OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!"...Dr. Seuss

I have been "off and away"...for quite some time now, it would seem.  On a wonderful, and much appreciated, "time-out" back home in CO...a little cooler weather - and TREES!  What started out as a week back for my mother-in-law's wedding, ended as a road trip, for me, through the desert SW with my parents...I felt just like a kid again!  Too many photos for one post, this will be spread out over a few days - the easiest way for my friends to see without looking at the tiny little screen on the back of my digital camera.

My mountains in Glenwood Canyon (actually not mine); my Mother in Law, Phyllis, and her new husband, Hans; Phyl and all her grand kids (my Louie, Allix, Phyl, Matt, my Jaci, and Jessi - blowing kisses at the camera, silly girls that they are); Coors Field (we rode the bus into downtown Denver for a night game, where the Rockies won one for the home crowd).  I got a chance to reconnect with the sisters-in-law and spent a few wonderful evenings at dinner (though I would not recommend the Grilled Bison Caesar Salad at Ted's Montana Grill, which turned out to actually be a Grilled Bison HAMBURGER Caesar Salad...how odd!  And yes, I wrote a Dear Ted Turner note yesterday about changing the wording on his menu) and just sitting around.

Denver and the suburbs had VERY few tornadoes when I was a kid, growing up (actually, I can recount one day when I was in grade school that there were warning sirens and a tornado watch - of course, what did I know.  There may have been more - I was little!).  Over the past few years, they have been seeing more and more in town (Leadville actually reported a tornado while I was there this time, which is TOTALLY unheard of at that altitude) - this sign was hung on a fence in front of the house pictured - a house of some historical importance that they were fixing up when the tree was deposited inside of it - it's gonna' take a lot more work now! 

One of the most exciting things I got to do was to meet, face to face, with a dear gal that I have become fast friends with on eBay and the Internet, over the past few years.  We belong to an eBay "primitives" group (TLOFA - The Ladies of Folk Art) and have always had that "Colorado connection" between us - Joleen is from Sterling, CO, which is out on the north-eastern plains.  We had spoken via email and phone over the past three years, but never actually met.  I made it a priority this trip, and was so glad I did!  I don't know that I have ever met someone for the first time that I felt more comfortable with than I did with Joleen...it was like we had known each other for years.  And I hope she remains a close friend for many, many more to come.  We spent the day antiquing (oh, the knowledge in her head), and then had lunch at my favorite Mexican spot in town, before she headed back to her family.  I'm hoping she might want to make a trip out West some day!  The door is always open here, girl!

And from a flowering friendship to the flowers in my parent's beautiful garden in Englewood, CO, I leave this post tonight...my husband and kids headed back home to Vegas after a week, and left me in the care of my folks, so I could accompany them on a "road trip" - definitely the best way to travel if you want to see anything...and see things we did!  But, that's for tomorrow's post.