Story Aunt Gus & Little Bear's Great Adventure Book 1 (Complete)
- Thread starter Kathy in FL
- Start date
Texican
Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
On one family vacation to New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and the Grand Canyon, we were returning home late one night and stopped at a roadside motel and got accommodations which were converted trailer houses. It was pitch black.
The next morning when we final got up we looked out the back windows and you could reach out and touch the cliff face the trailer houses were parked next to which was a thrill for the boys.
The surprises that you find while taking a family vacation make the difference.
Thanks Kathy for the story.
Texican....
May 13 – 16: Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (part 1)
Weather: 61/37 (Estes Park), 41/28 (Rocky Mountain NP)
Driving Route:
Wifi/Cell Signal: Not bad. Not great but tolerable for what I needed it for until we got into the national park. At that point, if I needed a signal it had to be at the visitor centers for some free wifi.
May 13th
I used the day productively. Stocked up on food at this place close to the park called “The Country Store”. The night in Wind Cave that I did what I could with food prep, I kept running into ingredients that I didn’t have or was using the last of. I also took care of that problem post haste at the Safeway in town. Within walking distance of the Safeway was a place that sold jerky of all flavors. Picked up a couple of packages – Cherry Maple beef, Teriyaki beef, and Sweet Maple Glazed bacon – and some toffee peanuts. That is going to have to do us for a while due to space and cost.
Hotel was nice though I heard other people complaining how expensive it was for what it was. [Shrug] Sometimes you have to pay for things. We were in a ground floor unit which was great. Plus, it was warm and clean, we both had our own beds (which mean no elbows to my kidneys), and the place had a hot tub. Benny likes the water but doesn't care to do more than put his feet in hot tubs, the bubbles bother him. He says they feel like bugs are crawling on him. I don't twit him about his texture issues, they're as real as my own.
As for the van, I gave it a fine-tooth comb going over and a deep cleaning like it needed. And took pictures of it all to show to Groucho.
As for Groucho himself, I found out what was wrong with him … women’s intuition. In particular Stella’s intuition. Gave me the heebies because for as long as I’ve known her, she’s yet to be wrong when she gets one of those feelings, whether it is about a funny noise an engine is making, a customer skipping out on paying, one of her kids being in trouble, Groucho needing some attention, you name it. She even told me about Penny and that’s why I was watching her so closely. But sometimes knowing something isn’t the same as being able to do anything about it.
Groucho told me later that it was Stella that convinced him to invite us down to Key West because she knew that eventually Benny and I would need him for a time. They had both hoped that having Groucho around and the change in scenery would move Penny from the path she was on but when someone wants … never mind. When people make up their mind there is extraordinarily little you can do to change it.
Anyway, Stella is freaking because she has a really horrible feeling that it is going to be a bad hurricane season regardless of what is currently predicted. She really believes that Key West is going to be hit square, and she feels it will be in August or September. Groucho has been in Key West for nearly 30 years and the idea of moving doesn’t exactly thrill him; however, based on one of Stella’s “feelings” he bought land up in north Florida around the time that Penny and Lawrence got married. I kinda remember him coming for a visit but I was still pretty toasted during that time. The property is off of US90, and the frontage is zoned commercial. He’s going to go up later this week and give a serious think about opening a garage there. It would be like starting all over again but being just outside Lake City he’d get traffic from US90, I75, and I10. Kinda shocking to be honest. Not sure what to make of it but the longer I’m been gone from Key West the more I’m becoming sure that we won’t be going back for anything other than a visit … maybe. Not because of ‘canes but just because I have that feeling.
Wish my intuition would give me a better idea of the future. I’m not sure where Benny and I are going to light. It is always in the back of my mind. Everywhere we go I’m eyeing it as a potential future home. Part of me wonders about going back to my old home along the Suwannee but with Uncle Daniel inheriting Grandfather and Grandma Barry’s place I’m not sure that would really work. Uncle Daniel always resented his father remarrying to a younger woman (Grandma Barry) and then added to it by resenting that he felt like Grandma Barry favored me over his kids. Ugh. There was a reason that Lawrence got me gone from there as fast as he could manage it. Uncle Daniel is someone with an anger management issue that’s for sure. The day of Dad’s funeral I can still remember Uncle Daniel basically saying not to let the door hit us where the Good Lord split us on our way out of town.
I almost didn’t let him know that Lawrence had been killed in action. Surprised the heck out of me when he showed up for the memorial service, but I had my hands full with Penny and Benny at the time. He was cordial, like he wanted to talk, there just wasn’t much to say. Groucho has apparently been talking to him and I didn’t like it when I found out, but what are you going to do when someone insists on doing something for your own good?
And about the van, Groucho is surprised at how well it is holding up. Surprised and pleased.
May 14th
In Rocky Mountain National Park. Place is well named even if it is literal of me to think so. We were at our first trail head before 7 am. Pardon me, but there was freaking snow on the ground. Let me repeat, it is the middle of May and there is freaking snow … on … the … ground in places. The middle of May in Florida and you’re lucky you can keep the ice in your tea from melting.
I won’t admit it to Benny but OH MY GOSH! SNOW! I’ve never seen it. I mean on TV and stuff like that. When Benny was three, I took him to an artificial snow scene at Christmas time and had his picture made with Santa. But I’ve never seen the stuff out in the wild so to speak. Doing my own version of the Snoopy dance. Although I gotta admit that stuff is not like you think it would be. It’s nasty and dirty and WET. Cold I can understand, it’s freaking little pieces of ice after all, but the rest? Yuck. Makes my OCD start humming. They always make out like it is pretty fluffy white stuff. Er … not so much from what I am experiencing. But … MY FIRST SNOW!! How cool is that … and no, I didn’t mean the pun but there you go. I know I sound like a princess. The guys in my ship would be laughing their butts off at me. But … SNOW! Okay, done acting Benny’s age.
The other thing that I’m experiencing for the first time is altitude sickness. Didn’t know what was going on until Benny started reading some of his Junior Ranger information. Upped my water in take and felt lots better. Sure am tired tonight though.
First trail we did was Bear Lake Trail. If you’re looking for the easiest possible trail in the park, this is probably it. It is only three-quarters of a mile and takes you all the way around Bear Lake. It’s relatively flat, and Bear Lake is a nice spot if you can avoid the mud where the snow is melting.
Then came Alberta Falls Trail. Another short and easy hike of 1.2 miles round trip with only 160 feet of elevation change. It starts at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead but we accessed the hike via the Beak Lake trail and it added about a mile total. Glacier Creek thunders down this spectacular waterfall that is one of the park's more popular hiking destinations. We passed through aspen groves, pine forest and overlooks on the way to the 30-foot waterfall. The rock slabs are a cool spot to just stop and take it all in. Beware the critters on the trail if you see any. Due to the number of humans that use the trail, the animals have lost their fear especially when food is involved. If I heard that once, I heard it a dozen times. Apparently it is a problem on this busy trail.
Next up was the Sprague Lake trail (0.9 miles roundtrip). During a super easy hike around Sprague Lake we ate a Walking Taco that I made in a Frito bag. Benny loves them and the Fritos are gluten free.
Just down the road from that spot was the Moraine Park Discovery Center. This visitor center has a lot of the exhibits the other visitor centers lack. It was the perfect choice for starting the Junior Ranger program with Benny. He learned about the geology of the area plus the flora and fauna. It also has a great view of the Moraine Park area and we could easily spot several elk in the valley. That was a thrill I tell you. Those suckers must be huge.
After the Discovery Center we started the scenic drive on main park road in earnest and we stopped at a lot of the turn outs and overlooks. It is taking me forever to download all the pictures from my phone that I took today. I hate to say it, but I might need to purchase another couple of T’s of cloud memory, or bump it up to the unlimited plan. Gag. That’s an expense I should have considered sooner. Thankfully spending all that time reorganizing my digital media files is gonna save me from having to buy any more physical external memory.
We stopped at Beaver Ponds Overlook and the Many Peaks Curve. At the Hidden Valley picnic area we stopped for a bathroom break and another small meal. Drinking more water made me feel better but I gotta admit that the cold weather made me have to hit the head more often as well. Those vault toilets are odiferous.
At the Forest Canyon Overlook we took a short 0.4 miles roundtrip hike … and Snow!!! I’m grateful there was no snow on the road but there was some piled up on the side of the road.
The we did the Rock Cut and Tundra Communities Trailhead just to look around and what 2.3 mile above sea level looks like. We saw bighorn sheep which was crazy wild. Benny loved it.
Then came Iceberg Pass, Lava Cliffs Overlook, and the highest point on the road at 12,183 feet, followed by Gore Range Overlook. I could definitely tell the different in my breathing. I wasn’t struggling but if I moved too much too fast it was like being on the edge of a carb crash.
Then we reached the Alpine Visitor Center. Holy freaking snow Batman, the building was buried! You could walk in but it was still crazy. You could only walk in for the “facilities” because it didn’t really open for business until Memorial Day which is in about two weeks.
This is the point where we turned around. We had reservations for Moraine Park Campground. On our way back, we stopped at Sheep Lake to spot more wildlife. A ranger told us this is one of the best places to see elk, and THE place to see bighorn sheep. Plus, we drove along Fall River Road, which was the original road up and over the pass. Ugh. The road was wet from melting snow and gotta say, there were some cranky people as well. Nothing wrong with my driving, I was just keeping it to the speed limit and that was too much frustration for some people apparently. Everyone cooled their jets however when we drove by where a jeep had lost control and was on its side. Must have happened earlier in the day because only a skeleton crew of rangers was there making sure people didn’t stop and gawk.
After signing into the campground, we got our assigned spot, parked, and then walked down the road to photograph more elk. It was hard to pull him away.
“Benny, let’s get back.”
“But …”
“Little Bear, we both need to eat and then you wanted to go to the amphitheater to get a ranger to make a check in your booklet. If you want to do that we need to go. Aunt Gus is running out of steam.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”
The amphitheater show was on the animals of the park. We’ve already seen quite a few and Benny could name them all. But it was cold and he was running down quickly and my second wind was nowhere in sight. I was glad that the show ended when it did and gladder to get into the van and warm up. I was going to make us some hot cocoa but Benny got into his PJs and crawled right in bed and went to sleep.
