07/21/19:
(Above: A peak viewing experience.)
Summary: Today started off with my rising, performing the morningly ritual of shower/exercises, and then procuring a Diet Coke that I proceeded to drink as I wrote for about an hour. This was followed by my driving over to my brother’s place.
From there, we departed for Pike’s Peak, picking up three of his work colleagues along the way. It was an easy drive up with a plenitude of spectacular views, and when we reached the shuttle parking (Devil’s Playground*), we quickly got onboard a bus to the peak. At the peak (more in commentary), we wandered about for a time, and I was allotted a few minutes solitude when my brother and his coworkers hiked out to a minor summit about 1/6 mile away. This was followed by a visit to the Peak’s World-famous doughnut shop** and then by my eating one of those doughnuts.
The journey back down the summit was made in the van of a 25 year old man who was of Floridian heritage, had roughed it for the later teenage years of his life (lived for a time in every State at some point and visited 6+ countries outside)***, and who had an immense store of knowledge in regard to the Colorado countryside. There were no predictions for rain today when I had looked earlier on, but he showed me how the highest of the high clouds (the stratus clouds?) were pointing in our direction. Apparently, whichever direction the high clouds are pointing is the way they are moving (counter-intuitive, I thought), and what he predicted was that storms would strike the Peak in less than 2 hours time.**** Oh, and to add to his peculiarity, the driver’s name was Jacob.
Our return journey from the Peak was as enjoyable as the ride up with plenty of novel views on the way down that I had previously been unable to see (many more outside curves on the way back down where I could look directly down the very steep cliffs), and after we reached the bottom of the mountain, we set off in search of lunch. For this we returned to Dat’s Italian where I was again quite pleased by the food – this time, a refreshing cucumber/tomato salad and some delectable Parmesan Encrusted Eggplant served atop a bed of freshly cooked spaghetti. Dessert was had at a nearby French Bakery where I obtained a lemon tart.
Now, I’m back at the apartment where I’m staying, finishing up write time and detailing today.
Commentary: The view atop Pike’s Peak Summit was tremendous. It was, however, a different sort of tremendous compared to Carpenter’s Peak, yesterday. I believe the best explanation would be that at Carpenter’s Peak, there was still a sense of ‘earth’. What I mean, is that the shorter peak seemed more realistic – more connected – to the actual world than Pikes Peak. Atop Pikes Peak, there was a difference in weather, environment, and view – the view especially. From up that high, I may as well have been flying in an airplane and overlooking the surrounding territory; the fact was made especially true when it was revealed that I was seeing the Continental Divide over 150 miles away. 150 miles. That is half again as wide as the peninsula of Florida.
My most favorite time at the peak came just after I declined the mini-hike to one of the outcroppings a short distance away, for it was in the ensuing fifteen minutes that I was able to sit in solitude and in relative silence – alone with my own thoughts and appreciation of the surrounding landscape. There had been a plethora of intellectual and philosophical discussion on the way up Pike’s Peak, on the way back down, and at the ensuing restaurant visit(s), ranging from mathematical/programming concepts I did not understand to music preferences to the concept of God/gods.
All of these were interesting ‘listens’ but not debates I actively took part in both due to not knowing what exactly was being talked about at times and also because I find that preaching my own philosophy is not only a redundancy but also a hypocrisy… which was subsequently a unanimous fault of all the spiritual systems being discussed. Why would entities such as God or Allah or Jehovah create creatures with the capacity for ‘free will’ if they condemned those who chose not to follow them to eternal damnation? And if there is no free will, why would God or Allah or Jehovah create creatures that did not believe in them?
I could have asked a number of such questions, but did not, because I had no better idea of any of the answers. What I do know, however, is that those few solitary minutes atop Pikes Peak were my most favorite of the day, for it was there and then that I briefly achieved and enjoyed my own philosophy – the philosophy that this entire blog is based upon: that of being.
Baking at so high an altitude yields a crispier crust and a less-leavened (denser) interior. 
The view by which I ate the doughnut.
Final Note: I’m not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow, and that is perfectly fine by me.
*So-named due to the way that lightning leaps from rock to rock during thunderstorms – an effect caused by the immense variety of minerals and metals in Pike’s Peak’s composition.
**That I had never heard of before. They did have some surprisingly delicious donuts there, though – accentuated by the fact of their being freshly made right when we got there. The texture was odd – almost gritty, but not the bad sort of gritty. It reminded me of the gluten-free cookies I made a long while back except with far more fats (butter) used.
***There was mention of living off the land for a good 2-3 years, and the acquiring of hookworks, malaria, and dysentery.
****Sure enough, less than two hours later, Madre sent me text about Pikes Peak having a heavy rain/snow shower.