And Finally Home

Returning home after a wonderful vacation is always a culture shock. It's always wonderful to get back but it is tough to get back in the swing of things. It was two weeks on the road with no thought of the housecleaning, cooking, laundry and day to day events. It's always fabulous to sleep in your own bed and to see all the kids and grandkids again. The part that I dislike is sorting through the mail -- all 31+ pounds of it -- and checking the answering machine messages. Sometimes the technology of today seems to bog us down more than we care to imagine.

The last few days on the road were as much fun as the rest of our trip. We were able to visit with our dear neighbors who recently moved to the Colorado Springs area. As well, we shared a wonderful dinner with the widow of my husband's Navy flight partner. Both visits were such a highlight in our trip.

One of our stops along the way home was in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was a lovely town to get out and walk. We toured the old train station with all the history behind it. It's hard to imagine traveling in such luxury these days.

I believe that I mentioned how both my husband and myself love to get off the beaten path on our road trips. He is the driver and I am the map reader. Although we do have the navigational system in the car, there is nothing quite as exciting as having maps strewn all over the car seat. The roads that we end up on are also NOT necessarily on the maps. We found some great ones this trip. This was a wonderful side road or "old road" that ran along a highway that we were taking. Driving on it enabled us to view a beautiful owl that was sitting on a fence post. I believe he was as curious about us being there as we were about him.

There was one outside of Gunnison, CO that started out as a wonderful paved road and then turned into a gravel road which passed through a beautiful grassy valley filled with ranches, cattle, wildflowers and aspen groves. It eventually took us up to about 11,000 feet and we found ourselves in snow. We saw only one other car on the whole drive on that road. I wonder why.

Another took us through a beautiful pine covered forest where we saw a striking fence made of old skis. Both of these roads were dotted lines on the maps and they were just what we love.

We arrived home Saturday afternoon and all was well as home. The house, animals and plants were well cared for by our willing daughter and SIL.

Sunday we celebrated our granddaughter's 7th birthday. It was a few days late as they have had the chicken pox in their family. Half of the children had received the vaccine and the others managed to get the pox in two groups. Their assigned doctor did not believe in giving the vaccine. They recently were able to switch physicians and they were in the process of getting caught up on the vaccines. I guess they will not need the injection now.

I hope that everyone will enjoy their July 4th weekend and will have a safe one as well.