A New Boulder Phrase

 We are back in Estes Park, checked into cabin. We drove up from Durango two days ago, coming through the San Juans on our familiar route, including stopping at the top of Molas Pass as we always do, to take in the mountain air. On the other side, Ouray was much busier than last year, as busy as ever. We then came up through Montrose and Paonia to find our hotel in Snowmass Village. Ginger had wanted to visit Aspen, so she had booked the place there. In the late afternoon, before we got to the Roaring Fork Valley, we detoured six miles up the canyon to the tiny town of Marble, site of the quarry where the stone used in the Tomb of the Unknowns and the Lincoln Memorial was extracted.

Yesterday, after I gave Ginger a tour of Aspen by car, we came over Independence Pass, which was shrouded in clouds, denying us the magnificent view.  We then came through Leadville. "We seem to come to Leadville a lot," said Ginger, as we pulled into a gas station in downtown.

In the late afternoon we made it to south Boulder, where we stocked up on groceries at the Whole Foods that is located next to the shuttered King Soopers, the site of a recent gun massacre. It was sad to see it boarded up. I remembered buying potato salad there ten years ago for a party at my friend Charles and Tamera's house, when they lived nearby.

In the Whole Foods, we noticed the change from last year in Boulder. No masks and no one wearing gloves, and far fewer signs telling you what to do at every turn. People in Boulder love being told what to do, and telling others what to do. It means we can have the perfect society. I love Boulder, by the way.

Checking out at the register, Ginger told the female cashier "I love your hair." The other woman who was helping her at the register jumped in to one-up Ginger. "I love her SMILE."

From the cashier, Ginger learned a new phrase: "What's good today?"

"She asked you that?" I asked in the car.

We dissected the phrase as meaning "what's good in your life today?"

"Boulder is place to learn cutting edge phrases like that," I said. Ginger agreed.