First Snow of December

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This morning I woke up to a winter wonderland here in Golden.  The temperature was below 0F at my townhouse up near the Jefferson County Courthouse.  I decided to walk to work at the Colorado School of Mines rather than negotiate the roads with my Subaru.

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My walk to work goes through a pretty little gully.  Even in the snow it is pretty.  There were only a few other sets of tracks on the path.  Not may people commute by foot when it’s cold out here.
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After I passed the disjointed section of trail, there was only one set of footprints.  Based on the stride length, the person was running.  Coloradans are serious about their exercise!

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Visibility was limited to about a half mile due to the continuing snow.

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The snow here in Golden is different than low elevation snow in the Willamette Valley out in Oregon.  I’m used to wet, heavy snow that gets you soaked.  Today’s snow storm was dry and light.  I was quite content in my summer hiking boots and with some Yak Trax to get to campus today.

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Looking at South Table Mountain from downtown Golden.

IMG_2376Even with the snow storm, Coors Brewing keeps cranking out tasty beverages.

Morning Dusting of Snow

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This morning I woke to clear and brilliant skies.

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To the west the mountains were covered with a fine dusting of snow.

IMG_1951This was as a result of last night’s storm that blew through while I was on campus at Mines.  In the winter it seems that the Big M on the hill overlooking Mines disappears in the snowy whiteness.

My First Snow in Golden

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This morning I woke to a white and muffled world.  While it had snowed a few weeks ago in Golden, I managed to miss the previous storm due to being out of town.  This time I got to experience my first snow in Colorado.

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We got about an inch up at my townhouse.

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On campus we had about an inch when I arrived but by the time the storm blew past we ended up with just under two inches.  The sidewalks and roads stayed mostly clear.

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South Table Mountain in the snow and fog.

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At about 9:30am the sun burst through the clouds and everything became stunningly beautiful.

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Looking out the window of the stairwell from my building.

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South Table Mountain.

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“The Greeting” statue with the Big M in the background.

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Guggenheim in the snow.

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The crane behind the rec center is building a new dorm.

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“A Friend to Lean On” even had a dusting of snow.

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The front side of Guggenheim.

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Looking across Kafadar Commons.  All of the trees still have their leaves in Golden.

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South Table Mountain.

IMG_1932Looking up 16th street toward my building (on the left).  Gorgeous!