Oh, relax; everyone survived.
Long road trips with kids are punctuated by stops. You have to hit a rest stop every two hours or so because they have tiny bladders and none of them ever need to go at the same time. Also, they get loud and cranky when they're hungry. And their tummies aren't any bigger than their bladders, so they're always hungry. One of the last times I ever drove to CO was over a dozen years ago and it was just me and Josie. She was old enough to be fun company, not need a toilet every half hour and we listened to the Half Blood Prince on the ride home, so it went like a flash. It helps that by the mid '00s, all those western states had raised their speed limits from 55 (thanks Jimmy Carter, you wanker) to 75 and up. What once took nearly 17 hours could now be done in under 14.
I really never planned to make a road trip that long again but circumstances dictated that it happen. Margy bought a home picture framing business here in Minneapolis and the easiest way to get the equipment to her place was to drive it ourselves. So we did.
She rented a great big, brand new Yukon. We put all the seats down and everything fit with leg room to spare. If you're in the market for a huge, luxury SUV, I heartily recommend the Yukon. It was like driving in a comfy recliner and so smooth we felt like we were going 30 when we were doing 80. We left town midmorning on a Tuesday and traffic was never an issue. For the first time in 61 years, we hit no construction, except for the time Margy missed our turn and we had to figure out how to get back on our way; we hit some road work then but since it wasn't really on our route, I don't count it. She missed the turn because we were listening to the Deathly Hallows and we were right at a very exciting part. Hard to pay close attention to road signs when horcruxes are on the line.
We arrived at Margy's house in time for a late snack before collapsing.
Thursday, Jay joined our little house party. He and Jeff golfed many times while Margy and I went on hikes, walks, checked out one of her latest flips, watched movies, beaded a few rosaries and just had a ton of fun. We went up to the cabin for the weekend. Margy's house is great: big, beautiful, with a huge deck, yard, garden (two different water features; one at each end of the yard) and a hot tub. She has a set up for an out door movie theater on the patio but we didn't use it. Her boys do most of the outdoor movie watching. We were content with the big TVs inside.
New carpeting was supposed to have been installed in the family room on Wednesday but the carpet layers arrived and announced that they don't remove stinky, dirty old carpet. This struck us all as a bit odd, for who replaces clean, new carpet? Anyway, why didn't they tell her that from the get go? We yanked out the old carpet the next day. The carpet layers haven't returned any of her calls. By this week, she was ready to start over with a different company. Why is customer service so difficult for some companies? I love Home Depot but they've got to do a better job of vetting the subcontractors they use.
Up in the mountains, we had a wonderful time! We brought Margy's large telescope up and one night checked out Jupiter; we could see the stripes and 4 of the moons. Then we found Saturn. With the proper lens, we could see the rings. SO COOL!
It was just the four of us so we had fine wine and cigars after dinner while playing all our favorite songs on Jeff's new, over the top audiophile's dream of a sound system. Before he was an MD, Jeff was a professional musician and he really, really loves his stereo. Since we were on a 19 acre parcel in the mountains, we didn't have to worry about disturbing the neighbors. The bears and elk had no comment.
In the morning, we saw elk tracks below the deck but we didn't see any actual elk in the days we were there. We saw no bears, either, for which I am grateful. We know they are around because we see where they've marked the trees. Some of those claw marks are alarmingly high up the tree trunks.
Down the hill a bit is a neighbor who is an artist. He's a retired forensic engineer who always loved woodworking and now creates amazing pieces from wood on his property. What I love about his stuff is that he allows the wood to dictate the piece; the color, grain and shape of it. He brings it all out in beautiful, functional bowls, cups, and vases of all sizes and shapes. Wonderful!
During the course of our vacay, we had dinner out a few times, lunch out a few times and once, after a walk around a nearby lake, we stopped at a microbrewery and enjoyed the view from the rooftop deck.
Margy and I hit an estate sale in her neighborhood and I bought five necklaces for $4.00, which we took back to her place and cut apart. Out of those beads, I put together a new eyeglass cord for myself and then made two rosaries.
While I was creating these beautiful but pedestrian rosaries, Margy whipped together this Ode to Joy:
Now of course, I want to get out all my own beading stuff and create an entire new jewelry wardrobe for myself. It's a super fun way to get your pretty on.
Back at home, I've been trying like mad to catch up on everything. That's why it took me 6 days to write this one post. BoopityBoop just arrived: gotta go!