Colorado calls

It not just the elevation that takes your breath away

Just so you know….

I am playing catchup up a bit, so feel no pressure to read right away. These posts will wait for you.

I am trying to post sequentially but I got a late start, so you should know I’m already in Seattle. But I won’t skip the spectacular parts of the trip and the learnings along the way. There have been so many of those, and wonderful surprises as well.

Maybe the biggest surprise is that I can’t quite get enough of this. I’m at just over 5K miles on the reliable old car in 2 ½ weeks and I wish I could have taken longer coming out to the west coast. I have appts here, hence the schedule, but it gives me the excuse to take some side trips while here. But when I head south in January, it’s going to be much more spontaneous and flexible (hopefully).

This incredible journey

The second leg of the journey took me to Colorado where I spent a week. Now I have spent time in Colorado before but never like this. Flying into Denver just can’t give you same sense of the vastness, the beauty, and the connection to residents. I have two primary locations to share, Westcliffe and Peyton and this post will focus on Westcliffe.

After dropping Al back in Des Moines, I had one long day, driving to Westcliffe Colorado, 13 hours. This was actually day 6 that got me to 2667 miles. I was surprised at how well I did with that distance and time alone. Across Nebraska, no less!

The last hour was tough only because I was tired, it was approaching dusk and Westcliffe is not on the beaten path. So being on an unfamiliar mountain 2-lane highway, watching for deer, not going fast enough for people who are familiar with the road, and being a little tired, I thought it would be hard, but you know what? It wasn’t bad. AND totally worth it. The drive was spectacular and Westcliffe, which lies next to the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, really captures a piece of your heart.

I arrived at my cousin’s house somewhere around 6:30, and had to bring out the winter suitcase since the 7K elevation temp required something different than my regular shorts and t-shirt attire. It’s great to have a car filled with six months of necessities, including things I’m taking to the kids, the guitar, camera, coffee, a coffee maker, a yoga mat, shoes with sparkles (just in case) and now minerals from S. Dakota. So of course, winter clothes too.

When I arrived, Sue had a welcoming pot of chili going, we grabbed a beer and sat down and started to catch up. Technically Sue is Steven’s cousin but I’m keeping her and her husband (also Steve) for my own. While there, they introduced me as a cousin by marriage but it seemed so clunky. So the next time I got introduced as a cousin and the response was, “oh, I see the resemblance.” We loved that so decided to just be cousins.

The day after my arrival we prepared for the Westcliffe Community Dinner. We prepared food, painted stands for hanging streamers, and more. Because S&S only live a block away it was an easy transport to the dinner. It’s an impressive annual event along Main street. Some of the groups were themed and we were at the “hippie table” showing a decent representation of progressives in a pretty conservative community. In the pic below we’re the colorful, middle tables at the front of the pic.

The community dinner was fabulous! No alcohol allowed, but it was unclear what was in a lot of coffee cups.  I met many interesting people and was fascinated as to how they had found their way to this lovely little town in the middle of the mountains. So I asked. Answers varied widely from having found it camping or hiking in years past, to knowing someone who was already there, to knowing the region and finding it that way, to accidentally stopping here.  But it was as if once they found it, they were coming to Westcliffe. It’s truly a special place.

Many of these are retirement moves, but I find migrations fascinating. Learning the why and where of people’s moves.  I think about that as the only one in my family who is no longer in the greater Seattle area.

BTW, the person who made my wonderful tie-dye shirt (she calls it a guitar strap tie-dye) is originally an Illinois native who made her way to Westcliffe who makes these among other art projects.

After the dinner Sue and Steve hosted an after party (alcohol allowed) and it was nice enough to remain outside by the fire and chat. It was such a lovely evening and I so enjoyed the opportunity to converse with a group of people I don’t know.

I stayed two days in Westcliffe, and wished for more. We walked, I took tons of pics, we stopped in a great art gallery and got a tour by artist Timothy Alan Johnson, then went to an open mic where we sat outside and listened to local musicians. Sue and I also took our drinks over to this at the cool stone amphitheatre to ham it up, and had so much fun. We crammed a lot into two days and yet it was somehow very relaxing.

And I’m still on the outside of the old stone jail cells from 1883, phew!

The day I was leaving, I walked a couple blocks in the morning to get pictures of the valley and mountains. I came upon a small ceremony taking place as they raised the POW/MIA flag along with the U.S. flag. I hovered in the background and learned that the third Friday in September has been designated as POW/MIA Recognition Day. They quoted stats of the numbers which you can dig into here. It was meaningful to hear and I appreciated that moment of reflection.

That morning I left Westcliffe, and indirectly headed to Colorado Springs (well technically Peyton about 25 miles east of the Springs). I took the long way through Beuna Vista (pronounced Byoo-nee Vista, not sure why) on the recommendation of one of the Westcliffe residents. It was a fabulous drive along the Arkansas River, the town has great river rafting, to be explored later. It added a couple hours but was totally worth it!

I would share more about second half of the stay in Colorado but those amazing activities and sites around the Springs deserve their own post.

What I learned

When I sent out on this trip, I really wanted to experience the joy of travel. But I also wanted (maybe needed) to experience the goodness in people, despite our division and dialog. And I continue to learn it along the way. I had learned that lesson many years ago when I first traveled around the country with a friend.

From Mike in Salina Utah, helping with the car, to the kindness of a hotel desk clerk, to just observations of people trying to live good lives, it’s there. If we watch for it.

That doesn’t mean we don’t have problems to solve. But we have to quit making enemies of each other.

So here’s another exciting portion of the trip shared with you, and I’m open to your suggestions and thoughts. Thanks for sharing this with me.

#travelingtapestry