My head was pounding again so I drank some water, took some Tylenol, took care of the over full photo file on my phone, and wrote the day up. I need to crash and burn myself. We have another full day tomorrow.
Resources:
Explore Sprague Lake Trail | AllTrails
Explore Alberta Falls Trail | AllTrails
Explore Bear Lake Trail and Emerald Lake | AllTrails
Walking Tacos Recipe: How to Make It | Taste of Home
Animals - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Wildlife Viewing - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Weather: 61/37 (Estes Park), 41/28 (Rocky Mountain NP)
Driving Route:
Wifi/Cell Signal: Not bad. Not great but tolerable for what I needed it for until we got into the national park. At that point, if I needed a signal it had to be at the visitor centers for some free wifi.
May 13th
I used the day productively. Stocked up on food at this place close to the park called “The Country Store”. The night in Wind Cave that I did what I could with food prep, I kept running into ingredients that I didn’t have or was using the last of. I also took care of that problem post haste at the Safeway in town. Within walking distance of the Safeway was a place that sold jerky of all flavors. Picked up a couple of packages – Cherry Maple beef, Teriyaki beef, and Sweet Maple Glazed bacon – and some toffee peanuts. That is going to have to do us for a while due to space and cost.
Hotel was nice though I heard other people complaining how expensive it was for what it was. [Shrug] Sometimes you have to pay for things. We were in a ground floor unit which was great. Plus, it was warm and clean, we both had our own beds (which mean no elbows to my kidneys), and the place had a hot tub. Benny likes the water but doesn't care to do more than put his feet in hot tubs, the bubbles bother him. He says they feel like bugs are crawling on him. I don't twit him about his texture issues, they're as real as my own.
As for the van, I gave it a fine-tooth comb going over and a deep cleaning like it needed. And took pictures of it all to show to Groucho.
As for Groucho himself, I found out what was wrong with him … women’s intuition. In particular Stella’s intuition. Gave me the heebies because for as long as I’ve known her, she’s yet to be wrong when she gets one of those feelings, whether it is about a funny noise an engine is making, a customer skipping out on paying, one of her kids being in trouble, Groucho needing some attention, you name it. She even told me about Penny and that’s why I was watching her so closely. But sometimes knowing something isn’t the same as being able to do anything about it.
Groucho told me later that it was Stella that convinced him to invite us down to Key West because she knew that eventually Benny and I would need him for a time. They had both hoped that having Groucho around and the change in scenery would move Penny from the path she was on but when someone wants … never mind. When people make up their mind there is extraordinarily little you can do to change it.
Anyway, Stella is freaking because she has a really horrible feeling that it is going to be a bad hurricane season regardless of what is currently predicted. She really believes that Key West is going to be hit square, and she feels it will be in August or September. Groucho has been in Key West for nearly 30 years and the idea of moving doesn’t exactly thrill him; however, based on one of Stella’s “feelings” he bought land up in north Florida around the time that Penny and Lawrence got married. I kinda remember him coming for a visit but I was still pretty toasted during that time. The property is off of US90, and the frontage is zoned commercial. He’s going to go up later this week and give a serious think about opening a garage there. It would be like starting all over again but being just outside Lake City he’d get traffic from US90, I75, and I10. Kinda shocking to be honest. Not sure what to make of it but the longer I’m been gone from Key West the more I’m becoming sure that we won’t be going back for anything other than a visit … maybe. Not because of ‘canes but just because I have that feeling.
Wish my intuition would give me a better idea of the future. I’m not sure where Benny and I are going to light. It is always in the back of my mind. Everywhere we go I’m eyeing it as a potential future home. Part of me wonders about going back to my old home along the Suwannee but with Uncle Daniel inheriting Grandfather and Grandma Barry’s place I’m not sure that would really work. Uncle Daniel always resented his father remarrying to a younger woman (Grandma Barry) and then added to it by resenting that he felt like Grandma Barry favored me over his kids. Ugh. There was a reason that Lawrence got me gone from there as fast as he could manage it. Uncle Daniel is someone with an anger management issue that’s for sure. The day of Dad’s funeral I can still remember Uncle Daniel basically saying not to let the door hit us where the Good Lord split us on our way out of town.
I almost didn’t let him know that Lawrence had been killed in action. Surprised the heck out of me when he showed up for the memorial service, but I had my hands full with Penny and Benny at the time. He was cordial, like he wanted to talk, there just wasn’t much to say. Groucho has apparently been talking to him and I didn’t like it when I found out, but what are you going to do when someone insists on doing something for your own good?
And about the van, Groucho is surprised at how well it is holding up. Surprised and pleased.
May 14th
In Rocky Mountain National Park. Place is well named even if it is literal of me to think so. We were at our first trail head before 7 am. Pardon me, but there was freaking snow on the ground. Let me repeat, it is the middle of May and there is freaking snow … on … the … ground in places. The middle of May in Florida and you’re lucky you can keep the ice in your tea from melting.
I won’t admit it to Benny but OH MY GOSH! SNOW! I’ve never seen it. I mean on TV and stuff like that. When Benny was three, I took him to an artificial snow scene at Christmas time and had his picture made with Santa. But I’ve never seen the stuff out in the wild so to speak. Doing my own version of the Snoopy dance. Although I gotta admit that stuff is not like you think it would be. It’s nasty and dirty and WET. Cold I can understand, it’s freaking little pieces of ice after all, but the rest? Yuck. Makes my OCD start humming. They always make out like it is pretty fluffy white stuff. Er … not so much from what I am experiencing. But … MY FIRST SNOW!! How cool is that … and no, I didn’t mean the pun but there you go. I know I sound like a princess. The guys in my ship would be laughing their butts off at me. But … SNOW! Okay, done acting Benny’s age.
The other thing that I’m experiencing for the first time is altitude sickness. Didn’t know what was going on until Benny started reading some of his Junior Ranger information. Upped my water in take and felt lots better. Sure am tired tonight though.
First trail we did was Bear Lake Trail. If you’re looking for the easiest possible trail in the park, this is probably it. It is only three-quarters of a mile and takes you all the way around Bear Lake. It’s relatively flat, and Bear Lake is a nice spot if you can avoid the mud where the snow is melting.
Then came Alberta Falls Trail. Another short and easy hike of 1.2 miles round trip with only 160 feet of elevation change. It starts at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead but we accessed the hike via the Beak Lake trail and it added about a mile total. Glacier Creek thunders down this spectacular waterfall that is one of the park's more popular hiking destinations. We passed through aspen groves, pine forest and overlooks on the way to the 30-foot waterfall. The rock slabs are a cool spot to just stop and take it all in. Beware the critters on the trail if you see any. Due to the number of humans that use the trail, the animals have lost their fear especially when food is involved. If I heard that once, I heard it a dozen times. Apparently it is a problem on this busy trail.
Next up was the Sprague Lake trail (0.9 miles roundtrip). During a super easy hike around Sprague Lake we ate a Walking Taco that I made in a Frito bag. Benny loves them and the Fritos are gluten free.
Just down the road from that spot was the Moraine Park Discovery Center. This visitor center has a lot of the exhibits the other visitor centers lack. It was the perfect choice for starting the Junior Ranger program with Benny. He learned about the geology of the area plus the flora and fauna. It also has a great view of the Moraine Park area and we could easily spot several elk in the valley. That was a thrill I tell you. Those suckers must be huge.
After the Discovery Center we started the scenic drive on main park road in earnest and we stopped at a lot of the turn outs and overlooks. It is taking me forever to download all the pictures from my phone that I took today. I hate to say it, but I might need to purchase another couple of T’s of cloud memory, or bump it up to the unlimited plan. Gag. That’s an expense I should have considered sooner. Thankfully spending all that time reorganizing my digital media files is gonna save me from having to buy any more physical external memory.
We stopped at Beaver Ponds Overlook and the Many Peaks Curve. At the Hidden Valley picnic area we stopped for a bathroom break and another small meal. Drinking more water made me feel better but I gotta admit that the cold weather made me have to hit the head more often as well. Those vault toilets are odiferous.
At the Forest Canyon Overlook we took a short 0.4 miles roundtrip hike … and Snow!!! I’m grateful there was no snow on the road but there was some piled up on the side of the road.
The we did the Rock Cut and Tundra Communities Trailhead just to look around and what 2.3 mile above sea level looks like. We saw bighorn sheep which was crazy wild. Benny loved it.
Then came Iceberg Pass, Lava Cliffs Overlook, and the highest point on the road at 12,183 feet, followed by Gore Range Overlook. I could definitely tell the different in my breathing. I wasn’t struggling but if I moved too much too fast it was like being on the edge of a carb crash.
Then we reached the Alpine Visitor Center. Holy freaking snow Batman, the building was buried! You could walk in but it was still crazy. You could only walk in for the “facilities” because it didn’t really open for business until Memorial Day which is in about two weeks.
This is the point where we turned around. We had reservations for Moraine Park Campground. On our way back, we stopped at Sheep Lake to spot more wildlife. A ranger told us this is one of the best places to see elk, and THE place to see bighorn sheep. Plus, we drove along Fall River Road, which was the original road up and over the pass. Ugh. The road was wet from melting snow and gotta say, there were some cranky people as well. Nothing wrong with my driving, I was just keeping it to the speed limit and that was too much frustration for some people apparently. Everyone cooled their jets however when we drove by where a jeep had lost control and was on its side. Must have happened earlier in the day because only a skeleton crew of rangers was there making sure people didn’t stop and gawk.
After signing into the campground, we got our assigned spot, parked, and then walked down the road to photograph more elk. It was hard to pull him away.
“Benny, let’s get back.”
“But …”
“Little Bear, we both need to eat and then you wanted to go to the amphitheater to get a ranger to make a check in your booklet. If you want to do that we need to go. Aunt Gus is running out of steam.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”
The amphitheater show was on the animals of the park. We’ve already seen quite a few and Benny could name them all. But it was cold and he was running down quickly and my second wind was nowhere in sight. I was glad that the show ended when it did and gladder to get into the van and warm up. I was going to make us some hot cocoa but Benny got into his PJs and crawled right in bed and went to sleep.
My head was pounding again so I drank some water, took some Tylenol, took care of the over full photo file on my phone, and wrote the day up. I need to crash and burn myself. We have another full day tomorrow.
