God's Country, No Matter What Those Cowboy Fans Think

Word of the Post
Today's word is: lupine
/lu"pine/
Noun: A flowered herb, producing legumes; cultivated for erosion control. Available in White, Field, Wolf and Egyptian varieties. The seeds of the lupinus albus variety have been used for food throughout history. Thought to exhaust the soil.
Adjective: Of or relating to a wolf; wolfish, ravenous.
I hesitate to admit this, but it took me three readings of the books and two viewings of the Harry Potter movies to realize (the light finally came on!) that Professor Lupin was a werewolf.. and that lupine meant wolfish. It was truly a "duh" moment for me. And one of the varieties being Albus (as in Dumbledore) cracks me up.
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A few small updates. Zipper didn't really break a rod, but the doctors were checking into the screws that hold them, and decided to do the stretching now, while they had her open. She is home now, and doing well. Pop got the pacemaker/defibrillator implanted, and got to go home on Saturday. Laura said his color looked good, and he was in great spirits. He is permanently on oxygen, but that means he is breathing better. Please continue to pray for his health. And last, but not least, my car with the "check engine" light on was a stupidly small problem. It was the after-market gas cap letting air into the system, and making the (used replacement) engine and computer confused. We paid a terribly unreasonable amount for the new cap from GM, and paid way too much labor (even at half) for them to put it in... and I got a 27 point safety check and an oil and fuel filter change. So, I paid a little too much for each of those things, but it didn't cost me half of our Stimulus Package, and my car is running great again. The sigh of relief is still reverberating in the house.
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Now, back to our story.

On Monday afternoon (we are now up to the second half of April 7) of our Colorado Vacation, we came back to Niki's house, packed up our stuff, and said our goodbyes.

We proceeded south, leaving Denver behind. When last we saw our heroine, she was napping while her DH drove. The only questionable weather we saw in either direction through Colorado was the snow and rain we passed under in Colorado Springs. We were planning to drive through a bit of the Garden of the Gods, and did see the first and smallest loop. This is a rock formation commonly known as the "Kissing Camels". Honestly, I can only see one camel, but it is kissing something.

We got to the gift shop/visitors center at 4:58 pm, and their gates had signs that said they would close and lock the gates AT 5:00 pm, so we did not go in. I wanted to go up to Pike's Peak, but we didn't bother. It was snowy and probably closed up there anyway, and we had a goal in Pueblo.

We were visiting as many people as we could possibly fit into the vacation. The experience of meeting people in person that I had as yet only seen online was a joy for me. We met Suezque and MammaMia at Black Eyed Pea in Pueblo. Suezque had given me a long list of restaurants in the area, near the highways we were going to use. We thought that Black Eyed Pea had closed all the stores outside of Texas, but there were still several locations in Colorado. There are no franchises left in Oklahoma, and DH had been craving their food. I had been picking most of the destinations, and I am related to the family that we were visiting, and I am friends with the bloggers that we were meeting in person. I thought it a good idea to give DH a choice about something.

I was feeling for the hubbies, watching three little birds twitter on about bloggy subjects. I should not have feared. DH is usually quiet, but he contributed to the conversations, too. All three of our hubbies went to Oklahoma Christian, and know some of the same people. The world is so small, especially among the believers of Christ. This plan of mine to have a meeting of friends actually felt more like a family reunion. We had a really good dinner, and a fun visit.

MammaMia's hubby shares the same name as our brother-in-law, and their little daughter has the same name as our niece. She has a beautiful family. The kids kept moving, as kids do, so I didn't get very many good pictures. Suezque and I sat next to each other, and traded hugs for Sally and Lil' Major. G said that DH and I looked familiar. Here are the three Bloggy Friends. Left to right; MammaMia, Chelf, Suezque.

After too short a visit, we all went our separate ways. MammaMia had to get home to put the little ones to bed, and Suezque had to drive back out to her home. DH and I went to my uncle's house in Canyon City. (I can't figure out how to put the ~ over the N to spell it properly.) We had a good visit there. We got to see pictures of cousins I have not seen in almost 20 years. Here are Uncle Paul and Aunt Kathy.

