Colorado Honeymoon (Part 1)

I've talked it up for quite some time, now I'm finally back to write about our belated honeymoon trip to Colorado!

I should start by saying this trip has been in the making since last September when Thomas' family friend called us and said she wanted to give us a free week-long stay at their condo in Durango. We were ecstatic, but also unsure of what all we wanted to do while there. The only thing we made firm plans to do was go ziplining at a place that was stupidly expensive (but well worth it...and I bought our tickets on a 2-for-1 sale, so it was much easier to absorb...and we had free lodging). We had tentative plans to visit 4 Corners and the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings. We were so excited to have this week in the mountains!

We put a lot of planning into this trip. By that, I mean that I made about 10 different lists/phone memos/reminders, and Thomas used his vast knowledge of outdoorsy stuff like hiking (from his years in Boy Scouts) to help me figure out what gear I needed. We made multiple trips to REI, where we spent a small fortune, but earned a lot of dividends for ourselves. (They're a co-op. Also, tangential thought: Why is good-quality hiking and outdoorsy stuff so blasted expensive?) I was unnecessarily nervous about the trip, probably because that's how I handle big things? We decided to take lots of healthier options for snacks so that we didn't have to stop at every restaurant or gas station along the way, saving us lots of money. (I also had an epic snack prep session...that's what else I did.)

So the big day finally came, June 1st. It was my first official day of summer vacation, and I spent it tying up our loose ends at the apartment, while waiting for Thomas to get home right after lunch. We planned to be on the road no later than 2, because we had a hotel reservation in Amarillo, TX, and we also wanted to eat supper at the Big Texan, so we wanted to be in Amarillo by 8 at the absolute latest. Well, we succeeded in the matter--we were on the road by 1:30 PM, a half hour ahead of plans! It felt great to finally be on the road!

When we were in Denton, about to turn on to the highway that'd basically take us to Amarillo, my phone rang. It wasn't one that was saved, but my phone thought it was the lady whose condo we were heading to. (I think she shared it in an email at one point. iPhones are bizarre.) I answered, figuring she probably was either wishing us well on our journey or letting us know something about the condo she forgot to previously mention. When she spoke, I knew immediately that NEITHER of the reasons I thought up were correct. As it turned out, she was calling to let us know that the resort in which the condo was located was under an evacuation warning, due to a wildfire that broke out in the area earlier that morning. She seemed worried, but didn't want us to outright cancel the trip, because there was a chance that it would be contained and it'd be fine by the next morning. (Which would have been perfect since we weren't slated to arrive until about 3 PM that Saturday) I quickly relayed the information to Thomas, and she said that she'd call as soon as she knew any updates.

Not funny, Sean Kingston...NOT funny.

Picture I received from the condo owner.
Was taken in the parking lot in front of their condo...scary stuff!

Thomas asked if we needed to turn around and go home or what we should do. I was of no real help, because this vacation we'd worked so hard to plan for was almost literally going up in flames. Ultimately, we decided to go to Amarillo since we already had a hotel reservation and likely wouldn't get a full refund on it if we were to cancel. Tons of thoughts flew through my mind at that point, for example...

• How unfair is it that after we've waited so long to take this trip and now we can't even take it?!
• You're being selfish--people's lives, homes, and livelihoods are in danger right now!
• Well, it's still unfair. Everyone else gets to travel and go wherever they want and never seem to have any issues.
• This always happens when Thomas and I travel together! (Remembering the debacle that was traveling to Jay and Mark's wedding 2 summers ago...)
• We went through all this hassle just to find out that we can't do anything.
• Other people don't even have the luxury of taking a vacation. QUIT WHINING!
• You are being utterly ridiculous.
• But on the other hand...
• If this was the worst thing that happened to other people, they'd probably just "embrace the journey" and laugh it off.
• Nope. Not ready to "embrace" anything. Those people can... (I'll let you fill in the blanks...ha!)
• I really hope this condo doesn't burn down. That'd be sad for our friends.
• I really hope no one dies from this. Scotty was fighting wildfires a couple of months ago, and it was terrifying to hear some of the stories about what he did and where he was. 
• I'm still not happy about this. But I also feel like a terrible person for being upset when so many other people have MUCH bigger things to worry about. 

