Another Thursday for me to splurge on myself, woo hoo. The day itself was spectacular, bright blue skies (up in the mountains, anyway) and little wind. There was enough snow to be sparkly, but none on the road. Perfect! Stunning beauty surrounded me all day, as I drove down to Denver for tai chi, lunch with my brothers, and back to Boulder.

HOW can I have driven stunning roads so close to Denver, you ask? Well, over the years and especially after the legendary floods of September 2013 (another whole story!), I’ve driven “Down Below” by way of nine different routes. Amazingly for being so close together, they are all different and equally beautiful.   I try to visit them all on occasion. The most direct to Boulder is Boulder Canyon, as you may suspect, and I do drive that incredible canyon the most often.

Heading to the Denver area, however, neighboring Coal Creek Canyon is the fastest mountain road, and I drive it regularly. Since I was too late to take a more exotic route, I headed down the “same old, same old,” and was thrilled to be there again.

Coal Creek Canyon connects to scenic highway 93, which really deserves a more descriptive name, running along the base of the Flatirons of the Front Range, connecting Boulder and Golden. All those steep canyons combine their overlapping alluvial fans, now mostly preserved open, grassy space with unimpeded views of the Flatirons. Mmm, mmm—I never get tired of those views.

I did not have many chores to do and no appointments, so I drove lovely rural country roads between “field trip” and chore destinations.

I returned for only the second time to one of my “happy places” outside Boulder, Indochine, a vast store of Asian and (India-)Indian furniture, garden and indoor statuary, with some knickknacks and ethnic clothing. Many items are new, but most are old. All are wondrous.  The whole building is imbued with good vibes from all those lovely and often religious things.

I went in just to enjoy myself, but once again, I HAD to buy something, to pay for the joy and privilege of being there. The woman who works there even remembered me, bless her heart. My father still lives, but she has lost her mother, mother-in-law, and a cousin since I met her, probably about a year ago.

She helped me find indoor icons of The Buddha and Kuan Yin for my meditation corner. Kuan Yin (spelling variations are rampant) is a beloved Asian ascended master who, like The Buddha, is known for her mercy and compassion. She is one of the three immortals on my Taoist Tai Chi Society’s shrines at the bigger schools. Since my meditation group is also a women’s group, I wanted a female icon of inspiration.

I ended the day with an unusually pleasant drive home. (I have never liked driving in the dark; I want to SEE perfectly, and headlights bother me.) I returned home to another day’s reports and beautiful photographs from Kathy’s Camino in Spain. In fact, the day remained calm and contented through bedtime.

Don’t you just love it on those days when “Life is Good” ALL day?!