Epic Birthday Trip Part I

Usually, I take notes for later reference for my blog posts... or I write the post right away. This past week I didn't do either. I hardly logged on to the computer at all. I unplugged for almost a week. No facebook, no e-mail, no phone. I didn't write anything down. I didn't think about anything do with work or home projects. Unless it was an address of the taco place that had gluten free cheese and green chili tamales or gluten free pizza crusts in Crested Butte, CO.

Well, where to start? The last ten days have been super. I worked on a flagstone patio Saturday before last most of the day. It was super fun. It's about half way done.

Sunday we spent most of the morning at a walk in clinic as Meg stabbed her finger with piece of wood she called a splinter. I call it one big ass piece of wood. It's the splinter all other splinters aspire to become. The mother load if you will. The doctors at the clinic did an x-ray and sent her home with some antibiotics. I am glad we got it checked out, as her pinky looked like it was about to give birth to triplets. Mother and babies are all doing just fine! Ha!

Day #1 of the birthday trip....We drove from Denver, CO to Crested Butte, CO southwest on 285 to Buena Vista, CO. Then we drove over Monarch Pass to Gunnison, CO, then north to Crested Butte. Wow! Colorado blows my mind. The landscape changes from minute to minute. It's like driving though five states in one hour. Meg did not photograph the trip. She just experienced it right along with me. We listened to a lot of XM radio and laughed even more.

We arrived in Crested Butte in the early afternoon. Crested Butte is a town of 1487 (as of 2010) and it at 8,885 feet above sea level.We got settled into our friends house where we stayed for the week. We made a late lunch and sat around looking out at the view from the house. WOW!! Then we took a walk, and made dinner. It is amazing to have nothing to do but be together.

Day #2 in Crested Butte we walked around the cemetery right outside of town. I read the most beautiful poem about death on one of the graves.

Here it is : Why weep for loved one deceased? Our loss is his infinite gain, A soul out of prison released, and freed from it's bodily pain. With songs let us follow his flight and ascend with his spirit above. Escaped to the mansions of light and lodged in the eden of love. This beauty was on the graves of two children, a boy, Joseph, who was 6 and his sister, Florence who died at the age of two.

Day #3 was filled with hiking down to the slate river though mountain lion country. Meg and I sang our favorite vintage LSU cheer to ward off the big cats! The cheer goes...."Hot boudin, cold cous-cous, come on tigers, poosh, poosh, poosh." Clearly it worked because I lived to tell the tale of our walk!

The walk was amazing. There is still a ton of snow on the ground in Crested Butte. Really, things have just started to thaw out up there. We sat by the river for a long time and listened to the water and made mustaches with rocks. As you can see it's about the prettiest place on earth, and this winter. Can you imagine what a summer day must be like?

I will continue the post tomorrow. Next up, my birthday hike and a snowy afternoon. Then it's off to Leadville, CO! Stay tuned!