Scribe-ls

Driving up to Estes Park via the "scenic route" of Highway 287 all the way up to Highway 34 and then west, I was taken aback by the wild and crazy growth up north.  Gone is the two-lane toodle up from Arvada to Loveland.  Highway 287 is four lanes all the way with speed limits up to 65 miles per hour.  Zoiks!  The only saving grace is that exorbitant gas prices have greatly reduced leisure traffic up there for the time being.  Also, much farmland has been supplanted by shopping centers and subdivisions, and I really miss the cows and crop dusters. 

I know...growth happens and most of it is okay in that inevitable sort of way except the neo-urban garbage plunked down in southern Broomfield and (I think) northern Lafayette (Prospect).  While I understand we've a whole crop of suburban-raised younguns who want to have the look and feel of hip urbanism without the icky things like bums and genuinely old warehouses (and the cost), it just blows me away that these phony-baloney warehouse-y looking, densely packed structures of condos, apartments and business are dropped right out in Green Acres.  They don't fit the surrounds at all and stick out like sore thumbs.  They're so trendy and dense I've taken to thinking of them as "future blight."  These younguns are going to soon tire of living in fake urbanity and take their money and return to more traditional suburban styles. 

Anyway, there were still cows and crops here and there, which was nice to see.  We've got to raise the food somewhere.  Up Highway 34 the cute little Cherry Store is still there, selling cherry everything in a perky red-and-white setup.  Most of the funky old motels and cabin outfits remain, although many new log palaces perch on the canyon walls.  While not a member of the Flat Earth Society, I have to admit that it's reassuring some good things remain the same.