Resources:
Explore Sprague Lake Trail | AllTrails
Explore Alberta Falls Trail | AllTrails
Explore Bear Lake Trail and Emerald Lake | AllTrails
Walking Tacos Recipe: How to Make It | Taste of Home
Animals - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Wildlife Viewing - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Yep, I've taken a few liberties here and there but nothing horrid. You can actually get into the park before Memorial day, you just have to do it before 5 am and know where to go to hike some of the trail.
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
Thanks for the update!
May 13 – 16: Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (part 2)
May 15th
First thing we did today was hike Cub Lake, which leaves from a trailhead near Moraine Park Campground. It was 4.6 miles round trip. We were on the trail by 5:30 am. I’d rather be up early than stay up late and Benny is the same way. I remember struggling to get Penny up before lunch so she could go to work. She never would have been able to handle a kid with Benny’s internal clock being so different from hers.
I’m glad I am stocked up on bug spray and had put the nets back on our hats. Wowee there were some patches where the air was almost black with mosquitos and gnats. That was not fun. But even so, the views were worth it. The lake itself was gorgeous but it was the surrounding mountains and the aspen trees that was the real drivers of the views. There were also lily pads all over the surface of the shallow lake. I bet when they bloom that lake is absolutely gorgeous.
We returned to camp for lunch and the bugs were fairly awful. Neither Benny nor I wanted to go “inside” so I did what I do back home. In the process however I got a few dirty looks for spraying some OFF! Outdoor Fogger around the picnic table but oh well. I only sprayed it around the table so we could eat in peace. Reminded me of Florida the way the bitey things tried to drink you dry.
After lunch we hiked a bit of the Fern Lake Trail to an area called “The Pool.” It was about 3.4 miles round trip with a moderate 205 feet elevation change. The trail runs along the Big Thompson River, and was all burnt over back in 2020. It has greened back up but since trees and things tend to grow slower in this environment it wasn’t quite as pretty as some of the old pictures of the areas suggest. What it still does is offer great fishing opportunities. And guess what Benny and I did for about an hour. I had checked with the rangers just to make sure that I had gotten the correct permits back when I was doing our planning and yep.
The only thing the ranger said that if we heard thunder to head back to the trailhead asap. Storms can be sudden and violent. Guess what happened right at the end of the happy fishing fun? First sound of thunder I packed us up and started hoofing it back to camp. Wasn’t fast enough. Storm came through soaking everything and making it colder than it already was. I heard they closed the main road because of ice at one point.
Weather was drizzly off and on for the remainder of the day. I decided to stay in camp and use the time for more food prep. Benny was fine with it because I let him build a “fort” up in my sleeping platform and he and “the crew” had fun canoeing with Lewis & Clark. I’m not sure how much Benny takes in from the documentaries I let him watch but then again he’s surprised me a few times knowing things or making connections with stuff he has watched. That’s just one of the reasons why I’m so careful about using the boob tube as a babysitter, even on long drives. Between ADD, APD, and OCD, and then the other learning challenges he has Benny will likely always have to learn “his way” the same way I had to learn things “my way.” Yeah, I worry that I’m not teaching how to interact with everyone else’s “way” of doing things but I’m trying. Hopefully on this trip he is learning enough that if he does have to go into the classroom with other kids, he’ll survive. But yeah, I still worry.
Before it got too cold – amphitheater show was rained out – Benny and I decided to make a pit stop to wash up. Right outside the bathroom we ran into a man and little girl (she was 10-ish). She was freaking out and not wanting to go in by herself. I told her she could come in with Benny and I. The guy turns out not to be her father but a soon not to be stepfather. I heard the girl tell him later, “You’re not my father.” I heard him whisper after she ran over to an RV to a woman that she looked just like, “I thought I was.”
When I saw him eyeing a small bottle of rum (I know what Capt. Morgan looks like even in miniature) I stuck my nose in and said, “That stuff ain’t good for what ails you boy. Come have a cup of cocoa.”
“I’m good company right now Miss.”
“Who is when they’re having a crap sammich crammed down their throat? C’mon, this chair is dry and Benny is just working on his Junior Ranger coloring page.”
“Aunt Gus? Can … can I go to bed?” he asked on a yawn.
“Already?”
“They didn’t have the amptheater show so I couldn’t get a ranger to sign my book.”
“Rainouts happen Buddy. And you got a signature last night.”
“But …”
“Aaand, there’s still tomorrow night my little overachiever. And since we have a long day tomorrow maybe hitting the hay isn’t a bad idea. However …”
“… leave the socks on,” he laughed.
“You betcha.”
After Benny went into the van and slid the door closed the guy asked, “Aunt Gus?”
I shrugged. “Gus is my name and he’s my nephew.”
We introduced ourselves better than we had on the trail after we realized that we’d both been fishing near each other earlier in the day and got some of each other’s backstory. We both had soap operas, his was just newer than mine. According to what he told me, he was ROTC for college, did Basic and made it into his chosen career path … pilot. A few a few years later he gets a letter from a lawyer claiming there was a kid with his name and it was pay up or else. Asks for a paternity test. Pops positive. Does the right thing except doesn’t marry her, her choice not his since she wasn’t thrilled with him being in the military. Decides he wants to be a father to his kid up close. Resigns after putting in six.
Comes home and everything was going fine until suddenly it wasn’t. Turns out the kid was actually his half-brother’s and he and the mother are in looooove. Mom feels threatened because he has guns, and is doing everything she can to get his name off the birth certificate which isn’t turning out to be all that easy. There’s proof she might have known longer than she admits to that the girl wasn’t his. Then there is the family element making things even more difficult. His stepdad who raised him is more sympathetic than his real father and stepmother who he clashes with politically. They’re rooting for his half-brother and can’t understand why he won’t get out of the way. To make for even more drama, this trip, which was supposed to be the honeymoon, is now a transition period and him saying goodbye to a little girl that is now a tweenager and more interested in having a father that is a rich lawyer than a broke, down on his luck ex-pilot.
A little more talk later and it turns we are both interested in search-and-rescue, and he is heading to my old stomping grounds for the climate – physically and politically. I gave him a couple of names of people in Jacksonville but admitted they could be out of date.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s a place to start. And thanks,” he says.
“Don’t thank me yet, like I said the names could be out of date.”
“Wasn’t for the names. It was for not playing bartender. Last thing I need is for her to be taking pictures of me with a bottle in my hand.”
We said good night and I watched him knock on the door to the RV and tell them he was sleeping in his truck. I stopped watching after that. He’d either grab the bottle or not but I’d done what I felt led to do and now I’m feeling led to keep my nose out of it. I’m also feeling like it is time to go to be.
Resources:
Explore Cub Lake Trail Loop | AllTrails
May 16th
Saw the guy from the previous night packing his tent and throwing things into the back. “What’s up?” I asked. The hurry looked a little frantic.
“Got the get out of Dodge warning from my brother. He told her he wouldn’t be marrying her without a pre-nup. She said she’s gonna make me pay since she thinks I told him to be that way. Lee can be an ass but he isn’t stupid.”
I assumed he was referring to his half-brother and nodded. “Sucks to be him, but I’m sorry you’re hurting.”
“Thanks. Look … mind if I …” He shook his head. “I’m not a stalker but I wouldn’t mind finding out how you and the boy do. I would have loved to have done something like that at his age.”
“Sure. Just if you comment, give me time to moderate it. I’ve got all comments on moderate because there are many, many asshats in this world.”
He gave a chuckle and nod. “That there is. Safe trip Gus.”
“Back at you Flyboy.” We shook on it and I headed West as he headed East.
It was time to pack up and head over to the west side of the park via the Trail Ridge Road.
The highest trail we did today was the Alpine Ridge Trail. It took up to 12,000 feet above sea level. First off, there was snow on the trail. I am discovering that I do not like snow. Snow is evil. Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration but I really don’t care for the stuff. I wasn’t just born in Florida, Florida is genetic to my well being. I’m pretty sure that where ever it is that Benny and I finally light, I don’t want to have to deal with too much snow. Second, I get altitude sickness. It makes me feel like a wuss. Maybe I can get over it with exposure but altitude could bring with it … snow. So, not too worried about it. Still makes me feel like a wuss.
But back on track. The trail turned out to be from the parking lot of the Alpine Visitor Center. I wish I would have known, we could have done this the first day instead of waiting. It was only a 0.7 miles there and back trail, fairly flat and easy as well. It only took us about 20 minutes even at that altitude. The views were indescribable. Like I said, the only thing was the slushy snow. Water got in my hikers so I had to change them and my socks. Benny faired better but I still made him change his socks and obviously I need to put more waterproofing on them.
From there we continued on the road to the other side of the park and hit the highlights: Medicine Bow Curve, Milner Pass/Continental Divide, Lake Irene picnic area, Fairview Curve Overlook. From there we dropped down into the valley on the other side and headed to the Green Mountain Trailhead to do the quick and easy hike to Big Meadow. It’s about four miles round trip with pretty minimal elevation gain, and along the way to Big Meadow. We saw several elk and one moose on that trail.
It was nice to be out of the painful cold at the lower elevation and my headache wasn’t nearly as bad. I just kept drinking water to stay hydrated. It didn’t seem to phase Benny but he did go to bed immediately after the ranger program tonight.
Bowen/Baker Trailhead was more of a picnic stop. They had three tables and vault toilets. Saw a lot of people using the toilets but we managed to grab a table as soon as someone vacated it. I tried out a new recipe for lunch – Sweet Potato Sausage Dog – and doggone if it didn’t turn out pretty good. (yes, that was a pun though a poor one). I put the relish on as suggest but Benny and I both wound up raking it off. Sorry, sweet potatoes and relish don’t mix in our book. Benny liked it well enough that he ate the last of mine (which had been bigger than his to start with) when the headache I’d had most of the morning settled into my stomach. I think I have something to try as an alternative more often … potatoes as buns. The trick is going to be finding potatoes that are the correct shape.
