Well, it was Tracey’s Birthday today and I requested the day off at #TheNuggetCafe… If you remember the last time I was here I didn’t venture out too much… I think I went to #GunnisonColorado twice and #ColoradoSprings once…

Not that it was bad or anything… I was just too busy working, #ClimbingMountains and trying to save money to get #TheMillenniumFalcon out of the hospital… So last year was all about #exploring #nature by myself…

Now I have someone to explore with… we decided to go check out the #LittleTowns that surround this special place in the mountains… Who knows, maybe I will find the town I want to settle down in permanently…

Well, right off the bat, the images were breathtaking… #CresteButte,CO is apart of #GunnisonCounty,CO… It used to be an old #CoalMiningTown but now is one of the last great Colorado #SkiTowns…

The population is around 1,500, so it’s not a huge town… And you can see why people like to venture out here in the #summer also…

There’s all of these little privately owned shops and not a huge #corporate giant in sight… The folks out here have very high standards when it comes to living and doing business in this town… and it shows…

Now at first I was weary…. Even though this appeared to be a little #HippieHaven out in the middle of #TheColoradoMountains, I felt this level of snobbery also… I’m all for the independence from the money driven #BigBusiness in this country yet I feel it defeats the purpose if you are going to turn your nose up to anyone who comes into your special town… Especially if you make your money off of #tourism… But I found it was just one hooty tooty jewelry store that gave me that impression… After I ventured out and explored more, I could see this was a very special place…

This #bookstore was calling my name for some reason… So Tracey and I went in…

And low and behold, look what I found… If you have followed this #blog, I lost this book out in the woods in #Vermont… I was so upset because I was really enjoying the #journey this book was taking me on… Especially the mountain climbing, which I would soon find the joy in after reading this book…

I swear it was the first book I noticed and I bought it without hesitation… Thank you #Universe! What a perfect place to find the book I lost out in the #woods more than a year ago… I knew then this little #hippie town was going to be very special…

The town was full of old buildings and mostly wooden signs… You could see there was strict rules to keep this town looking authentic… Some would call this Government interference… I call it preserving our culture and #heritage….

And that’s what is happening to this country folks, as we give more and more control to the #Corporations… They are stripping our culture and heritage away with their soulless, gigantic, monstrous, conglomerates… I remember when we used to name #ballparks, #stadiums and #buildings after great heroes, amazing historical places or events… Now we call them #ChaseField and #AT&TPark…

What kind of culture does that create but a cheap opportunity to advertise your enormous company once again to a public who is sick and tired of having meaningless, senseless advertising mind fucking us at every single turn…

Hell, fuck it… Let’s beat them to the punch and just rename our countries after enormous corporations… We can call England, Facebook… We can call America, Mastercard… And call Russia, Exxon… Because that is where we are heading folks!

You may not think so or just don’t want to waste your time thinking about it but that is where we are heading… I never thought our #HistoricalPlaces and #landmarks would ever be named after #corporations but look at our reality now… What a mess we have created…

That’s why special places like Creste Butte are so ever more important these days… And I hope they don’t fold and let one big business in, claiming they will let no more in after… I’m sorry but it doesn’t work that way…

Once you let one of these monsters in, it’s like opening opening a wound that will never close and over time, they will weasel their way in fully… Time and money is always to their advantage… If they get resistance one day, they just sit back and wait for an opening the next day…

There’s no way to work with it… Your only choice is to fight it every inch of the way… Yet eventually, we will all lose the fight because the only way to contain these ever growing power monsters is to cut them off at the knees… And this country is far beyond giving up convenience just to save itself… We would rather enjoy the convenience of getting what we want and when we want it instead of worrying about such huge things that we can’t control….

