The Path Less Traveled – Colorado

The Path Less Traveled – Colorado

By Tom Secrest

The state of Colorado is inextricably linked to its famous mountains, the Rockies, and its famous “Mile High City”, Denver. Denver gets its nickname by sitting on the eastern high plains of the Rocky Mountains at exactly 5,280 feet (1609 m) above sea level. The Rocky Mountains stretch from British Columbia in the north to the Rio Grande River, along the border with Mexico, in the south. Oddly enough, Denver as well as most of the best ski areas share the same latitude as Madrid, although, any similarities stop there.

Of those things lauded, Colorado’s nature surely outranks its cities, but not necessarily its smaller towns. For it is in the smaller towns, deep in the mountains, that the real spirit of Colorado can be found. Most of the beautiful ski resorts and the small towns that grew up around them are a product of the incredible wealth that Colorado has attracted. Names like Vail, Aspen, Steamboat and Winter Park, are synonymous with the rich and famous. If you ski and have money these are the places to be in winter. Even if you don’t ski, these are the place to be seen, which for celebrities is, perhaps, more important than the actual skiing.

Ski resorts, can be divided into three varieties: old money, new money and everyone else. Old money is the proper type, the kind that runs in families and is passed on from generation to generation. The old money goes to Vail, by far the most expensive skiing in Colorado, maybe in America. New money or the nouveau riche, are those that were born into modest or working class families and through hook or crook became filthy rich. But as the nouveau riche are fond of saying, it’s the riche that counts. Everyone else; well that’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. And depending on the extent and the circumstances of your wealth you frequent to the appropriate ski resorts.

Unlike ski resorts, people can be divided into lots of different varieties and if you fall squarely into the group that isn’t particularly interested in the hustle and bustle of ski resorts and tend to favor adventures that take you off the beaten trail and on to paths less traveled, then Colorado is full of places made just for you.

Most likely you will fly into Denver International Airport; once you arrive, rent a car and head straight for the mountains. The airport is located between Denver and the Rockies, along the main east-west highway over the mountains. As you start you ascent you may notice a brown cloud off in the distance behind you. That would be Denver, like most big, high altitude cites, Denver fights a constant battle with air pollution, and in the winter the pollution usually wins. But you’re headed up and to the west, where the air is clean and views are breathtaking. After an hour or so you will come to the exit for Winter Park – take it, don’t let the name scare you, there are no check points where you will have to substantiate the extent and heritage of your wealth. Instead, what you will find is an incredible switch-back road leading high up into the Rockies.

Since you will be passing through Winter Park, why not stop and enjoy a walk-about, do some window shopping at the seemingly unlimited number of designer boutiques, then warm yourself with an expensive cup of hot chocolate. Keep your eyes open, there is no telling who you might see as you wonder around the quaint little Bavarian town. Americans associate everything mountain with Bavaria, so all ski resorts look a lot like Berchtesgaden, complete with cuckoo clocks. After you have roamed Winter Park, it is time to continue to your destination, which, by the way, is Granby. Granby is an old Colorado frontier town and doesn’t look at all Bavarian. As you drive towards Granby you will see some signs you’re probably not used to seeing. You’re now in elk and bear country, so drive carefully.

Granby functions nicely as a base camp for exploring what will seem like an unlimited wilderness. As you explore you will, from time to time, find ghost towns. Once thriving little mining towns, the now deserted buildings stand as the only reminders of places that both people and time have forgotten.

No matter where you’re from, once you settle into Granby you’re a backcountry cowboy. So put on your boots, saddle up your horse and enjoy every second you spend on the path less traveled.

Glossary

* path – trasa, cesta

* inextricably – neoddelitelne

* nickname – prezdívka

* feet above – stop nad

* to stretch – táhnout se, prostírat se

* oddly enough – kupodivu

* latitude – zemepisná šírka, rozsah, svoboda

* lauded – velebený

* to outrank – pretrumfnout

* incredible – neuveritelný

* squarely – prímo, rovnou

* nouveau rich – zbohatlík

* modest – skromný, prostý, nenárocný

* by hook or crook – jakýmikoli prostredky

* filthy rich – desne zazobaný

* be exactly what - být presne to, co (...)

* circumstances – okolnosti, pomery

* to head straight for – smerovat k

* altitude – nadmorská výška

* breathtaking – beroucí dech

* to substantiate – zduvodnit

* quaint – podivný, zvláštní, kuriózní

* elk – los

* to seem – zdát se, praavdepodobne, patrne

* wilderness – divocina

* ghost – duch, stín, stopa

* thriving – kvetoucí, prosperující

* reminder – pripomínka, památka, memento

* backcountry – zapadákov

* to saddle up a horse – osedlat kone

Dear Hawaii, Happy 50th Birthday

Dear Hawaii, Happy 50th Birthday

By Tom Secrest

Almost everyone has heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor, the pivotal event that officially brought the United States into World War II. Roosevelt described it as “a date that will live in infamy.” If you ask most Americans what happened on December 8, 1941, if they know at all, they will say it was the day the Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

What they may not know, in fact, I would guess most don't know, is that Hawaii was only admitted to the Union on August 21, 1959, almost 18 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan had not technically attacked the United States; they had attacked a naval base on a U.S territory, a territory since 1900. Hawaii belongs to a small, elite group of states (The Republic of Hawaii, the Republic of Vermont, the Republic of California and the Republic of Texas) that were independent republics before they became states.

In just a little more than a month, Hawaii will celebrate its 50th birthday as part of the United States of America.

