Celebrating Fifty Years of Friendship
Bill, Joan, Ant, and Con all met in the fall of 1967 at Yale. We have exchanged many visits over the decades, and Ant & Con visited Denver for two weeks of fun with family and friends.

LINKS TO 13 EVENTS:
| 1. Denver arrival | 5. To the cabin: benches | 16. Sat. Horse camp | 34. Sat. dinner | 48. Sun morning | 54. Monday Labor Day: Denver party | 76. Rocky Mtn Arsenal |
| 97. Back to the cabin: Yust Homestead | 103. Ammonite dig | 113. Dinner - fabada stew | 118. Hike in Ptarmigan Wilderness | 135. Denver Gem & Mineral show | 169. Farewell dinner |


202 images
1. Day 1 - Thalia & Matilda came over to meet Con & Ant. Right: Joan's tomatoes were starting to come in.
3. Screens (but not for too long)
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5. Day 3 we went to the cabin. Here they are on bench #1 (near our cabin)
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7. On to bench #2 (dedicated 28 years ago in honor of Bulah and Esther)
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9. Finally, bench #3 (Elizabench) in the horse meadow
11. Here come Charlie, Star, Tock, and Fox to say hi
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14. Craft time at the cabin - Thalia is raising butterflies (a present for her 7th birthday)
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16. Horseback riding at the circular corral
17. Granddaughter Clara on Star
17a. Clara riding (video 1:46)
18. Instruction from the master horseman - Sam Kirk
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20. Sam
21. Elizabeth
22. Clara
23. Yale grads Jen ('95), Maddie Lips ('14), Dan ('96)
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25. Sam & Elizabeth's granddaughter Maya on star
26. Clara on Tock
27. Christie adjusts Thalia's helmet
28. Thalia on Star
28a. Thalia riding (video 0:15)
29. Equestriennes and their teachers
30. Zippy
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32. Leading the horses back to the pasture
33. Claire and Scott at The Bench
 34. Conny brought loads of gifts... for the children...
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36. ... and for the adults (batiks - see Conny's WEBSITE)
36a. Gifts from Conny and Ant (video 3:46)
37. Dinner table for 16
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38a. Matilda in the swing (video 0:15)
39. Jen, Dan, and Zach with photos from earlier visits by the Ridges (30-35 years ago)
40. old photo albums
41. Michael and Tony
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43a. In the hammock (video 0:23)
44. the last hummingbird (the others have flown south)
46. Zach gets some family background from Dan
47. Clockwise from Bill (standing): Claire, Scott, Conny, Ant, Dan, Zach, Clara, Thalia, Matilda, Emmy, Michael, Jen, Tony, Terri, Joan
48. Next morning - Thalia & Clara in the meadow looking for the horses
17a. Clara & Thalia look for the horses in the meadow (video 0:17)
49. Here's Tock
50. heading home for breakfast
52. Breakfast on Jen & Dan's deck
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54. Monday (Labor Day) we were back in Denver, with another party, including former colleagues of Ant's (he spent a sabbatical year here in 1980-81). Here is John Caldwell with Ant
55. Tony & Terri
56. Emmy & Michael
57. Terri and Angie
58. Kay Levinson (left), with Bill (right)
60. John & Dan
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63. Doug & Angie
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62. Left: John; Debbie (Dan's sister); Right: Honora Caldwell
66. beef
67. salmon
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74. Clockwise from nearest: Rock Levinson, Scott, Tony, Terri, Honora, John, Ant, Conny
75. Clockwise from left: Debbie, Clay, Zach, Dan, Emmy, Claire, Michael, Matilda, Thalia, Clara
75a. After dinner, the children put on a play - FROZEN starring Thalia & Matilda, directed by Clara, announced by Zach (video 0:41)
75b. Frozen karaoka (video 1:42)
 76. Next day: We picked up a loaner bicycle from Leeman (left), owner of OhWheelie? bike shop. The bike was equpped with a Copenhagen Wheel (electric assist)
77. Bill's bike (left) and the loaner. The red frisbees contain a motor, batteries, and controls (control is via cell phone mounted on handlebars)
78. Ant and Bill rode to our newest middle school, named after the Englishwoman who traveled (alone) around the front range in 1876, and was the first woman to climb Long's Peak.
79. quiet time...
81. Smoky sunset, as they all were for two weeks, due to wildfires in Montana, Canada, and other northern places
82. Heading out for The Rocky Mountain Arsenal, newly opened as a 15,000 acre wildlife refuge
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88. Pepe, a black footed ferret. It was the most endangered mammal in North America, but recovery efforts have been wonderfully successful
88a. Two (post-reproductive) ferrets are kept as a display for visitors. Here is Pepe and his friend ferreting out bits of mouse that Teach (Ranger) has hidden (Video 1:20)