Clean up was easy since I had prepped and cooked them last night in foil and all I had to do to heat them was put them on the Bio-lite. Boy did that thing get as many questions as the food got comments. And turns out that one of the other vehicles there – another van – was a VanLife couple. They knew my blog. Crazy. I guess it got some attention from someone both because of the kid element and the special diet element and has gotten passed around. Meeting “Aunt Gus and Little Bear” is turning into one of those “Where’s Waldo” games. I gave them a shout out on my blog entry which I transmitted at the visitor center later in the day. It is the polite thing to do.
Our next hike was at the Coyote Valley Trailhead. Easy one-mile roundtrip. It was a nice easy, graveled trail that followed the Colorado River. As cool as it was a ranger told us that the animals were all back in the trees. Saw some birds. Was nearly attacked by chipmunks when Benny dropped his trail bar. Holy smokes they came out of nowhere. Two even ran up my leg. Geez. Now I understand the warning about feeding the animals. We didn’t mean to, and Benny was upset, but I told him that accidents happen and we’ll just have to be more careful as we go along. That at least it was something healthy … nuts, oats, sunflower seeds, and puffed rice … rather than something like Cheetos or Doritos.
Benny made an unintentional funny when he said, “Oh no Aunt Gus. If they’re this crazy eating healthy stuff, they’ll be really crazy if they get any red dye.”
I took him as seriously as he meant it but at the same time I wanted to laugh because the thought of all those chipmunks hopped up on red dye was just as crazy as Benny called it. A couple dozen Benny’s on red dye, I don’t think my world could survive it.
After the Coyote Valley trail I turned around and headed back into the park. We stopped and did both the Holtzwarth Historic site (1 mile round trip) and the Beaver Ponds Trailhead, and just walked the Colorado River Trailhead down to the water.
By that time it was getting cool again and I got us to our overnight location at Timbercreek Campground. We got our assigned spot number then hit the dump station, the water station where I re-filled our freshwater. The little bit of trash we made during the day I got rid of after dinner of gluten-free chicken tenders and “smashed taters and garlic gravy,” one of Benny’s favorite meals.
The amphitheater show fulfilled the last of Benny’s Junior Ranger requirements. He already had enough for the badge but he likes to fill in the entire book the Barrymore that he is. He went to bed and I did some food prep. I swear you could light off a nuclear bomb and that kid would sleep through it. Try and be quiet and he wakes up and then won’t go back to sleep for hours.
For lunch tomorrow I’ve prepped Tropical Chicken Salad and some Rice Crackers to eat it with. I also made up a batch of new trail mix. I also made a small batch of gluten free oatmeal raisin cookies that also don’t have sugar, eggs, or butter in them. I forgot to spray our doggone hikers but maybe that is a good thing as mine are still a little too damp to re-treat.
I also did a quick run through of the next couple of day’s activities and the budget. I’m thinking that we will go over the 15,000 mile estimate I made. I didn’t take into account any of the driving in the parks, only to the parks. I don’t know how much extra that is going to be moneywise, but I might be able to offset some of that by the fact the van is getting a little better mileage than it was when we started. But that may be offset by the mountainous driving. I don’t know. I guess I will just have to see.
On a more positive note, it looks like the blog is going to help pay for this trip, at least in part. Between one thing and another I’m peaking at about $500 per month. The gluten-free stuff seems to be the bulk of the income, but the books aren’t doing too badly either. I also have a page on Gold Star family information that gets a lot of hits. I always make a point of saying thank you that has helped Benny specifically because of the Gold Star designation. It is my way of honoring Lawrence and his sacrifice.
Cumulative Fuel Expense: $2659
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $886
Cumulative miles: 6335
Resources:
Sweet Potato Sausage Dogs (Gluten Free)
Rocky Mountain National Park Visitor Map
Tropical Themed Chicken Salad (Gluten-Free)
The Best Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Without Sugar Eggs Butter
Homemade Trail Mix Recipe: Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free
May 15th
First thing we did today was hike Cub Lake, which leaves from a trailhead near Moraine Park Campground. It was 4.6 miles round trip. We were on the trail by 5:30 am. I’d rather be up early than stay up late and Benny is the same way. I remember struggling to get Penny up before lunch so she could go to work. She never would have been able to handle a kid with Benny’s internal clock being so different from hers.
I’m glad I am stocked up on bug spray and had put the nets back on our hats. Wowee there were some patches where the air was almost black with mosquitos and gnats. That was not fun. But even so, the views were worth it. The lake itself was gorgeous but it was the surrounding mountains and the aspen trees that was the real drivers of the views. There were also lily pads all over the surface of the shallow lake. I bet when they bloom that lake is absolutely gorgeous.
We returned to camp for lunch and the bugs were fairly awful. Neither Benny nor I wanted to go “inside” so I did what I do back home. In the process however I got a few dirty looks for spraying some OFF! Outdoor Fogger around the picnic table but oh well. I only sprayed it around the table so we could eat in peace. Reminded me of Florida the way the bitey things tried to drink you dry.
After lunch we hiked a bit of the Fern Lake Trail to an area called “The Pool.” It was about 3.4 miles round trip with a moderate 205 feet elevation change. The trail runs along the Big Thompson River, and was all burnt over back in 2020. It has greened back up but since trees and things tend to grow slower in this environment it wasn’t quite as pretty as some of the old pictures of the areas suggest. What it still does is offer great fishing opportunities. And guess what Benny and I did for about an hour. I had checked with the rangers just to make sure that I had gotten the correct permits back when I was doing our planning and yep.
The only thing the ranger said that if we heard thunder to head back to the trailhead asap. Storms can be sudden and violent. Guess what happened right at the end of the happy fishing fun? First sound of thunder I packed us up and started hoofing it back to camp. Wasn’t fast enough. Storm came through soaking everything and making it colder than it already was. I heard they closed the main road because of ice at one point.
Weather was drizzly off and on for the remainder of the day. I decided to stay in camp and use the time for more food prep. Benny was fine with it because I let him build a “fort” up in my sleeping platform and he and “the crew” had fun canoeing with Lewis & Clark. I’m not sure how much Benny takes in from the documentaries I let him watch but then again he’s surprised me a few times knowing things or making connections with stuff he has watched. That’s just one of the reasons why I’m so careful about using the boob tube as a babysitter, even on long drives. Between ADD, APD, and OCD, and then the other learning challenges he has Benny will likely always have to learn “his way” the same way I had to learn things “my way.” Yeah, I worry that I’m not teaching how to interact with everyone else’s “way” of doing things but I’m trying. Hopefully on this trip he is learning enough that if he does have to go into the classroom with other kids, he’ll survive. But yeah, I still worry.
Before it got too cold – amphitheater show was rained out – Benny and I decided to make a pit stop to wash up. Right outside the bathroom we ran into a man and little girl (she was 10-ish). She was freaking out and not wanting to go in by herself. I told her she could come in with Benny and I. The guy turns out not to be her father but a soon not to be stepfather. I heard the girl tell him later, “You’re not my father.” I heard him whisper after she ran over to an RV to a woman that she looked just like, “I thought I was.”
When I saw him eyeing a small bottle of rum (I know what Capt. Morgan looks like even in miniature) I stuck my nose in and said, “That stuff ain’t good for what ails you boy. Come have a cup of cocoa.”
“I’m good company right now Miss.”
“Who is when they’re having a crap sammich crammed down their throat? C’mon, this chair is dry and Benny is just working on his Junior Ranger coloring page.”
“Aunt Gus? Can … can I go to bed?” he asked on a yawn.
“Already?”
“They didn’t have the amptheater show so I couldn’t get a ranger to sign my book.”
“Rainouts happen Buddy. And you got a signature last night.”
“But …”
“Aaand, there’s still tomorrow night my little overachiever. And since we have a long day tomorrow maybe hitting the hay isn’t a bad idea. However …”
“… leave the socks on,” he laughed.
“You betcha.”
After Benny went into the van and slid the door closed the guy asked, “Aunt Gus?”
I shrugged. “Gus is my name and he’s my nephew.”
We introduced ourselves better than we had on the trail after we realized that we’d both been fishing near each other earlier in the day and got some of each other’s backstory. We both had soap operas, his was just newer than mine. According to what he told me, he was ROTC for college, did Basic and made it into his chosen career path … pilot. A few a few years later he gets a letter from a lawyer claiming there was a kid with his name and it was pay up or else. Asks for a paternity test. Pops positive. Does the right thing except doesn’t marry her, her choice not his since she wasn’t thrilled with him being in the military. Decides he wants to be a father to his kid up close. Resigns after putting in six.
Comes home and everything was going fine until suddenly it wasn’t. Turns out the kid was actually his half-brother’s and he and the mother are in looooove. Mom feels threatened because he has guns, and is doing everything she can to get his name off the birth certificate which isn’t turning out to be all that easy. There’s proof she might have known longer than she admits to that the girl wasn’t his. Then there is the family element making things even more difficult. His stepdad who raised him is more sympathetic than his real father and stepmother who he clashes with politically. They’re rooting for his half-brother and can’t understand why he won’t get out of the way. To make for even more drama, this trip, which was supposed to be the honeymoon, is now a transition period and him saying goodbye to a little girl that is now a tweenager and more interested in having a father that is a rich lawyer than a broke, down on his luck ex-pilot.
A little more talk later and it turns we are both interested in search-and-rescue, and he is heading to my old stomping grounds for the climate – physically and politically. I gave him a couple of names of people in Jacksonville but admitted they could be out of date.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s a place to start. And thanks,” he says.
“Don’t thank me yet, like I said the names could be out of date.”
“Wasn’t for the names. It was for not playing bartender. Last thing I need is for her to be taking pictures of me with a bottle in my hand.”
We said good night and I watched him knock on the door to the RV and tell them he was sleeping in his truck. I stopped watching after that. He’d either grab the bottle or not but I’d done what I felt led to do and now I’m feeling led to keep my nose out of it. I’m also feeling like it is time to go to be.
Resources:
Explore Cub Lake Trail Loop | AllTrails
May 16th
Saw the guy from the previous night packing his tent and throwing things into the back. “What’s up?” I asked. The hurry looked a little frantic.
“Got the get out of Dodge warning from my brother. He told her he wouldn’t be marrying her without a pre-nup. She said she’s gonna make me pay since she thinks I told him to be that way. Lee can be an ass but he isn’t stupid.”
I assumed he was referring to his half-brother and nodded. “Sucks to be him, but I’m sorry you’re hurting.”
