colorado trip-October 2012-day three and home

  Families are a collective memory. My children could have combined thoughts to recreate this park, though none of us 

remembered its name.

 

Kyle remembered a slide with a creepy clown but remembered it in California, maybe because the Oak trees are thin and long branched enough to

resemble Eucalyptus.

Saturday morning we had some house keeping to do; shopping, laundry, lectures. Granddad supervised the clothing at the local Laundromat, while I took the kids with me to Wal-mart to stock up for the ride home.  Anne was giving a reflexology demonstration at a small gym that was opening up among the collegiate coffee shops and Asian bistros in downtown Alamosa. We stopped in to say hello, and shuffled out just as quickly, as Anne began a reflexology session with an open house guest.  Fortunately, Cole Park was just around the corner from where we parked. We passed the white, wooden community church, whose parking lot had been curiously crowded the Thursday evening that we pulled into town, and across the street there was an old adobe house, that made me wonder whether the town had grown up around it or in spite of it.

The park seemed rejuvenating to everyone.

                    Sophie never needs rejuvenation.

Grant set a goal for himself to master the monkey bars.  He reported that he crossed them successfully eight times before we left the park. I can only do that when my feet are on the ground.

The Rio Grande River runs next to Cole Park. We walked across the large, rectangular, grass field where the city was hosting a Latin music festival on our last visit, surrounded by Oak trees and one-story, fifties era homes on two sides, the river to the East, and at the top of the park-- the black model train that everyone remembered from before...but no one knew exactly where they'd seen it.

 This adjacent Alamosa City Hall and Public Library was not here in 2010. It is a beautiful addition to the city park.

 At two o'clock the reflexology demonstration ended, so we met Anne and Eric and drove out to Joyful Journey Hot Springs pool.

 The kids enjoyed the warm geothermal water even more with the cool air and clouds, than they had on the hot summer day during our July visit. 

 As I have said before, the Cafe is wonderful. Eric made lemon bars for desert. They are one of my favorite traditions of our visits together. As it grew dark we said good-bye to Anne and Eric and returned to the motel.

 Sunday morning we enjoyed the breakfast buffet for the last time and succeeded at leaving before eight o'clock. I determined that Olivia is my kindred spirit on road trips. She shares my enthusiasm for road trip work: van washing and vacuuming, packing and organizing, and staring out the window for hours and hours.

I love passing through the small towns in Colorado.

Somewhere along the road, when they are bored of fighting about music and who's taking up too much bench,  it always seems, that at least once on every trip, our conversation turns to memories.  A favorite topic is school cafeterias of family history... the mystery meat and bitter lemon water in Quito, the mythical sandwich bar in Beijing, the spoiled chocolate milk of present day.  I love listening to their discussions and the momentary enjoyment of their common experiences.  I feel hopeful.

Sunday evening the kids were excited to be home.  I was grateful that they all helped unload the van, so I had things settled in time to meet my friend Cami at a singles' fireside at the Stake center by the Provo Temple.  I pulled on to Temple Drive and saw a line of cars just outside the glow of the temple lights, already   parked outside the Stake Center. 

 Me being me, I parked on the outskirts of the rest of the outskirted vehicles, and as I walked toward the building, I wondered what was drawing such a big crowd of LDS mid-singles, as they call  us..not too old, definitely not too young. But as I approached the church I noticed that the parking lot was basically empty, and I had to wonder about our collective mentality. Not surprisingly, I was the only mid-single there with a fifteen passenger van, so the rest of them couldn't blame their distance on size. So I wondered as I joined the those seated in the chapel, who were already enjoying a violin solo so beautiful that I thought it was either an angel or a recording,  if as a group, we LDS singles are too quick to feel more comfortable on the outside, what contributes to our timidity?  