Paul is one of my Dad's brothers. He and dad have several hobbies in common. They both make excellent pancakes. They both have great memories of their childhood, and both tell interesting stories. He even made a quilt to keep in their camper when they travel! (Dad used to sew kites, so I think they both just do whatever strikes them.) Kathy is a crafty person, a seamstress, making dresses for her granddaughters. She works in the office at their church, and she really enjoys being able to go on month-long trips. Ah, retirement at it's ideal. Young enough to do, old enough to appreciate.

Paul called me over, while he was cleaning and preparing for their next camper trip, and had me listen. It took a moment to realize what I was hearing. Thousands of bees, floating around their four or five Bradford Pear trees in the front yard. Here is the up-close picture I took, not knowing until later if I had really caught the bee in the picture.

We left Uncle's house a lot later than we expected, but after a relaxing and lazy morning. We spent the rest of Tuesday driving. Not far past Canyon City, we were listening to a new CD~Chicago's Greatest Hits. Along the road, we saw some construction. I said, "Hey, look, they are crack-filling." At that precise moment, the song played the lyrics, "Fill in the cracks, hit you when you least expect it." I have had impeccable timing before, but this time made us both laugh out loud. (The song is called Love Will Come Back, and on the album XXX (their thirtieth) it was a duet with Rascal Flatts. This version was Chicago only.)

We stopped by a rock shop. I love the rock shops; sparklies in every color you can imagine. This one had local rocks, and imported rocks too. We bought a piece of Peridot for MIL, because it is her birthstone, as well as both of the grandchildren. I got a piece of what was called Chevron Amethyst. It is not nearly as crystalline as Amethyst that comes in what looks like Geodes. It is a beautiful purple rock, with white lines in a Chevron pattern through it.

We went from Canyon City through Gunnison on our way to Montrose. There is an area that the road crosses a lake. We took pictures of the frozen lake, covered in snow.

DH thought it would be interesting to show on the map where we were. Look to the left of Gunnison, and we were near Sapinero. This is the picture of the map we had.

We went through Montrose, Ouray, Silverton and Durango to get back to Mom's house in Farmington. We arrived in Montrose later than we hoped. Mom wanted me to bring her seconds from the Russell Stover factory there. She wanted sugar free chocolate. It was closed an hour before we got to town. Sad. I would have loved to buy some cheap chocolate for myself. At least I know it is there. I will go back someday.

We went south through Ouray and Silverton. I have been to both of these many times over the years of my youth. I had never paid attention to the roads that got us there. They are both in very high valleys in the Rocky Mountains.


View Larger Map

This is a rather straight looking line of Hwy 550 between Ouray and Silverton. It is all just little switchbacks. Once in a while, you can go a whopping 40 mph. Most of it, if you are going faster than 25 mph, it is scary. You can fall off the mountain. The road is only wide enough to have two lanes of traffic, one in each direction. For most of the road, there is no guardrail on the "down the mountain" side, and there is a huge mountain on the other side. The mountain side was covered in snow. The road had only been open once the trucks had pushed all the snow off the road. There were NO shoulders on either side. I was happy to let a semi truck pass me, using a runaway truck pullout. Seriously, I would not have been happy to drive more than 1/4 of a mile with that dude riding his brakes behind me down that road.

Most of the time we were driving, it was dark. The sun can light the area, but sunset is seriously early in the mountains. I drove from Montrose to Silverton. I told DH it was stressful driving, and I couldn't do it anymore. He drove from Silverton to Durango. I am not sure now which was more stressful, driving or riding. DH didn't know what was beyond the headlights, but I did. I want to let everyone know that DH is an excellent driver, but this was crazy scary for me. I like to be in control of the car in scary situations. It is my nature to be in control.

On a side note, when I was younger, I would not ride in the passenger seat of my own car. In the early days of college, I couldn't bring myself to trust anyone to drive me in my own car. I could ride with anyone, and see that they were a great driver, but in MY car, I was ALWAYS the driver. DH didn't notice this, until I told him. While HE was driving. On a long, straight highway to visit my parents. Now, it is still odd to have someone else drive my car, but DH owns them too, so I don't mind his driving. And it had nothing to do with the car. I loaned my car out without fear. Several people drove the car, but I was not in it. Yes, I know, I am strange. But hey, you know that if you have read for any amount of time here.

More on the trek home in the next installment of this adventure!