“Thanks. Look … mind if I …” He shook his head. “I’m not a stalker but I wouldn’t mind finding out how you and the boy do. I would have loved to have done something like that at his age.”
“Sure. Just if you comment, give me time to moderate it. I’ve got all comments on moderate because there are many, many asshats in this world.”
He gave a chuckle and nod. “That there is. Safe trip Gus.”
“Back at you Flyboy.” We shook on it and I headed West as he headed East.
It was time to pack up and head over to the west side of the park via the Trail Ridge Road.
The highest trail we did today was the Alpine Ridge Trail. It took up to 12,000 feet above sea level. First off, there was snow on the trail. I am discovering that I do not like snow. Snow is evil. Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration but I really don’t care for the stuff. I wasn’t just born in Florida, Florida is genetic to my well being. I’m pretty sure that where ever it is that Benny and I finally light, I don’t want to have to deal with too much snow. Second, I get altitude sickness. It makes me feel like a wuss. Maybe I can get over it with exposure but altitude could bring with it … snow. So, not too worried about it. Still makes me feel like a wuss.
But back on track. The trail turned out to be from the parking lot of the Alpine Visitor Center. I wish I would have known, we could have done this the first day instead of waiting. It was only a 0.7 miles there and back trail, fairly flat and easy as well. It only took us about 20 minutes even at that altitude. The views were indescribable. Like I said, the only thing was the slushy snow. Water got in my hikers so I had to change them and my socks. Benny faired better but I still made him change his socks and obviously I need to put more waterproofing on them.
From there we continued on the road to the other side of the park and hit the highlights: Medicine Bow Curve, Milner Pass/Continental Divide, Lake Irene picnic area, Fairview Curve Overlook. From there we dropped down into the valley on the other side and headed to the Green Mountain Trailhead to do the quick and easy hike to Big Meadow. It’s about four miles round trip with pretty minimal elevation gain, and along the way to Big Meadow. We saw several elk and one moose on that trail.
It was nice to be out of the painful cold at the lower elevation and my headache wasn’t nearly as bad. I just kept drinking water to stay hydrated. It didn’t seem to phase Benny but he did go to bed immediately after the ranger program tonight.
Bowen/Baker Trailhead was more of a picnic stop. They had three tables and vault toilets. Saw a lot of people using the toilets but we managed to grab a table as soon as someone vacated it. I tried out a new recipe for lunch – Sweet Potato Sausage Dog – and doggone if it didn’t turn out pretty good. (yes, that was a pun though a poor one). I put the relish on as suggest but Benny and I both wound up raking it off. Sorry, sweet potatoes and relish don’t mix in our book. Benny liked it well enough that he ate the last of mine (which had been bigger than his to start with) when the headache I’d had most of the morning settled into my stomach. I think I have something to try as an alternative more often … potatoes as buns. The trick is going to be finding potatoes that are the correct shape.
Clean up was easy since I had prepped and cooked them last night in foil and all I had to do to heat them was put them on the Bio-lite. Boy did that thing get as many questions as the food got comments. And turns out that one of the other vehicles there – another van – was a VanLife couple. They knew my blog. Crazy. I guess it got some attention from someone both because of the kid element and the special diet element and has gotten passed around. Meeting “Aunt Gus and Little Bear” is turning into one of those “Where’s Waldo” games. I gave them a shout out on my blog entry which I transmitted at the visitor center later in the day. It is the polite thing to do.
Our next hike was at the Coyote Valley Trailhead. Easy one-mile roundtrip. It was a nice easy, graveled trail that followed the Colorado River. As cool as it was a ranger told us that the animals were all back in the trees. Saw some birds. Was nearly attacked by chipmunks when Benny dropped his trail bar. Holy smokes they came out of nowhere. Two even ran up my leg. Geez. Now I understand the warning about feeding the animals. We didn’t mean to, and Benny was upset, but I told him that accidents happen and we’ll just have to be more careful as we go along. That at least it was something healthy … nuts, oats, sunflower seeds, and puffed rice … rather than something like Cheetos or Doritos.
Benny made an unintentional funny when he said, “Oh no Aunt Gus. If they’re this crazy eating healthy stuff, they’ll be really crazy if they get any red dye.”
I took him as seriously as he meant it but at the same time I wanted to laugh because the thought of all those chipmunks hopped up on red dye was just as crazy as Benny called it. A couple dozen Benny’s on red dye, I don’t think my world could survive it.
After the Coyote Valley trail I turned around and headed back into the park. We stopped and did both the Holtzwarth Historic site (1 mile round trip) and the Beaver Ponds Trailhead, and just walked the Colorado River Trailhead down to the water.
By that time it was getting cool again and I got us to our overnight location at Timbercreek Campground. We got our assigned spot number then hit the dump station, the water station where I re-filled our freshwater. The little bit of trash we made during the day I got rid of after dinner of gluten-free chicken tenders and “smashed taters and garlic gravy,” one of Benny’s favorite meals.
The amphitheater show fulfilled the last of Benny’s Junior Ranger requirements. He already had enough for the badge but he likes to fill in the entire book the Barrymore that he is. He went to bed and I did some food prep. I swear you could light off a nuclear bomb and that kid would sleep through it. Try and be quiet and he wakes up and then won’t go back to sleep for hours.
For lunch tomorrow I’ve prepped Tropical Chicken Salad and some Rice Crackers to eat it with. I also made up a batch of new trail mix. I also made a small batch of gluten free oatmeal raisin cookies that also don’t have sugar, eggs, or butter in them. I forgot to spray our doggone hikers but maybe that is a good thing as mine are still a little too damp to re-treat.
I also did a quick run through of the next couple of day’s activities and the budget. I’m thinking that we will go over the 15,000 mile estimate I made. I didn’t take into account any of the driving in the parks, only to the parks. I don’t know how much extra that is going to be moneywise, but I might be able to offset some of that by the fact the van is getting a little better mileage than it was when we started. But that may be offset by the mountainous driving. I don’t know. I guess I will just have to see.
On a more positive note, it looks like the blog is going to help pay for this trip, at least in part. Between one thing and another I’m peaking at about $500 per month. The gluten-free stuff seems to be the bulk of the income, but the books aren’t doing too badly either. I also have a page on Gold Star family information that gets a lot of hits. I always make a point of saying thank you that has helped Benny specifically because of the Gold Star designation. It is my way of honoring Lawrence and his sacrifice.
Cumulative Fuel Expense: $2659
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $886
Cumulative miles: 6335
Resources:
Sweet Potato Sausage Dogs (Gluten Free)
Rocky Mountain National Park Visitor Map
Tropical Themed Chicken Salad (Gluten-Free)
The Best Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Without Sugar Eggs Butter
Homemade Trail Mix Recipe: Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free
Sportsman
Veteran Member
Thank you, Kathy. Lots of memories coming back from our vacation trips similar to your travel tale. The only two things we did in this batch that you didn't mention were climbing Harney Peak and rock climbing and camping on the back side of Mt. Rushmore. One more I just remembered.... camping in Custer State Park above the thunderstorm clouds.
Our National Parks, National Forests, and BLM areas are really something that everyone should visit, especially while they have children. Even better if you're camping, but motels work too.
Our National Parks, National Forests, and BLM areas are really something that everyone should visit, especially while they have children. Even better if you're camping, but motels work too.
This is one of the ones that I've tried recently.
Garlic Rosemary Gravy (Vegan, Gluten Free) – The Friendly Epicurean
Don't know why you aren't seeing it Nancy but here it is cut and pasted from the link.
Garlic Rosemary Gravy (Vegan, Gluten Free)
- Servings: 4
- Time: 30min
- Difficulty: easy
1 Vote
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbs gluten free flour
- 1/2 tbs chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
Heat olive oil on medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add onions and cook for about 5 minutes or until onions start to brown. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Add rosemary and flour and cook for another minute – stirring frequently to dissolve flour. Add vegetable broth, salt, and pepper and simmer for about 7-8 minutes, stirring frequently. Gravy will thicken and reduce slightly. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Puree gravy for 1-2 minutes with an immersion blender or traditional blender for smoother texture (optional). May store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Makes 4, 1/2 cup servings.
Nutrition Information:
- Approximate Calories per 1/2 cup: 50 cal
I don't know either but I ran the curser over everything and didn't find a link. Thanks for posting this. My husband and I love garlic. ;-)
kyrsyan
Has No Life - Lives on TB
This might end up in/on our version of shepherd's pie. And maybe in a stuffed pepper with the pie fillings.
May 17 - 18: Florissant Fossil Beds, Colorado (part 1)
Driving Route: (74F/42F – Manitou Springs)
May 17th
Got up and drove almost four hours when you included the time that I needed to stop and fuel up and check the tires (Groucho’s new rule is to check the tires at every fuel stop).
There is no camping or services inside Florissant, but it was still really interesting and we hiked to our hearts’ content. Seriously. I think Benny and I could … *sigh* … I need to be more realistic. I can’t simply glamp around forever in this van. For one, it isn’t financially feasible right now. I have been thinking about maybe doing this part time with me working a seasonal job and then traveling the remainder of the year. Or maybe finding a job that I could do remotely from the van. It still wouldn’t be a cheap way of life. Between the cost of insurance for the van, cost of health insurance, maintenance, food, etc etc etc to the point I get nauseous thinking about it, I just don’t see how we can keep this up indefinitely. But I have to admit the idea is tempting. Just the two of us until Benny is old enough that he might want something else out of life. But after a day like we had today, the temptation is really there.
First stope was the visitor center where we picked up – what else – the Junior Ranger booklet. Benny shows no sign of getting tired of the program even with similar questions in some of the sections. I mean it isn’t a terrible thing to be OCD about, but I just want it to be a healthy attachment. We went through the exhibits, checked trail conditions, and then Benny put his ranger hat on and said, “You ready Aunt Gus?”
I could have laughed if I wasn’t afraid of hurting his feelings. Geez he is such an overachieving Barrymore. I think Grandfather Barry would have really gotten a kick out of him.
First trail was the Petrified Forest Loop. It is a one-mile trail that passes massive, petrified Redwood stumps, an historic excavation site, and a geologic timeline exhibit. The gravel trail was relatively flat and mostly out in the open. The trail begins at the end of the outdoor exhibit area behind the visitor center.
