Wednesday. Wednesday was the day we totally chilled out. It was a grey day with a light rain, just the sort of day to take it easy and really settle into vacation mode. After sleeping in, I left Mary to snooze away the rest of the morning and I went for a run in "our" neighborhood. It really was that; I believe I've mentioned before that we were in a substantial condo community. For reasons I do not know, it tickled me to be able to step out of our door and go for a jog while on vacation. Maybe it's because on family vacations growing up we usually crammed as much carefully planned activity into the day as possible - leaving little room for individual reflection or exploration (which is perfectly logical since as a family there was necessarily planning and structure involved to keep things running smoothly). Those vacations were a blast in their own right, but this was my very first absolutely grown-up trip - no parents, no siblings, hundreds of miles from anyone I know. This is going to sound awful, but...it was great :-). Don't be shocked - you know that while we all thoroughly enjoy familiar home-settings and family close by, sometimes it is delightful to scamper away on your own now and again to breath new air and see new things. I digress! My jog was wet. Wet and cold. I was a wet, cold popsicle when I marched back into the condo. I got thawed and cleaned up, Mary got herself up and moving, and we decided to run to the shopping district to see what we could see (or rather,
buy) And so we did. The shops were interesting. You had your regular assortment of things you could've bought in any state combined with authentic and local "stuff". One of our favorite stores was an interesting gift shop connected to a real-live boot, hat, and ranch/farm outfitter. You could just tell that real people could come in and buy a hat worthy of wearing around the local cows. We spent money. Yes, a little too much money. My justification was "for Pete's sake, we are in Colorado...you don't get to do this every day. I'm spending the money and doing it right!" We checked out a local artists' shop - where multiple local artists sold their stuff. There were striking photographs, paintings, jewelry, fiber arts, crafts, and other handmade gems. We picked up a carefully chosen gift or two there during our stay. The end of this fruitful day? How about a hot soak in natural springs...beneath a night sky... The top photo was taken across the river from the hot springs place. Do you see the blue umbrellas? They are in the area that the hot springs/hot tubs were. The bottom photo is yours truly, keeping house in our condo :-)
Wednesday. Wednesday was the day we totally chilled out. It was a grey day with a light rain, just the sort of day to take it easy and really settle into vacation mode. After sleeping in, I left Mary to snooze away the rest of the morning and I went for a run in "our" neighborhood. It really was that; I believe I've mentioned before that we were in a substantial condo community. For reasons I do not know, it tickled me to be able to step out of our door and go for a jog while on vacation. Maybe it's because on family vacations growing up we usually crammed as much carefully planned activity into the day as possible - leaving little room for individual reflection or exploration (which is perfectly logical since as a family there was necessarily planning and structure involved to keep things running smoothly). Those vacations were a blast in their own right, but this was my very first absolutely grown-up trip - no parents, no siblings, hundreds of miles from anyone I know. This is going to sound awful, but...it was great :-). Don't be shocked - you know that while we all thoroughly enjoy familiar home-settings and family close by, sometimes it is delightful to scamper away on your own now and again to breath new air and see new things. I digress! My jog was wet. Wet and cold. I was a wet, cold popsicle when I marched back into the condo. I got thawed and cleaned up, Mary got herself up and moving, and we decided to run to the shopping district to see what we could see (or rather, buy) And so we did. The shops were interesting. You had your regular assortment of things you could've bought in any state combined with authentic and local "stuff". One of our favorite stores was an interesting gift shop connected to a real-live boot, hat, and ranch/farm outfitter. You could just tell that real people could come in and buy a hat worthy of wearing around the local cows. We spent money. Yes, a little too much money. My justification was "for Pete's sake, we are in Colorado...you don't get to do this every day. I'm spending the money and doing it right!" We checked out a local artists' shop - where multiple local artists sold their stuff. There were striking photographs, paintings, jewelry, fiber arts, crafts, and other handmade gems. We picked up a carefully chosen gift or two there during our stay. The end of this fruitful day? How about a hot soak in natural springs...beneath a night sky... The top photo was taken across the river from the hot springs place. Do you see the blue umbrellas? They are in the area that the hot springs/hot tubs were. The bottom photo is yours truly, keeping house in our condo :-)
2 comments:
Totally understand about the getting away thing. I'm actually in the mood to do that about now...
Me too! Looking back over the photos from the trip gave me serious "Colorado Fever".
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