Yet we are the only ones who can truly stop it now… and that’s even arguable because we are so ever reliant on our #technology and #conveniences of today… The only way to stop these huge corporations is to stop buying their crap… We feed the monster by being reliant on these assholes and money will always give them power over us considering it bleeds into our #Government and #politics…

And once the Government is fully bought, that is when you will see our #freedom taken away from us because then they will ultimately control us… we will have nowhere else to feed and clothe ourselves because there is no more competition for the Corporations except from other Corporations… Then most of them will eventually merge and the only wars that will be fought are the ones fought over conflicts between the Corporations… And take a wild guess who will be fighting these wars…

God, when are we going to wake up and realize our problems are created by money and greed…. That’s it! Religion, race, sex and other issues are just used to control us and what we fight for…

I’m not religious, as I have stated many times before, but that guy named ‘Jesus’ really knew what he was talking about… remember his main point on this earth… And that’s greed leads to sin and nowhere else… That is why we are seeing all of these atrocities across the world… It all has to do with the greed that divides us… If you look through history, it is always greed by a few that creates carnage for most… We need to stop relying on money and rely on each other… We are no longer animals in the wild trying to survive, so why would we have a system which champions giving riches to a few at the demise of everyone else?

This little guy was so friendly… He came right up to us, meowing and looking for some attention…

Creste Butte was magical… It has a certain energy you don’t feel in most other places…

This little town tucked away in the mountains is perfectly placed… Everywhere you walk there are sights to see in the distance…

Many hills,mountains and #paths that weave in and out of each other, creating a #landscape that is mind boggling…

If it wasn’t for the harsh winters, I would definitely try to make my home here… Who knows, maybe it could be a summer locale for me and Tracey, yet the summers just don’t get hot enough and the winters are way too cold…

There’s so many factors that have to align for the perfect location to live… We obviously want two locations so we can spend half of the year in each and get the perfect weather year round we are looking for….

The sun was dancing with the trees on this warm day… It was about 75 out and the weather was perfect….

Tracey and I hiked around a little bit… But after only being in the mountains for a little while, we found ourselves constantly gasping for air… It’s crazy how your body acts when trying to acclimate to a #HighAltitude…

You get constant headaches and are always drained, gasping for air when only taking a few steps… And god forbid you go uphill, lol…

If you look close you will see that black cat again, above coming out of the grass… He was really taken with Tracey and I… He kept on following us and approaching us here and there, when he wanted a stroke… He was almost like an ambassador representing the feeling of this town… Welcoming us with soft meows and gentle rubs along the ankles… I found myself wishing I was this cat… lol!

I know, I know… I’m obsessed with animals… I just couldn’t resist taking a picture of this #chipmunk… Not that I haven’t seen one before… I just feel every living thing is amazing if you really look at it… No matter how many times you have seen it…

There were little homes converted into #restaurants, #stores and #museums… Almost everything was converted from its original use to create this tiny, gorgeous town…

You feel the culture that has formed in this town after years and years of development and conversion… drastic change creates such cultural pleasantries when man decides to focus on each other and his surroundings instead of capital gain…

I can’t say that greed doesn’t sometimes create beautiful things because if it wasn’t for the exploration of #coal, Creste Butte probably wouldn’t exist…

But yet it stops there! As coal mining dissipated and there were no more resources to fuel the greed… Creste Butte was left in a dilemma and probably came close to becoming a #GhostTown… But the great people of the past decided not to let this haven slip away and discovered another purpose for Creste Butte…

And boy did they come out successful… This town is very special!

I took Tracey out for a birthday dinner at #TheWoodenNickel… It was a little hoitty toitty but the meal was good… This guy above looked exactly like the Dos Equis guy… When I asked about him they informed me he was the owner… I guess it doesn’t hurt to look like “the most interesting man in the world…” lol…

Actually I knew a guy, who was the owner of #PaneEVino, where I worked, in L.A… He sold his couch to the Dos Equis guy when he was just another actor living in the city… It’s funny who you run into in your life… I have met and worked with quite a few people who became famous later on in life… I trained #DaveAnnabelle to be a personal assistant to Louis Faranda at #CarolinesOnBroadway… I also trained #IdrisElba at the same place as a doorman…

The decor of this restaurant was pretty damn cool… It combined old mountain country with a modern day pub feel… The Wooden Nickel definitely found a good balance between fine dining and a comfortable atmosphere that fits in with its surroundings…

Tracey and I spent most of our time #exploring, looking through local shops and just enjoying each other… We knew we had found somewhere special… A nice little haven to get away from the work life… And it’s only an hour away…

You could see that the mountain was in charge of watching over this town… As it doubles as the #SkiMountain in the winter… I found myself just staring at it in amazement… Such a beautiful place with the perfect blend of civilization and nature…

We would soon make it home where we would welcome in Tracey’s new year of existence with a cake… I won’t tell you her age… I know better… lol!