I was grateful, feeling a bit more distracted than usual, that the fireside was basically a choral performance put on by the hosting singles' group,  and was quickly impressed that their performance was equal to the quality of the violinist. As it ended and I walked out toward the van,  and was surprised even at myself, and at how far away I had been content to park. But on my very long walk, I thought about how grateful I felt for music and friendship. It was a nice way to end the day.  

colorado trip-October 2012-day two

Friday morning we had rain as we left the motel and drove towards the A-frame where Anne and Eric live.  The high desert plains still had their own mysterious beauty in the gray morning, almost more other-worldly without the mountain views.  We dashed in the house, unaccustomed to the cold wind, to say our first hellos.My sister Anne and their amazing tomato plants. 

After surveying all the interesting lofts, and corners, and artifacts in the A-frame, the kids were ready to go back and brave more outdoor exploration. The rain was still falling so the insect life that they had enjoyed in summer 2010 had retreated.  Eric promised that the weather man had predicted sun by ten o'clock, and miraculously, it appeared right on schedule. The wind blew the clouds away quickly,

and this beautiful double rainbow appeared.

This is the view of Mount Blanca that Anne and Eric enjoy everyday.

Sun in eyes face.Soon we gathered back in the van and Anne joined us on a trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

This was the view from the visitors' center, where along with enjoying the scenery and exhibits, we discovered that the van door had some mysterious issue preventing it from closing, and confirmed, with symptoms, at least one case of the stomach flu, thankfully the cleaning supply closet appeared to be open to the public, so I took advantage. 

But we couldn't let that stop us for as far as we had travelled. Those who were well enough and less concerned about the van door ran ahead to the sand dunes while I stayed back to bundle up the sick with the blanket that Grandma Martha wisely sent with us, and to fashion a door lock with Sam's belt. 

 Then Sophie, Anne, Granddad, Caitlin and I ran to catch up with the others who had already started to ascend the mountains of sand, or so we hoped, as all we could see were moving dots on the landscape ahead of us.  They seemed so far away and the sand so tremendous in comparison, I prayed that the stiff wind wouldn't cause the sand to envelope them.

 Sand in eyes face.

We would have liked to have spent more time on the dunes, but the sand was too painful when the wind whipped it into our faces.  There should also be wonderful hiking in the mountains surrounding the dunes.

We drove back to town, where it was decided that Anne and Granddad would go to the Chevy dealer to investigate the van door, as holding it for the entire ride home to Utah seemed like a comical, yet implausible solution.  As we were driving the rain returned, quite heavily this time. I stayed with the kids back at the motel, where the sick could rest, and the well could bounce off the walls and drive me crazy, while I tried to coerce them into watching another half hour of Disney channel. Meanwhile the big boys enjoyed the quiet of their own room and the movie channel that was featuring a month of horror movies, much to their pleasure.

Anne and Granddad returned with Sprite, soda crackers, and the good news that the Chevy dealer had fixed the jammed lock easily and at no cost.  We drove Anne back to her house and we went, as promised when  the rain started to fall, to the movie theatre.  Granddad and the big boys saw Taken Two. The girls and Grant saw Hotel Transylvania, which they had been anticipating for some time, and William and Sophie and I saw a combination of that, the theatre lobby, and with the manager's approval-- Franken Weenie, which I thought was very engaging for the half hour that William allowed us to remain.

After dinner we drove back out to Anne and Eric's home where Eric was preparing a delicious lasagna.  The kids enjoyed communing with the pets and we gathered in front of their television to indoctrinate my boys, who already considered themselves Bill Murray fans, but had never seen What About Bob.

It was a happy, memorable evening. I was grateful to be able to spend time with Anne and Eric in their beautiful and unique home.

colorado trip October 2012- day one

I'm sure I've already conveyed my Willy Nelson-like enthusiasm for being on the road. So I was surprised at myself when I realized that it had been so long since we have taken a trip as a family, that Sophie, who just turned two, had never been out of the state of Utah.  That seemed unfathomable to the older children, some of whom had been on as many as three continents before their second birthdays.