Our next trail also left from the visitor center. The Ponderosa Loop Trail was a half-mile loop trail that passed through the modern Ponderosa pine forest. It is the Monument's shortest trail and is fully wheelchair accessible. The trees were neat but after Rocky Mountain National Park, the trail felt a little tame.
The Geologic Trail was a self-guided trail that “highlights over a billion years of geologic history in the Florissant Valley” according to the trail description at the visitor center. It passes over the ancient lake bed, crosses Teller County Rd. 1, then ascends past the remnants of a massive pyroclastic flow and ends at a scenic overview of the Florissant valley. The trail begins behind the visitor center and can be hiked as an addition to the Petrified Forest Loop. This trail was a little more challenging but it didn’t even reach moderate difficulty. Benny still enjoyed it however because of the varying scenery.
We had a quick lunch of the prepared Tropical Chicken Salad and then headed to the what the Junior Ranger book called the Hornbek Homestead Ground Tour. We walked the grounds of an historic 1878 homestead. Wayside exhibits and a brochure we picked up from the welcome desk at the visitor center helped us to learn about the ranching and homesteading history of the area. From that area we took a longer trail called the Hornbek Trail (3.9 miles roundtrip). The trail included the “grand tour” of the homestead but there were some awesome overlooks as well.
The other longer trail we did was the Sawmill Trail with Hans Loop (3.6 miles roundtrip).This was another one where the terrain varied depending on where you were on the trail. Forests of pine, spruce, and fir; meadows frequented by elk; ridgetop viewing of Pikes Peak; and shaded streams make this a favorite of many visitors, including Benny and I. The Hans Loop part was an extension of the Sawmill. It added a gentle ridge that provided views of Pikes Peak.
Benny completed his Junior Ranger books, got the badges, and we headed about twenty minutes down the road to our overnight location, Mueller State Park.
Managed to do a load of laundry at the camp and boy did some of the stuff need it. To save money and time I washed the clothes in camp and then hauled them to the “laundromat” area and dried them there.
“Hey, the socks don’t stink!” the little bear rat laughed.
“Hey, let’s go get the stink off us,” I told him right back. The crowds at the bath house had evaporated and I stuck him in a shower next to me and said he better scrub stem to stern or I’d come in there and do it. “No missing spots like you did last time. The towels are clean.” He knew I was serious so did it right and then we headed to bed after that even though I could have stayed up for a while watching the stars.
May 18th
I was able to sneak a surprise into our schedule.
“Guess what Little Bear?”
“What?” he asked happily as he munched on the gluten free pancakes I had made and then hidden in the freezer to be nuked on demand.
“Betcha never heard of Pikes Peak.”
He stopped chewing, swallowed, then looked at me and said, “Oh yes I have! It was in the Visitor Center yesterday!”
I laughed and then shared that I’d managed to get tickets and we were going today. I’m going to have to break him of that Snoopy Dance. It’s a little too weird to see a five-year-old doing it.
I didn’t tell him but it was going to cost a hundred dollars for us to go to the top of Pikes Peak on the cog railroad but Flyboy had reminded me of something that I should know by heart at this point but still seem to need to re-learn, or at least get reminders of. This is a once in a lifetime trip and even though I made a lifetime commitment to and for Benny, we never really know what tomorrow is going to bring. And while the thousand dollars from the silly ladder vid wasn’t burning a hole in my pocket, it did mean that there was some cushion I hadn’t expected and I could do this for him. I had considered driving up/down Pikes Peak which was considerably cheaper, but the van is just under the limit of the size of vehicle allowed on the road, plus I didn’t want to put that kind of wear and tear on the brakes.
It took just a little over an hour to get from the State Park to the Cog Railway Station. On the drive I told him about whatwe were going to do and see.
“Pikes Peak is one of the most famous mountains in the country, and the second most visited mountain in the world (behind Mount Fuji). It stands at 14,115 feet, towers 8,000 feet above Colorado Springs, but isn’t the highest mountain in Colorado. That honor belongs to Mt. Elbert at 14,433 feet.”
“Are we going up Mt. Elbert?”
“Not this trip. Gotta save some adventures for the rest of our lives too you know.”
He laughed as I meant him to, but I had to hide that I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, that this trip might be the only adventures like this we would have. One of these days real life is going to intrude.
“Pike Peak is the place that inspired ‘America the Beautiful,’ written by Katharine Lee Bates. Her experience in 1893 on top of Pikes Peak moved her to pen the poem that became one of the most patriotic songs honoring America.”
“I don’t know that one,” Benny said.
I said, “No laughing if I crack a note.”
I don’t sing outside of the shower much these days, but I managed to pull off a fair rendition of the song that won our ship the chorus award at camp one year.
“You should sing that and play the bugle too.”
“Goofus, how can I sing and play the bugle at the same time.”
He laughed again and the sound just … being Benny’s aunt just does it for me. I just hope that I’m doing right by the kid. I don’t want our Creator to look at me one day and say, “Sloppy work Gus, really sloppy work.”
Pikes Peak was everything I hoped it would be for Benny and I. We got on the Cog Railway in Manitou Springs and then it was nine miles to the summit. As we road to the top there was commentary. One of the things we learned over the speaker was:
“Pikes Peak was named for Zebulon Montgomery Pike, an early explorer of the Southwest who first sighted what he called “The Great Peak” in November 1806 but was not actually the first to climb it. He attempted to summit the mountain, but heavy snows had other plans for his crew who turned back at about the 10,000-foot mark. It was Edwin James, a botanist who had climbed many peaks in Colorado, who made it to the top in 1820. By the mid-1800s, a trail was well established to the top, and the first woman, Julia Archibald Holmes, climbed the peak in 1858.”
It takes forty minutes to get to the summit and then the return trip is of equal duration. I’m glad we didn’t go up any faster as I found myself getting altitude sick again. It made me doubly glad that I decided driving up the peak was a bad idea. Ugh. Once we got to the top, I had to go sit down in the visitor center for a few minutes. Benny was good and didn’t get impatient because I explained I wasn’t feeling well.
“Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. That’s what my Junior Ranger book said Aunt Gus.”
I showed him I had my bottle out and he nodded in approval. That kid is such a hoot. I did notice that he kept moving as families with kids would get near us. Somehow I always wound up between him and the others.
“What’s up Little Bear?”
“They’re too noisy. I can’t hear what they are saying on the speaker.”
Ah. APD was acting up and making him uncomfortable. I hadn’t noticed but yeah, like outside our little sphere there was nothing but obnoxious white noise. I should have offered to bring his ear plugs but I don’t want him zoning out unless absolutely necessary. He needs to be able to work in whatever environment he finds himself, for safety’s sake if nothing else. I continue to be concerned Benny isn’t getting socialized to his age group but for the most part I’ve decided not to worry about it until I have to. He can be very empathetic with some kids … especially younger ones … but some kids really jack him up or upset him. I can remember being the same way. I had a hard time being around kids that weren’t or wouldn’t follow the rules, or people that wouldn’t recognize my personal boundaries. It was actually exposure to Penny that helped me build up some coping skills to deal with kids/people like that. It looks like I’m going to have to help Benny do the same thing.
I finally adjusted to the altitude, and we started walking around, looking at the exhibits, and stepping outside into the “brisk” air. As in the wind kept trying to steal my breath. The high of the day on Pike’s Peak was forecasted to be 54F with a low of 28F. I’m glad in hindsight to have brought up our neck gaiters. They helped keep our face warm while we were outside and helped me to breathe easier.
There were indoor and outdoor interpretive exhibits that told the mountain’s history, climate and geography, recreational opportunities, conservation initiatives, and more. I told Benny if he could remember some of the information and tell me about it when we got back down, that I’d see if we could find a patch or pin or something that would help commemorate our stop. He was all over that for sure.
An exhibit gallery inside had interactive digital features. Outside there were interpretive trails around the summit that described the environment and the views, identified key landscape features, and told fascinating side stories.
Driving Route: (74F/42F – Manitou Springs)
May 17th
Got up and drove almost four hours when you included the time that I needed to stop and fuel up and check the tires (Groucho’s new rule is to check the tires at every fuel stop).
There is no camping or services inside Florissant, but it was still really interesting and we hiked to our hearts’ content. Seriously. I think Benny and I could … *sigh* … I need to be more realistic. I can’t simply glamp around forever in this van. For one, it isn’t financially feasible right now. I have been thinking about maybe doing this part time with me working a seasonal job and then traveling the remainder of the year. Or maybe finding a job that I could do remotely from the van. It still wouldn’t be a cheap way of life. Between the cost of insurance for the van, cost of health insurance, maintenance, food, etc etc etc to the point I get nauseous thinking about it, I just don’t see how we can keep this up indefinitely. But I have to admit the idea is tempting. Just the two of us until Benny is old enough that he might want something else out of life. But after a day like we had today, the temptation is really there.
First stope was the visitor center where we picked up – what else – the Junior Ranger booklet. Benny shows no sign of getting tired of the program even with similar questions in some of the sections. I mean it isn’t a terrible thing to be OCD about, but I just want it to be a healthy attachment. We went through the exhibits, checked trail conditions, and then Benny put his ranger hat on and said, “You ready Aunt Gus?”
I could have laughed if I wasn’t afraid of hurting his feelings. Geez he is such an overachieving Barrymore. I think Grandfather Barry would have really gotten a kick out of him.
First trail was the Petrified Forest Loop. It is a one-mile trail that passes massive, petrified Redwood stumps, an historic excavation site, and a geologic timeline exhibit. The gravel trail was relatively flat and mostly out in the open. The trail begins at the end of the outdoor exhibit area behind the visitor center.
Our next trail also left from the visitor center. The Ponderosa Loop Trail was a half-mile loop trail that passed through the modern Ponderosa pine forest. It is the Monument's shortest trail and is fully wheelchair accessible. The trees were neat but after Rocky Mountain National Park, the trail felt a little tame.
The Geologic Trail was a self-guided trail that “highlights over a billion years of geologic history in the Florissant Valley” according to the trail description at the visitor center. It passes over the ancient lake bed, crosses Teller County Rd. 1, then ascends past the remnants of a massive pyroclastic flow and ends at a scenic overview of the Florissant valley. The trail begins behind the visitor center and can be hiked as an addition to the Petrified Forest Loop. This trail was a little more challenging but it didn’t even reach moderate difficulty. Benny still enjoyed it however because of the varying scenery.
