray day.   This tourist was taking selfies with the waterfall as backdrop.

It was a good idea to take the photos before the rain, because afterwards it was a waterfall of mud.  Not nearly as scenic as the before.

Where there are tourists, there is an opportunity to take their money.  This rather mangy looking stuffed mountain lion is at the entrance to the restaurant, run by the fancy hotel.  The lovely thing about the park is that dogs are allowed (and I don’t think that they have to pay the admission fee) and so there were lots of pups there enjoying the place.   I vaguely remember visiting over 30 years ago, I think I shall wait another 30 years before I go back.   😉