Longmont, Colorado Springs, and Home

Too busy for photos, but this is close.

 Wow!! My last week in Longmont proved to be busy, strenuous and exhausting. My daughter, Kathy, decided to move, so it was scramble time. A house opened up that fit her needs and she took it. We reserved a truck, started sorting out closets and storage areas, made mental notes of how we'd handle the logistics on moving day, and lined up some helpful friends of the kids.

Moving is always stressful, and this was no exception. The departing owners were very disorganized and did not share our standards of cleanliness. The day we wanted to clean before moving in, they were still moving out, so we spent half the day helping get them out of the way so we could get in.

Even this was too small.

The truck we reserved proved not to be big enough, so a couple of the kids used their pickups to move a lot of the garage stuff and, even that took two loads each. We also loaded every available car to take stuff to the new house. We fed everyone pizza for lunch and take-out Chinese for the ones who stayed for dinner.

Hats off to our 'crew'. Those kids were our heroes, for we could not have accomplished it at all without their willing muscle and 'can-do' attitudes. It was a veritable bucket brigade for both the loading and unloading of all the furnishings and endless bags and boxes. They rocked.

Getting settled in went fairly smoothly. We finished some serious scrubbing, a little painting, lots of deciding where stuff went and hanging artwork on practically every vertical surface. The house finally has my daughter's touch on it and everyone is doing well in their new home, including the dog.

Me, Doug, Carolyn (I have a lot to learn about 'selfies')

I pushed my departure until the last possible moment, staying an extra week, and adjusting my scheduled visits and route home accordingly. I didn't want to be on the road for the week before 4th of July due to all the anticipated traffic and I had promised Mom I'd be back by July 1st.

I drove down to Colorado Springs to visit my sister, Carolyn, and bro-in-law, Doug, as well as my niece and her kids who live there, also. I only stayed a couple of nice, restful days before hitting the road home. I had to cancel a visit to my nephew and his family in the Salt Lake area, and took I-70 west, and I-15 south, then roads through Bakersfield and Paso Robles to the coast.

I drove home in two long days rather than three short ones, and it was fairly uneventful while being somewhat tiring. I was pretty done-in by the time I finally unloaded my car on Friday night. I had the wettest and stormiest June ever in Colorado and came back to a very dry weather pattern on the Central Coast.

It was good to sleep in my own bed and good to see Mom, but always sad to leave my family in Colorado. I was welcomed by a mountain of mail, including a jury summons for the following week, and lots of getting caught up on everyday business. I had a great visit with my family and friends with loads of activity and good times. I'm already looking forward to next year's visit.

Th-th-that's all, Folks!!!

Taos, NM to Longmont, CO

San Francis de Asis in Taos, NM

We got rained on hard overnight and it looked pretty bleak in the morning. I wanted to do so much in Santa Fe/Taos areas because they are so rich in crafts, culture, and history. The things we wanted to do in the morning didn't open until 10-11am and I had to leave before that to get Grace home. She was very anxious to see her family again after being gone almost 3 months. I took some pictures of a famous church that was one of the things painted by Georgia O'Keefe and photographed by Ansel Adams. Then, we hit the road north towards Colorado taking the scenic route on Hwy 159/522. I think I shed some tears as we said goodbye to Taos, but it will still be there the next time I stop by and I will make it up, then. 

You can still see straw in the adobe after all these years.

The weather actually cleared up and we had sunny skies. The scenery was beautiful. The more north we went, the more trees we saw, the greener it became and the more snow-capped mountains came into view. When we crossed the state line, Grace cheered.

We came to a crossroads just west of Alamosa, CO, and just a little south of the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We had both been to the park, but didn't have our stamps, so, naturally, we decided to detour there. A hop and a skip and we were there. Took a few pictures, got our stamps, pins, and patches and were on our way again. We decided to continue north through Fairplay and over the mountains on I-70 rather than go on I-25. Who wants to go on a big freeway through big cities on the front range when you can go through smaller towns on smaller highways and see all the beautiful mountains and high valleys up close and personal?

The Great Sand Dunes up against the mountains.

We had beautiful weather and great scenery through the San Luis Valley and South Park (yes, CO has a high mountain valley called South Park), but we hit rain as soon as we crossed to the east side of the mountains, the Front Range. It rained off and on, but not hard, and we made it to my daughter's workplace by 3:30pm. I have to admit it was good to be off the road for a few days. Grace was so happy to be home and I was so happy to see my daughter and other grandkids, too. 

The '50 shades of green' in the Rocky Mountains.

There's a piece of me that will always reside in CO (I've lived here twice for a total of 12 years) and I have so much family here, now, and old friends, that I never tire of the place. My favorite mountain still overlooks my old home and as much as my old town changes, things still remain the same.

So, you can see my trip getting here had high points and low points with some great times in between. Road trips can be fun and adventurous, but are not without stress, mishaps, and surprises, both good and bad. As long as you get where you're going safe and sound, it's all good. Not counting Joshua Tree National Park, since it was closed, I saw nine national parks and monuments and two state capitols, and THAT is definitely all good.