Fall in the Rockies

I just had a pretty Colorado weekend - saw Railroad Earth at Red Rocks Friday night, and then spent Saturday night in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Red rocks was wild! Aside from the folks chain-smoking cigs around us, I dug the festival atmosphere and people-watching. I had seen Railroad Earth over Memorial Day weekend at Revival in southern MN, but this show had a uniquely western flavor...Saturday I had plans to get up at 6AM and go backpacking with some folks, but of course they stayed out all night and bailed the next morning...so I went with my roommate instead! We hiked for about five miles, and then picked a nice grassy camping spot at about 10,000 feet. My tent was surrounded by mini-evergreens that protected me from the wild winds of the alpine night (no animal noises this round). I've become quite fond of these little trees - they might be some kind of spruce? The mountain slopes are speckled with dazzling splashes of yellow from the aspen groves tucked among the Ponderosa pines and Douglas firs. I hate to say it, but autumn in the Midwest is much more impressive with the reds of the maples... 

In other news, I've decided to stop spending my hard-earned money on animal products. Over the past couple months, I've drastically cut down on my animal consumption and discovered that I can get my protein from plant sources. Lots of reading, documentary-watching, and chats with a vegan friend have convinced me that I should give it a shot. Hopefully I'll soon be at a life position where I can care for backyard chickens, but until then I can no longer justify financially supporting industrial beef, pork, and poultry operations - I can't call myself an environmentalist while implicitly contributing to this impending environmental catastrophe. Still, I will not be turning down any animal products that I score during my food-rescuing activities - there's no reason why they should go to waste after all that went into producing them! I'm looking forward to fully embracing my love of black beans, kale, sweet potatoes, coconut cream, walnuts and avocados.