Here is my next installment in my new series of posts “Colorado Bound” which began with this post: Colorado Bound (Part I). It is also a continuation of my series Life in B&W in which I pretend that I am a real photographer expanding my portfolio of Black & White Photos taken with my iPhone camera (isn’t that what real photographers use?!?!?).

I recently returned from a 5 day trip to the Denver Colorado area to visit friends and to tour apartments to live in. We toured 10 apartment complexes between Boulder and Denver and I settled on a place in a suburb of Denver, in the Denver Greater Metropolitan area (this is the web and you never know who is reading so that is as many details as I will provide in this public forum).

I did end up getting a 2 bedroom apartment which even has a separate nook with a built in desk for telecommuting! I was originally going to be very minimalist and thrifty but decided that if I am going to work from home I need space. Additionally it will be nice for visitors and to have a decent space for crafting.

I decided to rent in a “boutique apartment complex” type of place for a year which has included a fitness center, a pool, community activities, and other wonderful amenities. It will be sort of like living in a hotel for a year!

In addition to touring apartments (my friend was incredible driving me around on the first day to tour 5 apartments and loaning me her car the next day when she had to work to let me tour on my own), we went on a wonderful tour of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Distillery as well as attended an incredible concert by the Boulder, CO based acapella group Face Vocal Band.

I will feature some photos from Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Distillery tour in another post.

Oh and if you enjoyed the video by Face Vocal Band above performing a traditional song, here they are again performing a contemporary popular music hit. Note all the percussion sounds are done by voices of the performers, no instruments!

I so appreciate my friends Michele and her husband Blair introducing me to this fun band!

Okay so let’s get to the Black & White photos I threatened to share in the title of this post (smile).

Colorado in Black & White

Michele, Blair and I went for a lovely hike on the Sunday before I returned home. Here are some photos from that walk:

Postscript

I thought I would start with my recent trip to Colorado as it is fresh on my mind, but I have a backlog of other stories and posts to come 🙂

Colorado Bound

Colorado Bound (Part II)

January 30, 2019January 31, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is my next installment in my new series of posts “Colorado Bound” which began with this post: Colorado Bound (Part I).

As revealed in my January 22 post I’ve decided to begin my new life in Northern Colorado this Spring.

In this post I thought I’d share a couple more details.

When I was considering the move to Colorado and not sure if it was the right thing or not, the Universe gave me a sign, and this ad was the first thing I saw when I opened a magazine to read while I was still deciding:

My Heart is In the Mountains

First, I want to share a series of photos that my friend Cody G. shared with me from one of his trips to Colorado (especially the Boulder, Colorado area) that show the mountainous beauty of the region:

I am am drawn to living in places where I can be among mountains. One of the favorite things about living in the Pacific NW and Central Oregon during the past 21+ years of my life is that I got to live in the Cascade Mountain range.

Now I am moving to another amazing mountain range: the Rocky Mountains (Southern Rockies).

The Road Trip

In another post I will share some of the logistics of my move from Central Oregon to Northern Colorado but these are not as exciting as the upcoming ROAD TRIP from Central Oregon to Colorado!

My sister is going to join me on the road trip!

During our road trip across four states in the Northeastern U.S. after my husband died in December (see posts Stories from the Road, Part I and Stories from the Road, Part II) my sister and I discussed that someday we would like to go on a road trip together for a happy and fun reason, not for a sad reason.

So I was very excited to invite her to drive with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer and me to our new Colorado adventure. She is going to meet up with us on our first leg of the journey – in Boise, Idaho.

She will fly into Boise and we will wander around Boise, staying overnight and then head out of our adventure through the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and into Colorado.

We are discussing a detour along the way to Yellowstone National Park!

Old Faithful – Photo by Emily Campbell on Unsplash

We will of course have the tierneycreates Beastie with us (see series of posts Beastie Adventures) and she will be blogging from the road as we explore a couple states I’ve never driven through before!

Here is tierneycreates Beastie and her dog Mikelet, getting ready to study the road maps for the trip (but I hope she is not too much of a “backseat driver”):

I love GPS and the concept of having easy navigation from your smartphone but I still want to have on hand good old fashioned ROAD MAPS!

Postscript

I need to take a break from daydreaming about my move to Colorado and start working on an art quilt for an invitational juried show, a really cool one, which I hope I get accepted into…but first I need to complete my piece!

Oh and I haven’t forgotten about the series of posts I started in early December – Secret Quilt Revealed, Part I, I will continue with the rest of the story about the creation of my piece for the WCQN show: Yours For Race and Country: Reflections on the Life of Colonel Charles Young.

One more thing – I went to lunch with my neighbor Carole today (the one whose lovely “girl cave” I featured in the October 2018 post A Room of Her Own) and came across this sign that made me smile at one of the shops we stopped in after lunch:

Feature Photo Image Credit: Cody Gillenwater

Colorado Bound

Colorado Bound (Part I)

January 22, 2019June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve decided to relocate – to Northern Colorado. Either the Denver Greater Metropolitan area or to Boulder, Colorado:

Why Colorado? Well here is a list that summarizes the reasons for my decision:

I need to move to a major airport hub to put me closer to visiting my family and to make world traveling (should I choose to do that) more accessible.
I have a longtime friend that lives in the Denver area.
I have visited Colorado many times and love it.
I need a new adventure.
I hear they have a great quilting community
The climate (high desert, high elevation) is similar to Central Oregon.
It feels right.
I want to live in a large metropolitan/urban area with more cultural opportunities.
I love the mountains and always want to live near mountains.
Look how beautiful this place is (The Flatirons near Boulder, CO):