Our place here, up on the hill, is just far enough from the tracks that the trains passing through the canyon in the night are charming. From down on the river, though, it is a different story. It’s nice down there. Campsites backed right up to the rushing river. You leave your bedroom window open at night so you can sleep to the sound of the water. Then you get the trains. Ten trains a night. Freight trains. Coal trains, a hundred cars long, fully loaded, two engines in the front, three in the middle, two in the back, grinding their way up the canyon, the scream of metal-to-metal, steel wheels on steel tracks, straining around the sharp turns. From up here, in the distance, it is a charming sound.
Birds
Chickadees! Black-capped chickadees. On the feeder. Finally. On our last day here.
Sports weekend
It was a huge sports weekend. Dual residents of Colorado and Texas, we have so many teams to root for. Saturday, we put out our CU flag and watched our unranked Buffs get beat by CSU. We put out our Texas flag and watched our #1 Longhorns get beat by Ohio. We cheered Henin-Hardenne on in the US Open Women’s Finals, while she lost to Sharapova. Sunday Morning, we got up and left St Vrain State Park at 7am, so we would be in Glenwood in time for the Bronco game. We put out the Bronco flag. We cheered on our Broncos as they humiliated the Rams. The Rams had chance after chance after chance, but they could never score a touchdown on the Broncos. In fact, just to show them how good the defense really is, the Broncos gave them the ball an extra four times. The Rams did score six field goals and more points than the Broncos did, but who really cares about that. After the Bronco game, we watched our Cowboys get beat by Jacksonville. In the US Open Men’s Final, we cheered for Roddick while he got beat by Federer. Lucky for us we have the Broncos. It could have been a dismal sports weekend if the Broncos defense hadn’t stepped up like they did. I mean, how often is this team going to get beat if no-one can score a touchdown on them? Go Broncos! I think they’re going to the SuperBowl.
Puffin
And he’s a good looking tufted puffin, wouldn’t you say?
Birds
Just because we didn’t see a puffin in Oregon doesn’t mean we didn’t see a puffin in Oregon. We didn’t see any wild puffins. We did get a close encounter with some seabirds at the Oregon Aquarium in Newport. Tufted Puffin.