And we would return to Creste Butte many times after… Between Gunnison and Creste Butte, Tracey and I found our day off excursions… Of course Creste Butte was the favorite considering it was so #cultural… Also having the #MajesticMovieTheatre didn’t hurt either…

Now this #MovieTheatre was very special considering it was privately owned, had #HomemadePopcorn with real butter and served alcohol… They have specialty drinks also… I would get the #UltimateDude, which was an amped up version of a #WhiteRussian that was huge and loaded with booze… #TheBigLebowski would be proud of this #caucasian… Lol!

Creste Butte would get even more gorgeous as night set in…

Hardly any #LightPollution from the ever soft street lights… Almost everything in this town was methodically thought out to show off its many original, cultural characteristics…

I felt so at home, I went to their local pot shop, got myself a joint and took a peaceful walk around town…

Every time I looked behind me, I could see #MountCresteButte hovering over us… as it danced with the setting sun and welcomed the cool dark night… For without this mountain, this town wouldn’t exist… It provided coal for the country at one time and then converted itself into a tourist favorite… We know who owns this town and it’s not the people, as they probably like to think…

Then to top it off, you had these magnificent smells coming from the homemade donut shop… Once you walked into its area, you could smell delicious homemade donuts being cooked fresh to order…. Oh my…

And you better damn well bet Tracey dragged me into this place… This quickly became her favorite place in Creste Butte… Every time we came, we would have to stop at #Niky’sMiniDonuts…

Oh what adventures we have… I’m so glad I’m getting to experience this wonderful place with someone who is so special to me… God, I wonder what the future will bring…

Tracey and I sat for awhile, admiring this beautiful town… its smells… its feel… its sounds…

The rest of the world doesn’t exist in moments like these… Just me and the new girl I just met recently… #TheTravelingMac went out alone to discover himself and discovered more than what he expected…

I am one lucky guy, that’s for sure… Even if I don’t realize it most of the time…

We had some very special nights out here… The best ones were never planned, they just happened…

Just two wandering souls in this huge, gorgeous country… Stumbling upon special places like these, while discovering new things about ourselves and each other…

It’s all so up in the air and I love it… Tracey and I hardly ever talk about our future unless it’s our next destination… We just find places and #travel to them, not knowing what the travels will bring…

One day, in this authentic town, I saw a rainbow…

We almost didn’t come because it was supposed to rain… So glad we decided otherwise…

Creste Butte was even more beautiful in the rain… As the many surrounding different forms of light reflected off of its newly washed roads…

Tracey and I were in the mood for some spicy food, so we went to a place called #TheGingerCafe… It was really pouring out at this time…

There were no seats inside, so we decided to sit outside… Now, this would have been perfectly fine if Tracey had brought her coat… Something I adamantly mentioned before we left #TheMillenniumFalcon… But you know how it goes, she didn’t listen… So Dan, being the chivalrous guy he is, gave her his jacket… And it was pretty damn wet and cold outside…

Although the natural forces were stacked against us, I think this was one of our most memorable times together, up to this date… We ordered hot alcoholic Chai Tea Lattes as we ate very spicy food, hoping it would give us the needed warmth out in this cold, damp weather… I was definitely kept somewhat warm as my mouth felt like it had been lit on fire… The lady asked me how hot I wanted… I told her two steps below the hottest… And that was still too hot for me! Tracey got the hottest dish possible and didn’t even bat an eye as I sweated and panted from the ever so hot and spicy food…

It’s memories like these that you don’t plan yet end up being some of the most memorable moments… I would pay dearly for this awesome night though… I got a really bad cold from the damp, cold weather and I couldn’t help but blame Tracey… Especially after I iterated the importance of bringing her jacket earlier…

Yet I would have paid even more for such a memory like this one… For with all of the set backs and problems, moments like these stay in our minds forever for some reason… And I wouldn’t change one instant of this special time in fear it would destroy such a great memory… For the sickness eventually went away but the memory that caused it, will stay in our minds forever…`