I was not the best travel companion to Thomas for the next hour or so. One thing I learned during our trip was that he is my opposite in all the ways it really matters. When I am in total freakout/hysterical mode, Thomas is uber practical and composed. Not that I appreciated it in the moment, but even so. I would relate some of my aforementioned thoughts, and he'd squash them with irrational statements like, "It'll be okay," "We still have the week off--let's come up with other plans!", or my personal favorite, "I'm just happy to spend this time with you--it'll be an adventure! We love adventures!" Yeah, definitely wasn't feeling any of his good vibes or practical thoughts. And I felt even worse about being in such a crappy mood when he made the comment about spending time with me. I definitely did not win co-pilot of the day on June 1st...just saying! I also took some time to review the cancellation policy for our ziplining trip, just to realize that we were 2 days past the point when they would have given us a full refund. Lovely...

I'm not sure what finally snapped me out of my hysterics, but I finally rebounded about halfway to Amarillo, which was when we finally made some peace with the fact that we probably weren't going to Durango. My sisters and Thomas' family gave lots of suggestions, ranging everywhere from staying with my family for the week, to going to the Grand Canyon, to Las Vegas. (Actually, I think those all came from my sisters!) We started thinking more and more about one option someone mentioned--Colorado Springs. I started looking up local attractions, then I realized that it might not be that terrible...and it was 3 hours closer! It was a good thing I found some peace, because we received the call from our friend that the resort was evacuated, and it didn't look as though we'd be able to go. What really sealed the deal on that was learning that lots of places in the town of Durango were being used as temporary shelters, and we didn't want to take up valuable space that other people may have legitimately needed. Also, we weren't sure what the air quality would be like and didn't want to spend a week surrounded by ash and smoke if we could help it.

We decided to get to Amarillo before we really formulated a new game plan. We called my mom during the drive to apprise her of the situation. She told us it'd be a great story to tell our grandchildren on our 50th anniversary. Thankfully, I was able to laugh/smile at that, because, all things considered, it will make a great story! I also left a voicemail and sent an email to our ziplining company to inform them that we would NOT be coming for our scheduled trip due to the wildfires, that I realized we were just past the cancellation period, but still curious (given the extenuating circumstances) if we could get a refund. I figured no one would respond immediately because they had to evacuate, but they'd get to it eventually.

Upon our arrival in Amarillo we checked in to our hotel, found out that Diana had a friend who lived in Colorado Springs who would be home during the next couple of days, and had a basement she'd let us stay in until we figured out what we were doing. Also, she had some connections to get us concert tickets. (More on that later.) Things were starting to look up! We touched base one last time with the friend who offered one last option for us to go to Durango, but she agreed that CO Springs would be a much better bet. She also promised us that, one way or another, we'd still get a free week-long stay at her family's condo in the future! We were a little overwhelmed at the initial thought of re-planning a week-long vacation, but decided to not worry and go eat at the Big Texan!

We arrived late enough in the evening that we didn't have to wait for very long before being seated, basically just long enough to look through the gift shop and see that it was a lot of typical overpriced gift shop stuff that we could live without. (Except a Route 66 beer glass. Thomas decided to collect those through the trip, and it was one of the few decently priced items.) We somewhat assumed that since it was a big tourist draw, that it wouldn't be that great of food. We are happy to report that the food and service was wonderful! It was one tourist trap that was worth going to. When we made it back to the hotel, Thomas got out his laptop and looked up hotels in CO Springs. (Side note, I was initially annoyed that Thomas insisted on bringing it for the trip. This instance alone was enough for me to eat crow. The same thing happened during our flight debacle of 2016 when Thomas insisted we only pack carryons and we ended up having flights canceled and needing to move fast. Moral of the story is that if the man is oddly insistent on one aspect of the trip, you should probably just go along with it.) We didn't realize just how lucky we were to have free lodging for the week until we realized just how expensive it was. We wanted to stay at a cabin of some sort in the woods, but quickly found out that unless we wanted to shell out $1000+ for the whole week, that was NOT happening for us. If places seemed decent, had good ratings, AND had vacancy (huge "if" there...), they definitely weren't in our budget. At last, Thomas happened upon an extended stay motel that wasn't as "rustic" as we were wanting, but it was relatively affordable, had a full kitchenette, had vacancy for the entire week, and wasn't stupid expensive, so we made reservations. So we went to sleep Friday night, at peace with knowing our new tentative plan.

We finally found our smiles as we checked into our room!

The big steer!

Saturday (6/2/18)
Diana's friend informed us not to arrive at her house in Colorado Springs any earlier than 4 PM local time, so we were able to sleep in a little bit and have a leisurely Saturday morning. We mapped it out and saw it'd take 5-ish hours, accounting for the time zone change, so we were able to leave a little after 11.

Eating breakfast like a true Texan!