We had a quick lunch of the prepared Tropical Chicken Salad and then headed to the what the Junior Ranger book called the Hornbek Homestead Ground Tour. We walked the grounds of an historic 1878 homestead. Wayside exhibits and a brochure we picked up from the welcome desk at the visitor center helped us to learn about the ranching and homesteading history of the area. From that area we took a longer trail called the Hornbek Trail (3.9 miles roundtrip). The trail included the “grand tour” of the homestead but there were some awesome overlooks as well.
The other longer trail we did was the Sawmill Trail with Hans Loop (3.6 miles roundtrip).This was another one where the terrain varied depending on where you were on the trail. Forests of pine, spruce, and fir; meadows frequented by elk; ridgetop viewing of Pikes Peak; and shaded streams make this a favorite of many visitors, including Benny and I. The Hans Loop part was an extension of the Sawmill. It added a gentle ridge that provided views of Pikes Peak.
Benny completed his Junior Ranger books, got the badges, and we headed about twenty minutes down the road to our overnight location, Mueller State Park.
Managed to do a load of laundry at the camp and boy did some of the stuff need it. To save money and time I washed the clothes in camp and then hauled them to the “laundromat” area and dried them there.
“Hey, the socks don’t stink!” the little bear rat laughed.
“Hey, let’s go get the stink off us,” I told him right back. The crowds at the bath house had evaporated and I stuck him in a shower next to me and said he better scrub stem to stern or I’d come in there and do it. “No missing spots like you did last time. The towels are clean.” He knew I was serious so did it right and then we headed to bed after that even though I could have stayed up for a while watching the stars.
May 18th
I was able to sneak a surprise into our schedule.
“Guess what Little Bear?”
“What?” he asked happily as he munched on the gluten free pancakes I had made and then hidden in the freezer to be nuked on demand.
“Betcha never heard of Pikes Peak.”
He stopped chewing, swallowed, then looked at me and said, “Oh yes I have! It was in the Visitor Center yesterday!”
I laughed and then shared that I’d managed to get tickets and we were going today. I’m going to have to break him of that Snoopy Dance. It’s a little too weird to see a five-year-old doing it.
I didn’t tell him but it was going to cost a hundred dollars for us to go to the top of Pikes Peak on the cog railroad but Flyboy had reminded me of something that I should know by heart at this point but still seem to need to re-learn, or at least get reminders of. This is a once in a lifetime trip and even though I made a lifetime commitment to and for Benny, we never really know what tomorrow is going to bring. And while the thousand dollars from the silly ladder vid wasn’t burning a hole in my pocket, it did mean that there was some cushion I hadn’t expected and I could do this for him. I had considered driving up/down Pikes Peak which was considerably cheaper, but the van is just under the limit of the size of vehicle allowed on the road, plus I didn’t want to put that kind of wear and tear on the brakes.
It took just a little over an hour to get from the State Park to the Cog Railway Station. On the drive I told him about whatwe were going to do and see.
“Pikes Peak is one of the most famous mountains in the country, and the second most visited mountain in the world (behind Mount Fuji). It stands at 14,115 feet, towers 8,000 feet above Colorado Springs, but isn’t the highest mountain in Colorado. That honor belongs to Mt. Elbert at 14,433 feet.”
“Are we going up Mt. Elbert?”
“Not this trip. Gotta save some adventures for the rest of our lives too you know.”
He laughed as I meant him to, but I had to hide that I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, that this trip might be the only adventures like this we would have. One of these days real life is going to intrude.
“Pike Peak is the place that inspired ‘America the Beautiful,’ written by Katharine Lee Bates. Her experience in 1893 on top of Pikes Peak moved her to pen the poem that became one of the most patriotic songs honoring America.”
“I don’t know that one,” Benny said.
I said, “No laughing if I crack a note.”
I don’t sing outside of the shower much these days, but I managed to pull off a fair rendition of the song that won our ship the chorus award at camp one year.
“You should sing that and play the bugle too.”
“Goofus, how can I sing and play the bugle at the same time.”
He laughed again and the sound just … being Benny’s aunt just does it for me. I just hope that I’m doing right by the kid. I don’t want our Creator to look at me one day and say, “Sloppy work Gus, really sloppy work.”
Pikes Peak was everything I hoped it would be for Benny and I. We got on the Cog Railway in Manitou Springs and then it was nine miles to the summit. As we road to the top there was commentary. One of the things we learned over the speaker was:
“Pikes Peak was named for Zebulon Montgomery Pike, an early explorer of the Southwest who first sighted what he called “The Great Peak” in November 1806 but was not actually the first to climb it. He attempted to summit the mountain, but heavy snows had other plans for his crew who turned back at about the 10,000-foot mark. It was Edwin James, a botanist who had climbed many peaks in Colorado, who made it to the top in 1820. By the mid-1800s, a trail was well established to the top, and the first woman, Julia Archibald Holmes, climbed the peak in 1858.”
It takes forty minutes to get to the summit and then the return trip is of equal duration. I’m glad we didn’t go up any faster as I found myself getting altitude sick again. It made me doubly glad that I decided driving up the peak was a bad idea. Ugh. Once we got to the top, I had to go sit down in the visitor center for a few minutes. Benny was good and didn’t get impatient because I explained I wasn’t feeling well.
“Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. That’s what my Junior Ranger book said Aunt Gus.”
I showed him I had my bottle out and he nodded in approval. That kid is such a hoot. I did notice that he kept moving as families with kids would get near us. Somehow I always wound up between him and the others.
“What’s up Little Bear?”
“They’re too noisy. I can’t hear what they are saying on the speaker.”
Ah. APD was acting up and making him uncomfortable. I hadn’t noticed but yeah, like outside our little sphere there was nothing but obnoxious white noise. I should have offered to bring his ear plugs but I don’t want him zoning out unless absolutely necessary. He needs to be able to work in whatever environment he finds himself, for safety’s sake if nothing else. I continue to be concerned Benny isn’t getting socialized to his age group but for the most part I’ve decided not to worry about it until I have to. He can be very empathetic with some kids … especially younger ones … but some kids really jack him up or upset him. I can remember being the same way. I had a hard time being around kids that weren’t or wouldn’t follow the rules, or people that wouldn’t recognize my personal boundaries. It was actually exposure to Penny that helped me build up some coping skills to deal with kids/people like that. It looks like I’m going to have to help Benny do the same thing.
I finally adjusted to the altitude, and we started walking around, looking at the exhibits, and stepping outside into the “brisk” air. As in the wind kept trying to steal my breath. The high of the day on Pike’s Peak was forecasted to be 54F with a low of 28F. I’m glad in hindsight to have brought up our neck gaiters. They helped keep our face warm while we were outside and helped me to breathe easier.
There were indoor and outdoor interpretive exhibits that told the mountain’s history, climate and geography, recreational opportunities, conservation initiatives, and more. I told Benny if he could remember some of the information and tell me about it when we got back down, that I’d see if we could find a patch or pin or something that would help commemorate our stop. He was all over that for sure.
An exhibit gallery inside had interactive digital features. Outside there were interpretive trails around the summit that described the environment and the views, identified key landscape features, and told fascinating side stories.
Last edited:
May 17 - 18: Florissant Fossil Beds, Colorado (part 2)
I’m sorry to say that poor weather rolled in and got bad enough that we took the cog railway back down sooner than I had planned to. Funniest thing was that when we got down to the town, the weather was completely different. You could see that the weather was still fierce on the summit, so I looked at what I’d intended for the rest of the day and stopped worrying about it. Yes, I spent a hundred dollars, but I think we still got our money’s worth.
Rather than do “Garden of the Gods” as I had thought to, Benny and I walked around Manitou Springs following the self-guiding trail that led to 8 of the mineral springs and gave each one a try, they each had their own flavor. It was pretty neat and we taste tested the eight different springs in town.
Now I love me some mineral water. I’ll take that over a soda any day of the week. La Croix is my vice of choice but I also drink Buble’, Perrier, Pelligrino, and Topo Chico. Not too fond of Evian and can’t afford the expensive stuff they have in fancy restaurants or bars, but what I do drink is better than just okay by my standards. But you know, those natural mineral waters weren’t too bad, not too bad at all. I picked the habit up from Grandfather Barry. Dad and Lawrence thought mineral water was disgusting. Have to admit my friends in school made some strange faces when they accidentally got ahold of “my” water instead of theirs. LOL
After drinking the stuff for years, I finally found out how Mother Nature makes it. According to one of the sign-thingies at one of the springs: Rainwater and snow melt from Pikes Peak and surrounding mountains soak into rock fractures. As the water penetrates to great depth, it becomes heated and mineralized. The warm water naturally flows up into cavernous limestone where it becomes carbonated, then issues from the numerous natural and drilled springs throughout Manitou. Because the water takes thousands of years to complete its journey from mountain sources, it is totally free of industrial and atmospheric contamination.
These are the eight springs (as described in our walking tour brochure) that we walked to and tasted:
Seven Minute Spring was drilled to enhance the park of a large hotel at the site in 1909. Carbonation caused it to erupt at 7-minute intervals. It was redrilled in the 1990s and the surrounding park was developed.
Cheyenne Spring is a natural, sweet soda spring, from limestone aquifers a mile deep. Yes, it was one of the sweetest tasting waters we tried.
Iron Spring Geyser is a drilled spring prescribed by early physicians for iron deficiencies. It was on the daily walk for 1800s health-seekers. This reminded me of the water at my old house. Dad and I were constantly having to scrub the iron off the side of the house where the outside hose bib leaked.
Navajo Spring is located beneath the present popcorn and candy store. Navajo Spring, a natural soda spring, attracted the Indians and settlers, which led to the establishment of Manitou Springs. Its water supplied a large bath house (spa) and a bottling plant. This Manitou Water was famous across the nation.
Shoshone Spring, a natural spring with some sulfur, was highly recommended by physicians for its curative uses, before modern medicines. It still smells of sulfur but not as bad as some water that I’ve smelled.
Stratton Spring was drilled by the Stratton Foundation as a service to the town, where popular pedestrian and traffic routes follow earlier Native American trails. Lots of pioneers used this spring for water.