89. We drove around the Arsenal to view wildlife
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91. back home in Denver - more crafts
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97. Back to the cabin, and we are off for a long day's adventure with friends Linda Ginsberg & Jerry Kelly (right)
98. First stop: the Yust Homestead
99. Jim Yust was our personal tour guide
100. The Blue River Valley, just south of the confluence with the Colorado RIver
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102. Linda took many beautiful and informative pictures of the homestead - they can be seen HERE.
I visited the homestead a year ago; my photos are here
103. Picnic lunch at a park in Kremmling, on our way north the Ammonite fossil site.
104.
105. the land here is big and wide, and the surface holds 65 million year-old ammonites
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107. we found a few pieces, but we also saw evidence of illegal digging by plunderers
108. We drove home over Gunsight Pass, which crosses from Muddy Creek to Troublesome Creek. The ranches here are beautiful - verdant, tidy, prosperous.
110. We drove up the Williams Fork Valley and over Ute Pass, where a stunning view of the Gore Range greeted us
112. Linda, Jerry, Ant, Con, Joan
 113. Hors d'oeuvres back at the cabin
114. Toast to the U.K. by Ant and Holland by Dutch native Con
115. Joan's FABADA bean casserole, which we (Joan, Bill, Con, Ant) enjoyed two years ago in Asturias, northern Spain with our friend and colleague Lucia Tabares
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117.
118. Next day: Joan and Con returned to Denver to attend Frozen, the new musical, with Emmy's family, celebrating Thalia's 7th birthday. Bill & Ant went on a hike across the Blue RIver Valley (in Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness Area) from the cabin, led by Dr. John Hillman, whose home commands a stunning view of the Gore Range
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121. aspen
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123. crossing Acorn Creek
124. Keller Mountain, across the valley
125. the conifers here were spectacular, especially the douglas fir trees
126.
127. doug fir cones are unique
129. trail work - diverting water from the trail - done last week by Friends of Eagles Nest Wilderness volunteers
130. more work by FENW volunteers
131.
132. Left: Ant & John Hillman, back at John's beautiful home. We enjoyed a free ride from the lower trailhead back up the house, thanks to John's wife Maggie. Right: John and Bill, with Keller mountain above Bill's head
134. the view from John & Maggie's home
 135. Next day: It was off to the Gem & Mineral Show in Denver
136. The show was a fantastically wonderful surprise. Free admission, free parking, not many people, and more than 400 vendors!
137. the second most garish
138.
139. that's a titanothere, which this lady was selling for $95,000
140. This triceratops skull was 65% real (the rest cast) and cost only $60,000
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146. sarcophgeal geode
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149. number one garish. this man decorated the cow skull with a mosaic (see below)
149a. number one garish.
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152. huge, just huge. This was the walmart downstairs from the museum-quality stuff
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155. Left: $1500 for the big one. It was stunningly beautiful. Ammonites and belemnites (I think)
157. time for coffee
158. this young man loves to make knives, from scratch
159. Australian opal miner from Australia who taught us all about opals
160. Sue (the owner of Broken River Opal Mine) and her husband
161. incredible bargains...
162. Geo Decor, purveyor of museum-quality fossils
163. slabs are x-rayed before preparation
164. Green River (WY) fish - 52 million years old
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166. Into the arena, getting saturated...
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168. This vendor and Bill talked Colorado sauropods (she was really expert!)
 169. Last evening before departure: Jen made a delicious dinner for the family - 14 in all!
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174. Conny bought the pendant for $6 at the Gem & Mineral show
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178. hors d'oeuvres
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181. photo bomb...
182. ... and another...
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184. our granddaughters - Thalia (7), Clara (9), Matilda (5)
185. Michael, Clay, Debbie
187. salad
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193. Happy seventh Birthday, Thalia!
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202. Zach had soccer practice, and then homework

September 13 - we delivered Ant & Con to the airport, and off they flew to their verdant (and doubtless overgrown!) home in the beautiful rural West Country of England.