Hawaii consists of several hundred islands, the best known of which, Oahu, is the home of its biggest city, Honolulu, and host of the famous naval base. The second best known island is Hawaii or the “Big Isle” a term which is often used to avoid confusion with the name of the state as a whole.

The biggest problem in visiting Hawaii is that it is literally in the middle of nowhere. Ideally your journey would start on a cruise ship in LA or San Diego. But realistically, it will start in LAX, Los Angeles Airport, or SFO, San Francisco Airport. To cover the 3800 km from the west coast will take about 5 hours. When you arrive you will be greeted by a true tropical paradise.

No doubt you can visit other, perhaps equally, beautiful tropical islands, but in Hawaii you will be able to drink the water and there is little risk of returning home with some life-long parasitic infection. For sun lovers, an average high temperature of 29 ºC (85 ºF) combined with a refreshing sea breeze, makes Hawaii exactly what the doctor ordered.

Most mornings start with a gentle shower; just enough to get things wet and keep everything an intense green, the description of which is beyond words. Afternoons bring widely scattered thunderstorms, which last an hour or so and then give way to cooler, less humid evenings. Evenings are a time to relax and enjoy the true hospitality of the islands. Every hotel has an open lobby that doubles as a tropical forest, complete with the sweet smell of flowers and the songs of tropical birds; and every restaurant offers Mi Ties, great food and a relaxing end to a busy day; perhaps a day of swimming with the turtles in Hunauma bay (don't forget the sun screen), a climb up Diamond Head, a visit to the Arizona Memorial, a fast walk over hardened lava that is still hot enough to melt your shoes, or a quick flight to the Big Isle to explore the snow capped peak (4200 m) of Mauna Kea.

So forget about destinations in Malaysia or any other places that require vaccinations, and indulge in the ultimate tropical experience; indulge in Hawaii. And if you hurry, which is generally frowned upon and widely discouraged in Hawaii, you can be there for Hawaii’s 50th birthday bash.

Glossary

* pivotal – klícový

* event – událost

* infamy – hanba

* I would guess – rekl bych

* naval base – námorní základna

* to consist of – sestávat z

* to avoid – vyhnout se

* literally – doslova

* cruise ship – výletní lod

* to greet – vítat, uvítat

* average – prumer, prumerný

* breeze – vánek

* scattered – roztroušený, rozptýlený

* thunderstorm – bourka

* turtle – želva

* to require – vyžadovat

* to indulge – doprát si, oddávat se, hovet si

* frowned – zamracený

* bash – oslava, mejdan

Silent Stones

Silent Stones

By Tom Secrest

When people think of Washington D.C. many things come to mind. Since it is the nation’s capitol you would expect it to be full of monuments reflecting the history of the nation, and it is full, full to the brim. Tributes to the best known presidents, the obelisk of the Washington Monument with it’s beautiful reflecting pool; the Pantheon-like Memorials to Lincoln and Jefferson, the National Gallery and the Smithsonian Museum can all be found within walking distance of each other. Of course there is the house at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue (affectionately known as the White House) and at the other end of the avenue sits the Capital, the home of the U.S. House and Senate. Considering the close proximity of these branches of government, Americans and perhaps others as well, stand in utter disbelief at how little actually gets accomplished.

In the spring, the city is awash with pink and white cherry blossoms, and in places it is possible to feel like you are taking a leisurely walk through colonial America. The monuments, museums, famous restaurants, these are all places worth visiting; but there is something else to see, something not always mentioned in the guidebooks, a place that is visited, but less than it should be.

Across the Potomac River are the bedroom communities of Virginia. And every day swarms of people cross a handful of bridges to go to work in Washington. One of those bedroom communities is called Arlington, Virginia. Arlington is perhaps best known as the home of the Pentagon, but the city itself is certainly worth a visit and still retains some of the old colonial charm of its past. But there is something else in Arlington, a cemetery, the Arlington National Cemetery.

For whatever reason, cemeteries are not popular tourist destinations. But this is not just any cemetery; it is the nation’s military cemetery. Beneath 2.5 km2 are more than 300, 000 sons and daughters, but mostly sons, from wars dating back to the American Revolution all the way through to Afghanistan and Iraq. Some died peaceful deaths; most died violent deaths, in distant countries on battlefields near cities, the names of which they could not pronounce. Some were famous, John F. Kennedy can be counted among the 300, 000, but some have no name, and for them there is a special tomb, a perpetually guarded tomb, the Tomb of the Unknowns. The tomb has four crypts; interred are the remains of an Unknown from WWI, WWII, and the Korean War. The forth, the Unknown from Vietnam was later identified and disinterred; the crypt has remained empty since. There is a strange serenity in this cemetery, and wherever you look you see things on which to reflect, which perhaps explains its lack of appeal to everyday tourists. Tourism is about looking to see things around you and this place is about looking to see things inside you.

So if you get to Washington, get on the blue line and take the short journey to Arlington National Cemetery. Go early, before others arrive, when it is silent and still, when you can stand alone among the dead and see the terrible price of both freedom and folly, but more importantly, listen – listen to the stones tell you their stories; stories of hopes and dreams, of wants and desires, stories of what they could have been, but never were, and never will be.

Glossary

* brim – naplnit až po okraj

* affectionately – duverne, laskave

* utter – naprostý

* disbelief – neduvera, neochota, pochybnost, skepse

* leisurely – klidne, nenucene, bez spechu

* swarm – hemžení, hejno

* handful – hrstka

* cemetery – hrbitov

* violent – násilný

* battlefield – bojište

* interred – pohrbený

* remains – ostatky, telesné zústatky

* disinterred – vyhrabaný