This past week, 34 of our family traveled to Colorado to celebrate Roger and Mary's 40th anniversary. We rented two 15 passenger vans and Susan's brother drove his SUV pulling a U-haul with all of our luggage. It took about 9 hours or so to get out there and everyone traveled really well. All 21 grandchildren did excellent and we didn't have one puke fest or uncontrolled bathroom events, the whole way. Yippee! After arriving, all the kids disappeared as they explored the 8,000 square foot three story lodge. After some indecision, we all settled into our rooms and began our fun filled trip.
Our first adventure was at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was spectacular to see these huge mountains of sand in the middle of nowhere. There was a stream that flowed only a few inches deep, at the base of the hills, that the kids had a blast playing in. A few of us attempted to climb the impassable expanse of sand, but only one had the determination and pure unadulterated power to take on such an assignment. After much turmoil and strife, I alone conquered the mountain and claimed myself as King of The Hill! You can watch my video here.
Trip two was to the meadow in La Veta, where Susan and her family would go every year and carve their names in certain trees. After arriving in the meadow, we all went our separate ways to add to our trees. While there, we took some time to sit around, have a little service and sing some songs. We spent some time by the creek watching the water flow, then headed back down to the trail head. It only took about 45 minutes or so and all of the kids made the journey just fine, despite the ravenous rabid child eating dog we met along the way. This was also Brendon and Caleb's 10th birthday. I can't believe it. It doesn't seem that long ago. We had dinner at Roger's favorite bar in Cuchara. He asked the house band to sing them "Happy Birthday" and with the whole place, including some over enthusiastic maybe a little bit tipsy patrons, we sang happy birthday to my 10 year old baby boys. I guess we're going to have to start a tradition of going to bars for all their birthdays now.
Our third and most exhausting excursion, was to the top of West Spanish Peak. We started our adventure around 8:30 in the am, with the intention of maybe being gone 4 hours or so. Get home just in time for some lunch. Just go out for a leisurely stroll through the forest. Maybe hike up a little trail, with a stretch of section that may make you slow to a strained walk. Climb a few little rocks. Reach the top, take a breather, then return home for some chow. Oh no, not this hike. Not this trail. The 2.5 mile hike to the timberline was not too grueling. 11 children made it. No big deal. Then began the scaling of the mountain. I say scaling because it wasn't a hike, it wasn't a stroll, it wasn't even a climb. I know why the trees stopped growing. Nothing is supposed to survive above that point. If I would have known better, I would have packed rope, anchors and chalk so we could do it safely. But as it went, we free climbed the entire way. We didn't think the trek was difficult enough, so we thought we'd challenge ourselves just a little more and only take enough water and food to keep us from going unconscious. As delirium set in, we went ahead and helped ourselves to hand fulls of snow and quenched our thirst just enough to return moisture to our eyes so we could at least see our way down the mountain. 9 of us made it to the top of the 13,626 foot peak including Brendon, Caleb and Trevin. I was so thrilled to see them overcome their exhaustion and their desire to quit and finally make it to the top. They'll be able to look back on this at difficult times in their lives and hopefully use it as inspiration to make it through struggles.
4 hours turned into 8 and after a lot of struggle, pain and scorching sunburns, we finished and beat the mountain. We only have memories and pictures left, but that is enough to remind me that I will NEVER do that again. Unless I lose my memory and my hard drive crashes.
We came home Tuesday with no big hassles and all went our separate ways to go recuperate from our vacation. We had such a wonderful time and made so many new memories that will be cherished for a lifetime. Thank you to Roger and Mary for being a good example of a successful marriage that we all can try to obtain. Thanks for providing such a wonderful time away. We really enjoyed it!