After breakfast, a quick shower, and packing up, we opted to stop at the nearby tourist trap, Cadillac Ranch. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of it, but it's basically a bunch of old Cadillac sedans buried nose-first into an empty field that have decades worth of paint on them. Definitely nothing special, but worth going at least once. As luck would have it, our hotel was located close to the site and to a Home Depot, where I went to grab a can of spray paint...if we were going to take the time to go, we may as well have made it worth our time to do so. Upon entering the store I saw that we weren't the only ones with that idea. Someone at the Amarillo Home Depot made a small display right at the front of the store that contained a small selection of spray paint in about every color one would want. Naturally, I picked the orange! (If it were just me, I'd choose pink, but orange is the one color we can definitely agree on.)

Down the road we went to Cadillac Ranch. In retrospect, I should've queued up the Chris LeDoux song of the same name, but didn't. We almost missed the turnoff, as there was a surprising lack of signage. Also, Cadillac sedans aren't that tall or imposing when they're buried in the ground. It was very anticlimactic upon our arrival. Minus the cars, it looked like most empty fields with worked ground in Oklahoma. There was also a disappointing amount of litter and vandalism on the property. The litter was especially frustrating considering that there was a huge dumpster to put trash in right by the entrance. It was a good 1000 ft or so walk. In true TX panhandle fashion, it was hot and windy, so there was a lot of dirt blowing around and pelting our legs. (It reminded me of many days out on the playground during elementary school.) So, we took our time and made our literal mark on the Cadillacs. Nothing says happy honeymoon quite like some recreational graffiti, huh? We still had some paint in the can, so we decided to wrap the can in a bag and keep it in the car.

The view from the road. See what I mean?

Off we went to Colorado! The next few hours were pretty uneventful, besides us stopping near the Capulin volcano monument. We would have driven up further had there not been an admission fee and if we had a little more time, but it was nice to admire, if even from a distance. I was fascinated as we drove on the stretch of paved road to get there that it contained a section in which cattle and other wild animals could freely walk on the roadways, as there was no fencing. There were cattle guards at each end of the section and fencing along that perimeter, but still. I probably would have thought more of seeing the animals had I not grown up surrounded by cattle.

The Capulin Volcano

As we grew closer to our destination, I realized quickly that I was not a fan of heights. Okay, the heights didn't bother so much as the idea of going off the edge of the road and falling to our eventual death. (Thanks, wreck, for scarring me for life. Never worried about stuff like that til that happened...) This was about the time Thomas requested that I drive. I was not feeling my drive time, as my palms were sweating, making it difficult for me to grip the wheel. I was probably on the verge of a very small panic attack, which ultimately ended by coming upon Pueblo and Colorado Springs. I was somehow more comfortable driving within metropolitan traffic than I was out on the open road, go figure. Upon our arrival to Diana's friend Mary's house, we were greeted by her two rambunctious dogs. She quickly showed us her basement, and provided us with towels, pizza, booze, and tickets for the evening. You see, Mary served in the Navy for a good number of years and now works at the nearby Air Force Academy. (Melissa, if you happen to be reading this, yes, that's exactly who I'm referring to, and she said to tell Steve hello! We had a great laugh over the happenstance of the situation!)

That night was the opening ceremony for the Warrior Games. If you aren't familiar with it, you should look it up--good stuff happening there. It is more or less like the Paralympics, but for servicemen and women from all branches of the US armed forces, as well as some delegations from Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. Because of Mary's position at the academy, she was able to secure some tickets for us. The ceremony was emceed by Jon Stewart and included performances by country singer Eric Paslay and Kelly Clarkson! It was such an awe-inspiring evening full of camaraderie and hope. Our favorite part of the ceremony itself was hearing all of the service anthems played by a choir of buglers and hearing each country's national anthem sung by a vocal choir. We missed most of Eric Paslay's act, but liked what we heard of it. Kelly Clarkson had a phenomenal performance. She possesses such talent that baffles me. If you enjoy her music and have the opportunity to see her live, know that she puts on a great show. So many of my late grade school/junior high dreams came true by seeing her perform! I loved it! We ended the night by happening upon some free Chick-Fil-A sandwiches that were being doled out among the crowd! CFA was a big sponsor for the evening, and they had a setup on the field where the participants and other dignitaries plus any guests of theirs were able to receive a complimentary CFA meal. They had an excess of 100+ sandwiches after it was over, and since we were close to the field, we ended up getting some! After our long, weary past couple of days, it was a huge bright spot for us! Turns out that having to re-plan a vacation at the last second makes one very appreciative of any random things that go right!

Look at our seats! Such a great view!

I promise that Thomas' expression was from his reaction to the flash, and not him being drunk!

