Mystery on Boulder Creek

Stones and Flow
Originally uploaded by Zane Selvans

I managed to snag a magical day in Boulder on Friday with my sister and my nephew Nick.

First we enjoyed an inspired lunch at Mateo (19th and Pearl).
I ordered the Mac and Cheese, tasted Nick's gnocchi and Carmel's side of French fries all of which were "not the ordinary".

Good thing we all considered our cholesterol and also ordered the super fresh salad, mine made with arugula, basil, mint, and raw asparagus. It tasted so healthy, it was a perfect off-set to the richness of the fries and the cheesy mac.

(Mateo was recently mentioned in Bon Appetit magazine article "Boulder, Foodiest Town in America 2010". This restaurant and those similar are one of the many reasons we all love Boulder so much!! )

After a lunch like that, we needed to get moving - and for that we took a walk along Boulder creek (westward bound).  There we were entertained by a surprise show of exquisitely stacked river rocks, some seen here in this photo.

(To view these rocks, park in the library lot off of Arapaho and go to the bridge looking over the west side.)

Someone told us that he saw a tall, skinny guy working his magic to put these rocks together, and another told us that it was the students who practice Tai Chi on the library porch who are doing it.

But my favorite suggestion is from the photographer, Zane Seivans, who suggests that it is any one, Tom, Dick or Harry (or Sue) who wants to add to the rocks (people like you and I)....a community offering....like a cairn (pronounced: karn) marking a trail. That's my favorite scenario....that it's humans working together to mark some place they have been.  The original marker gets added to...and again, and again...using nature, natural rock, marking this space as sacred, as a sacred place "I've been to". Wonderful.

So, although it remains a bit of a mystery as to who is actually doing it, I'm almost convinced that our photographer friend here has it right. If you are a Boulderite and know the answer, or have a theory about it, I'd love to hear from you!

No matter, it is an awesome sculptural garden of rocks that have been brilliantly gathered in the river. (Water level is low right now, so you can really see the rocks). If you live local and you have the chance, don't miss this exciting exhibit.

And finally, no trip to Boulder would be complete (for me) without a stop at the Whole Foods Bakery on Pearl St. for a loaf of the Jalapeño Cheddar Figasse for only $2.99 each. You haven't really tasted bread until you have tasted this pretzel like crusty creation. Only the guys at the Boulder bakery make it for me (yeah!), and I always buy a loaf, or two as I head out of this very special town.