Pearl Street, Boulder, CO




I just returned from a week in Boulder, Colorado.  I’ll be spending some time writing about some of my experiences there off and on during the week.

On Saturday’s there is a beautiful organic green market.  The produce is out of this world.  The colors fabulous.  We found the freshest all white corn…which I haven’t see around here in ages.  Carrots in shades of orange, red, yellow and gold.  Beautiful, ripe, juicy  peaches.  Honey that looked like it was just scooped out of a hive from inside a tree, with comb included.  Every type of green and herb you can think of and a beautiful array of wildflowers.

Many, many people in this area ride bicycles.  It’s a way of life.  And talk about clean.  It looks like someone scrubs the landscape everyday.  It’s spectacular. 

One of the things I noticed while I was there was that there are a lot of what I’ll call free spirits.  A lot of people doing their own thing.  I like that very much, to an extent.  Boulder is full of very artistic people.  Pearl Street runs through a section of downtown.  For blocks it is an outdoor festival of people, day and night, seven days a week.  There are all types of shops and restaurants, which have outdoor seating.  It is a very casual and inviting environment.  It just draws you in.  If you have any type of talent (or even think you do) you are welcome to set up in the middle of one of the squares and show it off, and hope to make a few bucks while you are at it.  You’ll find all sorts of talent…jugglers, piano players, violinists, guitarists, Australian didgeridoos, American Indian wind instruments, acrobats, every day…all day.

Ah, yes…free spirits…a section with one of those fountains that has holes in the pavement where you don’t know when the water will pop up.  With children running through having a great time.  Mom’s sitting on park benches watching the children…people all around.  Some mom’s breastfeeding off to the side.  People, as usual, talking on cell phones.  Tourists with cameras. 

Then I see it…The three-year old looking little girl running through the fountain, back and forth over to the benches to her mom, who was near the crowd.  And I cringe.  This is not a back yard.  This is a very public place.  This is Boulder, Colorado…where the unsolved murder of JonBenét Ramsey is still lurking.  Yes, this is free spirited Pearl Street, with the free spirited mom, who isn’t thinking about the internet age, and the cell phones with cameras  as her little girl, naked, is running through the water in the fountain.  Innocent?  Of course.  Just a little girl on a hot day…but this is not a commune.  This is not a back yard. 

Young moms and dads…you can’t be so free spirited when it comes to your children, not in public places…not anymore.  You are watching your child, yes.  But you don’t know what evil person is also watching.  You don’t know who may have, in one split second, taken a photo of your little girl or followed you home.

This is where I am glad I am most conservative of all.  I just have to ask, “What were you thinking?”