We took the kids for a Sunday drive up Trail Ridge Road — the highest continuous paved road in the nation — which bridges the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park with the east side. It was the best way to get them all above treeline and into the high alpine environment — wildflowers and all — that I adore. In fact, we were sweltering down in town. It was 80 degrees and like 10 percent humidity and we all thought we were going to MELT. It's all relative, right! Everywhere else in the state/country people were sweltering in 100 degree weather with 100 percent humidity — AND WE'RE COMPLAINING. So the drive above treeline had another advantage. It was about 64 degrees up there and it cooled us right down like a splash into the pool. We even had time for a few lessons — botany, geology, glaciology, biology and cartography.
Arden and I ran into a yellow bellied marmot (almost literally) and we saw an American pipet (one of the few song birds that loves the altitude). We also rediscovered Crunchy Granola Bars. Man, those are good.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday drive
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Alone, not lonely
We spent Thanksgiving dinner with some family friends that lived with us on the Navy base in Guam when I was Arden's age. They later lived in Virginia, and oddly enough they now live in Granby. Given that they are our only social friends in town at this point, we were incredibly grateful to be invited to spend the holiday with them. Scott and Justin took the medallions from work and spent the day skiing, which left the cooking to me . . . gasp! I made a green bean casserole straight off the box of french fried onions that won me many praises, I'm proud to report.
One of our Thanksgiving dinner companions was in a fairly advanced stage of Parkinson's disease. Three-year-olds tend to be pretty blunt about anything they perceive as unusual behavior. Earlier that day in the grocery store, I ignored Sawyer when he asked loudly about the man next to us in a wheelchair: "What is that man doing, Mommy?" But, there was no getting around it when he turned to his convulsing dinner companion in the middle of the meal and asked frankly: "Why are you doing that?" Preferring to avoid the painful awkwardness altogether, I was preparing to divert the conversation, but I think the man's wife appreciated Sawyer's directness and she offered her best preschool explanation. After learning that his new friend's uncontrolled movement was caused by medicine, Sawyer attempted to mimic it repeatedly for the rest of the meal, much to our dismay.
I have a theory that it takes three years to really find good friends in any new place. I'd love to fast track that this time around, but it's hard to meet people socially when I'm working full time and have kids at home. I'm excited to get out with the family on weekends for hikes and skis, but I have little energy right now for book groups, supper clubs or church. I'm pretty self-absorbed, enjoying my little family, our house and exploring the area right now.
That's not to say that we've been total loners. We have some dear friends living elsewhere in the state and we have spent several weekends out of town. Two weekends ago we visited my old Leadville roomie who now lives on a farm in Grand Junction. Arden and Sawyer had a blast checking out their cow and chickens and llama, and playing with her two kids who are 2 and 4.
The day after Thanksgiving my dear friend Dara and her entire family came to visit for a few days. We celebrated our 6th anniversary in style with her parents Saturday night while the kids stayed home with a sitter. They brought the kids a sled, which we made good use of on snowy road in Rocky Mountain National Park. Dara and Mike hauled my kids up and down the entire way.
The next day Scott had a better idea:
