Colorado vacation, part one

Every Colorado visit must include a hike. Usually we get in a few scenic hikes, walks, or runs. This time we got all three plus some!

John is photographing us as we get ready to go. Just one more call before we head out of town.

We're ready to hit the trail. Just me, my best friend, loads of water, and a bit of chocolatey trail mix.

We drove North to the small town of Palmer Lake to trek the Palmer Lake reservoir trail. We did this hike a few years ago in the fall. It is lovely in summer, too. Go figure...God sure knows what he's doing. I remember reading something by C.S. Lewis that said God gives us variety and constancy in just the right proportions. Just when we've had enough winter, spring unfolds and so on, but spring will always come. It sure seems to work for me. I'm just not sure what he meant to do with these places that seem to have only one or maybe two seasons. I'm not sure he expected us to choose to live in places like, ahem, Wichita Falls. Or maybe they, like the variety, are to help us appreciate the oases. I guess it could also be that he knew some people would prefer hot and dry. To each his own I guess.

We were having a great time, talking and laughing. And this is when I wish I could interrupt and say, oh, Beth, aren't you missing something? At this point in the hike I wish we would've noticed Beth was missing her white sweatshirt that was attached to her camelbak. Not so though...

...Instead we were busy discussing all the different colors of green in this valley, and which shades would've been called which names in the Crayola 64 box with built-in sharpener. As for the sweatshirt, we noticed it was missing after we trucked ourselves all the way up and back down a really big ridge.



The trail forked, Beth offered me the opportunity to choose the path. I picked up. Little did I know what that would mean.

We climbed up, and up for a quarter to a half mile or so. When we finally reached some level land, we got picture happy with the flowers and trees.

We had a good view and a good hike, so we headed back down the mountain to see what other paths we might find.

If you've been up a mountain, then you know how interesting going down can be. It was quite slippery, but we made it safely thanks to the traction of the twigs and needles on the edge of the trail.



This is the classic one-handed-stretch-your-arm-out-as-far-as-you-can-and-say-"cheese"-while-looking-natural-pretty-and-thin-all-at-the-same-time picture. Love it!

Despite our best efforts, we couldn't quite manage a decent picture of the two of us together. Maybe we can jam these two in a frame side-by-side and no one will notice...oh wait, I guess that's why someone created Photoshop!

And resting on the edge of this reservoir is where we realized we had dropped the white sweatshirt somewhere along our path. We retraced our steps in our minds, searching for a memory of seeing the white sweatshirt. At what point did it fall off Beth's pack? Did we have it when we first got to the lake? Did we have it at the top of the ridge?

Beth explained that while she didn't want to be frivolous, this was not just any sweatshirt. This was the one white sweatshirt that she had searched for; good shape, ideal fit, flattering. You know how it is when you finally find that one piece of clothing that complements everything else. With nothing to lose but our midsections, we trod back up the ridge to see what we could find. Forty minutes later and much out of breath, we had been up and down the ridge to no avail. We walked on knowing it must be between us and the trailhead. We joked about the possibility of it being right outside the door of the car or hanging on the gate that marked the beginning of the trail. We also knew one other place it could be...the "bathroom" Beth had made in the woods not far from the start of the trail.

Sure enough, there it was, lying in the dirt. It was right where we had "left" it; a whole quarter mile from the beginning of the trail. We hadn't needed to march all the way back up that mountain after all. In hindsight though, maybe we did, because the next night we made a mountain of our own at Coldstone with all the chocolatey goodness we could fit into a chocolate dipped waffle bowl. I'm sure, in some small way, we felt validated in doing so because of that extra bit of hiking.

Before I'm done, here is a peek-a-boo view of the lake. Isn't it great? The colors are perfect, even if that yellow pollen caused us a few sneezes and trips to the car wash while I was there.

It's so gorgeous! I cannot get enough of the beauty. Here there is room to breathe deeply. Can you believe, for a lucky few, this is just a half mile from their backdoors?



"Keep right"? No problem, I love the right-hand view, and can't wait to come visit again. If I wasn't so partial to spending a good chunk of my life in Northern Michigan, I'd be glad to call Colorado home. Stay tuned for Garden of the Gods and girls' night pictures.