Driving back from the concert was a little chaotic and time-consuming, but not bad. We collapsed into bed and decided to make plans for the week the next morning. We were exhausted, but happy to sleep, if even on a fold out couch in someone's basement. We so appreciated Mary's last-second hospitality!

Sunday (6/3/18)
We sat around Mary's basement for a good deal of time on Sunday morning. Finally I told Thomas that I didn't care what we did, but we had to make a decision, because I wasn't going to spend my vacation wallowing in a basement, even if it was fully furnished and had a completely stocked liquor cabinet. We couldn't check in to our hotel until 3 PM, so we had to figure out what to do with some of our spare time. I was so glad I went a little overboard on packing snacks, as that was the majority of what we ate from Friday-Sunday. (We had refrigerators everywhere we went, so the food didn't spoil. I can hear people being concerned about this already.) Since we had the unexpected expense of paying for lodging, we went back into budget mode pretty quickly, which involved a lot of not going out to eat.

Between Friday and then, Gina had taken the liberty of looking up lots of activities and adventures for Thomas and I to go on during our week there. I sat down and made yet another list in which I made tentative travel plans for each day and lumped everything together by location, cost, and interest level. The biggest thing we missed from our original trip was ziplining, so I made it a priority to make that happen. Luckily, I found a Groupon for us to go ziplining at a place Diana recommended to me, so I got those reservations down right away. (And I saved money! Woohoo!) Nothing else that we planned on doing required any pre-payments, reservations, or advance notice, so we operated off a loose itinerary, as I'll describe throughout the week.

At some point, I felt what were likely the effects of eating too many corn-based snacks, as I had some stomach issues. I was legitimately worried that it'd be yet another hitch in our already chaotic trip. Thankfully, the issues passed without too much fanfare, but I definitely felt "off" for the remainder of the day. Once I felt better, we packed up and decided to at least locate our hotel. (It was somewhere between 11 and 12 at this point, so we were closer to check-in.) We found our hotel, decided the exterior wasn't enough to scare us off, and went on to find the local Catholic Church so we could go to Mass later that day. In between our search missions, we happened upon the Team USA Olympic Training Headquarters. Since we had nothing better to do and a couple of hours to kill, we ventured in to find out that it would cost $10/person (maybe $15, I can't remember) to tour. It was more than we cared to pay, but figured it'd be alright. We later found out that it included a complimentary picture with replica medals and the actual torch used at the '96 Atlanta games. The tour itself was good, but nothing mind-blowing. It was mostly looking at gyms and training facilities through windows, as there were athletes who live on the campus and actively train there. They wanted to maintain as much privacy and normalcy as they could for the athletes, which was understandable. We later found out that tours are a big revenue source for them, as they are considered to be a non-profit organization. (It made me feel a little less cranky about paying for the tour.)

We're Olympians...not really!

How about this for a workout room?

The pool

As seen in the window of the gun range for the shooting sports...haha!

At the conclusion of the tour, I received a phone call from the ziplining company in Durango (the place I called/emailed on Friday to ask for a refund). The lady was polite, but not thrilled to be making the call. She begrudgingly issued a full refund, despite it being after their normal grace period, given the circumstances. (I'm sure I wasn't the only person requesting that, so she probably was going to be losing lots of money...like I said, the tickets WEREN'T cheap.) She struggled to believe that we canceled our entire trip to Durango all because of the wildfire, which was still raging on as we spoke. (Not as many evacuations, but even so.) She really wanted us to take a voucher, which would only be good for 6 months, which was when I insisted that we lived almost 1000 miles away in Dallas, had busy work schedules, and we would not/could not get back to CO in that timeframe. Like I said, not thrilled, but she issued the refund. This was a huge relief, as it greatly offset a lot of our newfound lodging expenses!

We made it back to the car around 2, when Thomas called the hotel and asked if we could do an early check-in. To our luck, the manager okayed that, so off we headed! After almost 3 days of practically living out of my car, we unpacked and finally started feeling like we could relax. I napped periodically through the afternoon, realizing that I had a random pain shooting up my right forearm that I couldn't figure out. I later realized it was from the previous day when I had a death grip on my door handle in the car as we drove into Colorado. We ran by a grocery store and grabbed some other food things for the week (sandwich makings, fruit, milk, dinner makings, etc.) We later went to Mass and out to dinner at a nearby pizza/beer place. Yes, we were on a budget, but we had no desire to even think about cooking a meal in our hotel kitchen after the last few days we had. It hit the spot, and was the perfect end to our tumultuous beginning of our trip.

The mountains as we walked out of the cathedral. What a sight!

(To be continued...)