  I also realized that on previous road trips I was lacking something that I am now not..teenagers.  

So the whimsical, enthusiastic, easy going travelers of my memory, I realized, had perhaps grown past that stage and progressed on to the it's a holiday, can't we stay home and sleep phase. Nonetheless, Thursday October 11, Granddad and the kids and I loaded up the van and were gone by eight o'clock, only slightly behind schedule.  We were headed to visit Anne and Eric in Alamosa, Colorado.  

As I said before, when I travelled that way in April, I love that drive.  I am so taken in by the beautiful streams all throughout the state.  They make me wish I owned a tackle box and boots.

The first day of driving was the most challenging day of the trip...getting re accustomed to hours and hours in a small space with siblings breathing and doing other objectionable things.  Between the inter familial tension, and the stress of really not being sure if there would be any desk clerk crazy enough to allow our family to stay in their motel, and if so would it result in my financial ruin, somewhere at about ten thousand feet elevation I really started to question what strange notion had inspired the weekend's endeavor.

 I tuned in to the music playing over the van speakers. We had arrived at Billy Joel, neutral territory, finally something agreeable to preteen girls and their teenage brothers. There is a moment in New York State of Mind, 

  It comes down to reality, And it's fine with me 'cause I let it slide

Don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside...

that makes me feel that it is impossible that I was not a New Yorker in another life. Suddenly it was easier to let of the ridiculous expectation that my children would actually want to be in a van together for eight hours, without trying to kill each other.  My New Yorker fantasy is one of my cerebral alternatives to giving in to the temptation to become... beyond discouraged. 

 And so when I returned to the muted sage and red-brown earth and beautiful explosions of golden leaves, I felt a renewed sense of we can do this.

Granddad and I decided that we would investigate at the smaller, local motels to see if they would allow our large group to rent two rooms for three nights.  We found the Valley Motel in Alamosa.  The owners, a family from India, were very hospitable. They allowed us to see the rooms before.  We rented two suits, which included a full-sized kitchen that were very large and only sixty-five dollars per night. We were so relieved! The facility is aging and rustic, but the staff is friendly as were the other visitors. It reminded me of  family trips of my childhood.  We often stayed in locally operated places along Route 66, or on the way up to Maine, sometimes in Canada.

This was a welcomed relief as well.

After dinner, the big boys camped out in Granddad's room and I had the rest in mine.  We slept three or four to a bed, with some spilled out on to the floor, but everyone was happy because there was Disney Channel.  As I squeezed into an open spot at the foot of one of the beds, the little ones engaged in that favorite motel pastime, jump from one bed to the other.  The resulting vibrations took me back to 1980-something again, when I would beg my parents for a dime to put in those little boxes by motel bedsides.  If you were lucky, and the box was working, the bed would shake for a good five minutes or so, at which point you were just as happy to have it stop. I wonder who invented those, and what else they came up with.

This was Friday morning. The Valley Motel has a great, family friendly continental breakfast.

rainbow and railroad

Sunday afternoon we planned to return to the park in Alamosa, but the afternoon rain was blowing in again. We drove to see the nursing home where Annie works. I love the big sky in the Colorado plains.

The children slept as we drove, and the storm passed by the time we made it back to the park. We had our picnic, and the kids enjoyed the swings and slides for an hour or so. We also took a walk by the model train.

Grant and William loved watching for trains out the window on our drive to Colorado. It seems like there are a lot of opportunities to appreciate railroad history.

This passenger train passes right by Annie and Eric's  house.

Back at the house we prepared the van for our drive home to Utah. The kids did more bug hunting. Kyle collected beetles and named his favorite Paul.

Eric made us chicken enchiladas, spicy and delicious.

We watched the sunset and settled down to sleep inside so we could be ready to leave early.

Pictures from our drive home Monday.

This is the house in Grand Junction where my great-grandparents on my dad's side lived after they retired from their corn farm.

The rainbow over Price brought the most excitement on the drive.