--- Terminus: Wheat Ridge ---

I'm not going to recommend the Wheat Ridge/Ward Road Station for tourism. The G Line that services the station is rather unspectacular with the exception of the Arvada Olde Town Station that looks like a nice place for shoppers that like quaint little villages. It has that feel. But my target was the terminus in northwestern Wheat Ridge, the only RTD light rail station in Wheat Ridge.

The G Line runs through a corridor of industrial zones and the Wheat Ridge/Ward Station is no different. It is surrounded by industry, but it does have some interesting points.

The station itself has parking for 290 cars and is a clean, attractive site. It isn't far from the foothills of the Rockies and especially offers some nice views of North Table Mountain. I was tempted to hike on over to the mountain but I'm not as familiar with that area as I am some parts of the Denver Metro area and I might have been disappointed by the real distance (as contrasted with the apparent distance) and lack of access to the mountain. Anyway, I am planning to visit the mountain in a couple of years when I look at the geology of the area.

                          [Photos of Wheat Ridge/Ward Station and the Rocky Mountains beyond]

One thing that I like about Colorado is the variety of showy wildflowers here. In the Southeast, most of the nice indigenous plants were woodland flowers and one had to do some hiking to see them. Here, any vacant lot may be a home to some pretty plants. One common plant with showy flowers is the thistle. Colorado has 15 native species and 5 non-native species, loved by bees and butterflies, browsing wildlife and wildflower enthusiasts. The one I found in the grassy burm of the light rail station is (I think) a nodding thistle (or musk thistle), considered a non-native, noxious weed.

                                                                     [Thistle]

As much as Denver is associated with the mountains, it's still a plains city and the great variety of grassland grasses are represented here. This foxtail barley is pretty common in the area. We have lots of it in our back yard.

                                                                  [Foxtail barley]

The stations of the RTD are micro-museums. Many of them display narratives of their neighborhoods. At Wheat Ridge/Ward Road you can read about the relationship between Denver and the mountains....and gold. G, in the G Line stands for "gold". The windscreens at the stations on the G Line tells the story of gold.

The artwork at Wheat Ridge/Ward Station is a modernist sculpture called "Anchored by Place". It was created by artist and art educator Michael Clapper.

                                                                [Anchored by Place]

You can read a lot about the stations of the RTD light rail, their art, including the windscreens, and stories connected to the stations and their neighborhoods at the FastTrack website, http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/main_1 .

If you follow me in my adventures and want to check out any of these places, you can prepare by going to the FasTrack site.

After wandering around the station, I walked down to Ward Road and a convenience store where I picked up a snack and then returned to wait for a train for my trip back home.

Along the way, I noticed this clump of a favorite wildflower, milk weed. Despite it's name, it's a gorgeous flower. Monarch butterflies will only lay their eggs on this plant. Check out the Fish and Wildlife website (https://medium.com/usfws/spreading-milkweed-not-myths-5df8c480912d ) to clear up misconceptions about this valuable plant.

                                                                        [Milkweed]

Ward Road has some nice views of North Table Mountain. The two Table Mountains are the exposed innards of an ancient but dead volcano. Their volcanic origin is made quite clear by the basalt deposits around the crown. Basalt is a dark, fine grain rock that is formed close to the earth's surface. It hardens too quickly for the melted magma to form large crystals like granite. These unearthed bones of dead volcanoes are sometimes called "fossil volcanoes". Luckily, they're as volcanic as the Denver area gets.

                                                            [North Table Mountain]

Regardless of how boring any area looks, if you look a little closer, you can usually find fascinating facts right in front of you.

--- Adventures in social work ---

                                                                  [Denver skyline]

After I left home, I took care of all my business. If they were able, my folks would have done everything for me but, although we always had what we needed, we often didn't get what we wanted and I was quite happy to make my own way in the world so I have no cause for complaint. In fact, it gave me plenty of opportunities to observe the workings of society. Since moving to Denver, although living with people that feel like family, I am still pretty much on my own - I pay all my bills and most of my activities, I do thimgs  alone.

When I was in graduate school training to be a rehabilitation specialists, I was told that, if I wanted to make money, I should go into the private sector and, if I wanted to help people, I should work the public sector. I wanted to help people so I'm now living on a small pension and Social Security. Luckily, my life style is not expensive.

As a rehabilitation specialist, I helped people get their lives started after a disabling condition. That meant that I had to know the social structure of the area so that I could help my clients get the services they needed. In my spare time, I worked with some of the social services as a volunteer, helped people find needed resources in the community, and helped organize benevolent organizations.

For most of my life, I have been intimately involved with social services.

I knew that states do things differently and that, when I moved to Denver, I would have to relearn the social structure of the area. Not only would I have to get myself re-established, but I was already in contact with a homeless man that I was to help get his career started back up. I'm still studying the social services here because I would like to see the huge homeless population in the area become homed.

But I'm on Social Security and am about to switch over to Medicare, so I'm managing paper work. I got a request to bring some papers to the Human Services Office to validate my unearned income for last year. That involved a cross town bus ride so I decided to take care of multiple tasks.

The Human Services office is near dowtown Denver on Federal Boulevard, so I took the Evans Avenue bus to Federal. That let me check out vans Station, which is my next rail hike destination and it let me see how I would need to walk from Mary Carter Greenway to the train station.

The Human Services offices are housed in a huge complex, impressive but architecturally modern and not particularly aesthetic.

                                                                 [Human Services]

I got to check out some of the services available to the homeless, and what I had to do was quick and easy. The staff does try to be helpful and friendly. I have generally had good experiences with the social services in the area. Broomfield was easier, primarily because it was less crowded. Denver seems to try to be helpful but the sheer size of the community makes the machine rather clunky. Once resources are assembled, people can get things done, but they have to be responsible for the assembling, and the system is not easy to navigate here.

I was a little disgruntled to find that Human Services was right next to the W Line. If I have a choice between bus or train, I will always take the train. But, the trip let me check out the W Line.

                                                                    [The W Line]

Downtown pigeons and doves have no fear of humans. Of course, many of the commuters will feed them while they wait for the next train.

                                                                     [City birds]

One of my favorite wild flowers is blooming now. Milkweed is most certainly a weed. It has been everywhere I have been in North America. It's much more prolific in Virginia than Alabama, but it's pretty common along streams and in gardens here in Denver. It's a hardy plant that looks the part.

The flowers form in big globes and, if you look closely, you find that they are exquisitly carved and colored blossoms.

                                                                        [Milk weed]

When you have an irritating chore to do, think about how you can change it into a fun outing. I used to make laundry day bareable by making that the specific day that I went for a milkshake.

Part of human nature is the need to feel like one's life matters. A good way to feed that need is to volunteer for community activities that benefit others. Often, volunteer work is managed but Human Resources or Human Services