Trip to Colorado

(2/25/08: Sad news.....I think my camera has given up the ghost. But, let's move one to infinitely better news.....My son is engaged! A late summer wedding is being planned!)

Back in the summer of 2005, the above-mentioned son was on an electrical engineering internship out in Colorado. Dairy families don't do much travelling, but this opportunity to visit someone in Colorado was too tempting, so my older daughter and younger son and I made plans for a trip west.

That summer, here at home, we were starting a building project on our house, as you can see in the above photo. This was the phase it was at around the time of our trip, with the basement foundation blocks having just been set in place. You can see there is a trench surrounding the cement block walls. To reach the door to the main level of our house, we had to walk carefully across a plank over the trench.

Three days before we were to depart for Colorado, my younger son got up in the morning and told me about a dream he had just had. In the dream, he had fallen in our new basement area and injured his knee and had to wear a knee brace. I said, "Well, just be careful today, then, so that doesn't happen."

At some point during the day, I was sorting through a stack of magazines to get rid of, and found an ATV sales booklet with some nice, glossy photos of ATV's, and I set it aside to give to Husband's young nephew, Brett, the next time he came here. It turned out that Brett's family did stop in for a short visit that evening. They wanted to see how the house project was coming along. As they were getting into their vehicle to leave, I suddenly remembered about the ATV magazine, and I ran back to the house to get it, stepping carefully on the plank leading to the door.

Who knows how a person's memory can suddenly revert to complete forgetfulness......I grabbed the magazine off the kitchen counter and ran back out the door......evidently forgetting completely about the plank and the trench. Straight down I fell, into the trench, hitting my left knee on the way down on an edge of sidewalk cement jutting out over the trench.

Oh, man, it hurt! I stood there for a bit, grimacing and trying not to cry. Finally, I sidled my way around the foundation until I found a place to climb out. It was right at that moment that I remembered my son's dream.......the "Be Careful" message had been for ME!!

I could walk, but the knee really hurt, and it was already stiffening. I brushed the dirt off the ATV magazine, walked slowly over and gave it to Brett. They hadn't seen me fall, so I waited until after they drove away, then I told Husband about my fall......and always I feel so stupid when that happens......I imagine he'll think I'm making it up. I showed him my knee......(and you know we all have been guilty of saying this to someone)......instinctively, the first thing he said was, "What did you do that for??!" "@#$%#%^&" was what I felt like replying with, but I didn't!

That night, I iced the knee before trying to get into bed. It was impossible to find a pain-free position, and through my head were racing thoughts like, "What am I going to do about the trip?" I was so looking forward to seeing my son and spending time in the beauty of the mountains. All of our reservations for hotels and a trail ride had been made, and tickets had been purchased for a Rockies baseball game in Denver on July 4. We simply had to go.

The next day I phoned my daughter for her opinion on my injury.......she is a coach and has taken athletic training classes. I told her I hit the knee straight on.....there had been no twisting or side hit, so I believed there was no injury to the ACL. She said, too, it probably was not an ACL or MCL injury, thank goodness. I also talked to my pastor's wife at the time, for she also had athletic training experience. She told me that as long as my knee did not feel like it was going to give out as I walked, then it probably was not a ligament injury. So I had two opinions I trusted......there was no time to go to the doctor for it was a weekend.

My gait was ridiculous; I couldn't bend my knee at all. I felt like Chester from the old "Gunsmoke" TV show! The day before the trip, I bought a velcro knee wrap to wear, and decided that I would go to Colorado, bum knee and all. I could still take my turn at driving, for my right leg was fine. What I would have to forego on the trip would be the hiking and the trail-ride we had reservations for.

We left early in the morning on June 30, and arrived in Boulder, Colorado in late afternoon. The next day we were allowed to take a tour at the site of my son's internship, shown in the photo below:

We rode an elevator up inside a wind turbine tower and stood on top of the nacell, which is the box-like thing the blades are attached to. It was quite a dizzying place to be........it was a relief to finally get back down to the ground!These are the only two photos that would load onto this post. (The others wouldn't upload.....just a gray box was there.???)

The photo below shows the site where the various models of wind turbines are set up and studied. A steady supply of strong wind blows down from the mountains through that canyon in the distance, which is why the Wind Technology Center was built here, several miles south of Boulder, on the way to Golden. The mountains look so unreal! Way in the distance (you can hardly see them) are the high peaks of the Rocky Mountain National Park area, where we would be headed the next day.

That evening, while everyone else hiked on the Flatirons west of Boulder, I drove up a mountainside and enjoyed some spectacular views of Boulder and the surrounding area to the east. The next morning, we left Boulder and headed north and west toward Estes Park. It was 85 degrees when we left Boulder.......by the time we reached the Alpine Visitors' Center way up in Rocky Mountain National Park, it was 35 degrees!

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Trail Ridge Road takes drivers through the park, winding back and forth, higher and higher. We stopped wherever there was an overlook, to absorb the gorgeous scenery and feel the crisp mountain air. Sweaters and long pants were dug out of the trunk, and soon we were stopping at snow fields to take photos. At the Visitor's Center, I hobbled in and browsed in the gift shop, while the others climbed a long stairway trail up above the Center. A silver ring with a black diamond heart caught my eye, so I bought it, and wear it everytime I dress up, to remind me of this wonderful memory of being in the mountains!

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We drove back down Trail Ridge Road the way we came up, and found the road to Bear Lake. We walked the trail around this lovely upland lake, enjoying the various snowy mountain peaks which framed the lake from a distance.....Longs Peak and Hallett Peak being two of them.

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That night, we stayed at the Wildwood Inn resort near Estes Park......not far from the tumbling, rushing Fall River. Several weeks before, by a serendipitous online blessing, I had found this one night available at this resort.....usually they book their cabins a full week at a time. We enjoyed dinner that evening in the back room of a tiny Italian restaurant in Estes Park.

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The next day's schedule included the trail-ride. Everyone (except me) saddled up at the "Cowpoke Corner Corral", a few miles outside of Estes Park. When I went into the office to register, the owner laughed when she saw we were from Iowa. She said the horses are from Iowa, too, and are taken back to Manchester every year for the winter!! Pretty cool, we thought!

The tenderfeet horseriders in the above photo enjoyed a memorable afternoon of trail-riding. They had a great time! While they ambled along the wooded and scenic trails, I drove back to Estes Park and browsed in the tourist shops. I bought t-shirts for everyone and several colorful quartzite rocks which now reside on our fireplace mantle. As I was making my way through the crowds along the street, I felt a change in my sore knee.......like it had reached a turning point, and from then on it started feeling better and I could walk more normally! I sometimes wonder if the knee injury was meant to happen for some reason......it seems I was not supposed to hike or ride a horse on this trip!! Maybe the knee injury spared me from some worse injury.....who knows.

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In a happy, tired state, we left Estes Park and drove back to Boulder that evening. The next day, we ventured into Denver and spent time at the Zoo and were in attendance that evening for a Colorado Rockies baseball game. That was on the Fourth of July, and following the game the fans in the stadium were treated to a fantastic fireworks display! Unfortunately, my photo of the fireworks atop the big neon ROCKIES sign would not upload.

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The next day we left early from Boulder and headed back to Iowa, arriving safely at home late in the evening. It had been a whirlwind trip, blessed with traveling mercies and amazing scenery, providing for marvelous memories of Colorado! I just love the mountains!!! (You know......I don't know why we don't go to the Colorado high country more often, considering it takes only one day of driving to get there!)

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Any of you been to the Rocky Mountains? What is your favorite memory there?