Twin Spring, originally two drilled springs now merged into one flow, is sought for its sweet taste, calcium and potassium content. Meh. Couldn’t tell much difference between the taste of this one and Cheyenne Spring.
Wheeler Spring, a drilled soda spring, was donated to the city by the family of Jerome Wheeler, of the New York Macy's, residing in Manitou Springs and involved in banking, mining and railroads locally and in Aspen. His home, Windemere, was located at the site of the present day post office.
Benny and I learned a new scientific term. At one stop there was a woman there – I assume some kind of professor or other – and she was telling her students, “When we soak in mineral water, a process happens called "homeostasis" or a balancing within and without of minerals passing directly through the skin. Add this benefit to that of stress release caused by heat alone, and we have the reason humans across the world have been traveling to soak in hot mineral water since the beginning of time.” No wonder I like soaking in a hot tub of Epsom salt when I’m sore and done in. Wonder how difficult it would be to do that with a bunch of mineral water? Or at least maybe soak my feet in some hot mineral water. Now there’s a thought, but not until we have some place stationery for me to be able to experiment without making a mess.
And get this, there are recipes to use mineral water with. This is copied verbatim from a recipe that was on a post card I bought while we were there:
Mineral Water Lemonade
Lemonade made with the naturally effervescent mineral waters of Manitou’s springs has been a local favorite since the 1880’s. The high soda content of the water softens the acidity of the lemons and all the ingredients combine into the perfect drink for a Colorado summer day. Sweetening the lemonade is a matter of personal preference. Traditionally, a simple syrup of boiled sugar and water was used but for something a little less caloric, try agave, honey or stevia. Take a hint from the folks in Manitou Springs and try this with Twin Spring water.
2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice Zest from four lemons if a stronger taste is preferred (optional)
2 cups simple syrup or sweetener of your choice
6 cups Manitou mineral water
A few springs of mint (optional)
Combine the lemon juice and sweetener of your choice. Pour into a pitcher of Manitou mineral water and add mint, if desired, for an extra zip. The natural carbonation doesn’t last long so put up any leftover lemonade in an air-tight container.
Now I can drink Lemon- or Lime-flavored mineral water all day long, and did when I was helping my grandparents with their yardwork. Grandma Barry was happy that I didn’t want any kind of sugary drink like a soda or Kool-Aid. Grandfather Barry got a kick because he thought I was trying to be like him. Um, maybe when I was little but after a while I just liked the stuff.
Dad may not have liked mineral water, but he didn’t give me a hard time about drinking it. In fact, he was glad that I never had any dental bills like my cousins did. I never even needed braces though I doubt they could have gotten me to wear them if I had. Just like Benny has trouble with tags in his clothes and some textures, I go bat-crap crazy when I get something stuck in my teeth or when my teeth feel dirty. The dentists loved me as a kid, they just told Dad to only get me soft bristles on my toothbrushes because I used to have to brush my teeth six or seven times a day … when I woke up, after everything I ate, after everything I drank if it wasn’t water, and before I went to bed. I’m not quite that bad anymore but I do still carry around plastic floss sticks in my wallet. And don’t even get me started about the woolly boogers I got when I hit puberty and the first zit popped up on my face. Dad took me to the doctor over that one because I was washing my face til it bled. The dermatologist was pretty understanding and taught me a regimen that I’ve stuck to. I’ve rarely had a zit since, at least on my face. I used to get them on the back of my neck at my hairline (before the pixie cut) or across my shoulders, but charcoal soap and a shower sponge usually took care of that disaster.
Oh good grief, look at the tangent I went down. Benny was doing it all day and now I am. I think it was getting off schedule … or the schedule that we’ve been keeping. Benny has finally crashed and burned after spending some time with his “crew” which seems to calm him down. He’s holding onto the Pike’s Peak badge I bought him. I think I’m going to have to drink some of my caffeine water so I can get some sleep.
I don’t drink coffee. Can’t really. It puts me to sleep. No, really it does. Something about how my ADD works. I made the mistake in highschool of drinking one of those energy drinks and I slept the clock around. It is the only time Penny really disciplined me. Lawrence was deployed and I had just started driving. I forget exactly what was going on but I had a bunch of assignments due all at the same time I had some other activities that I was expected to be there for. Someone told me that they were drinking Red Bulls to make it through finals and offered me one. I’m lucky I’m not dead. At least I waited until I got back to the apartment to pop the top.
Needless to say she got me bad when she asked, “What if you had had Benny in the car with you?!”
Gawd I felt terrible. Probably at least part of the reason why I’ve never even been truly tempted to drink … even when things got bad. All I could think about is “what if I had Benny with me.” She was going to take the car away from me for a month but it barely lasted three days before she needed me to run to the grocery store. Gah. Memories.
Anyway, your average cup of coffee has 95 mg of caffeine. I have some options I keep tucked away for just in case. Bubly Bounce has 35 mg per 12 oz can. That’s calming rather than a sedative. Perrier has a canned variety that is just about the same thing but more expensive. Then I have a few more cans of different brands a little stronger than that. The biggie however is Caffeina Water. Those suckers have 100 mg of caffeine, have electrolytes and a 7+ PH, they’re Keto friendly, and kosher. I mean we all need kosher caffeine, right? Anyway the Caffeina is my rock solid solution to nights like I feel coming on where if I don’t do something I may not sleep well for a month … I get in those cycles on occasion. I keep this water locked up in a storage box in the “garage” so Benny can’t get into the accidentally.
Last night in Mueller State Park. I’ve set my alarm just in case my body is tempted to oversleep. I have a drive tomorrow so I’m only going to drink half a bottle. Hopefully this works and I don’t wind up making things worse.
Cumulative Fuel Expense: $2758
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $958
Cumulative miles: 6583
Resources:
Junior Ranger: https://www.nps.gov/flfo/learn/kidsyouth/upload/ffb_junior_ranger-pc_508.pdf
Junior Paleontologist: Junior Paleontologist Program - Fossils and Paleontology (U.S. National Park Service)
Junior Ranger music: Junior Ranger Music - Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)
Junior Geologist: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/Geology and Fossils Junior Ranger.pdf
Walking Tour of Manitous Springs natural mineral springs
The Mineral Spring Water | Manitou Springs, Colorado
Pikes Peak Cameras | Colorado Springs
Mineral Springs Foundation, Manitou Springs, Colorado | Mineral Water Recipes (manitoumineralsprings.org)
I’m sorry to say that poor weather rolled in and got bad enough that we took the cog railway back down sooner than I had planned to. Funniest thing was that when we got down to the town, the weather was completely different. You could see that the weather was still fierce on the summit, so I looked at what I’d intended for the rest of the day and stopped worrying about it. Yes, I spent a hundred dollars, but I think we still got our money’s worth.
Rather than do “Garden of the Gods” as I had thought to, Benny and I walked around Manitou Springs following the self-guiding trail that led to 8 of the mineral springs and gave each one a try, they each had their own flavor. It was pretty neat and we taste tested the eight different springs in town.
Now I love me some mineral water. I’ll take that over a soda any day of the week. La Croix is my vice of choice but I also drink Buble’, Perrier, Pelligrino, and Topo Chico. Not too fond of Evian and can’t afford the expensive stuff they have in fancy restaurants or bars, but what I do drink is better than just okay by my standards. But you know, those natural mineral waters weren’t too bad, not too bad at all. I picked the habit up from Grandfather Barry. Dad and Lawrence thought mineral water was disgusting. Have to admit my friends in school made some strange faces when they accidentally got ahold of “my” water instead of theirs. LOL
After drinking the stuff for years, I finally found out how Mother Nature makes it. According to one of the sign-thingies at one of the springs: Rainwater and snow melt from Pikes Peak and surrounding mountains soak into rock fractures. As the water penetrates to great depth, it becomes heated and mineralized. The warm water naturally flows up into cavernous limestone where it becomes carbonated, then issues from the numerous natural and drilled springs throughout Manitou. Because the water takes thousands of years to complete its journey from mountain sources, it is totally free of industrial and atmospheric contamination.
These are the eight springs (as described in our walking tour brochure) that we walked to and tasted:
Seven Minute Spring was drilled to enhance the park of a large hotel at the site in 1909. Carbonation caused it to erupt at 7-minute intervals. It was redrilled in the 1990s and the surrounding park was developed.
Cheyenne Spring is a natural, sweet soda spring, from limestone aquifers a mile deep. Yes, it was one of the sweetest tasting waters we tried.
Iron Spring Geyser is a drilled spring prescribed by early physicians for iron deficiencies. It was on the daily walk for 1800s health-seekers. This reminded me of the water at my old house. Dad and I were constantly having to scrub the iron off the side of the house where the outside hose bib leaked.
Navajo Spring is located beneath the present popcorn and candy store. Navajo Spring, a natural soda spring, attracted the Indians and settlers, which led to the establishment of Manitou Springs. Its water supplied a large bath house (spa) and a bottling plant. This Manitou Water was famous across the nation.
Shoshone Spring, a natural spring with some sulfur, was highly recommended by physicians for its curative uses, before modern medicines. It still smells of sulfur but not as bad as some water that I’ve smelled.
Stratton Spring was drilled by the Stratton Foundation as a service to the town, where popular pedestrian and traffic routes follow earlier Native American trails. Lots of pioneers used this spring for water.
Twin Spring, originally two drilled springs now merged into one flow, is sought for its sweet taste, calcium and potassium content. Meh. Couldn’t tell much difference between the taste of this one and Cheyenne Spring.
Wheeler Spring, a drilled soda spring, was donated to the city by the family of Jerome Wheeler, of the New York Macy's, residing in Manitou Springs and involved in banking, mining and railroads locally and in Aspen. His home, Windemere, was located at the site of the present day post office.
Benny and I learned a new scientific term. At one stop there was a woman there – I assume some kind of professor or other – and she was telling her students, “When we soak in mineral water, a process happens called "homeostasis" or a balancing within and without of minerals passing directly through the skin. Add this benefit to that of stress release caused by heat alone, and we have the reason humans across the world have been traveling to soak in hot mineral water since the beginning of time.” No wonder I like soaking in a hot tub of Epsom salt when I’m sore and done in. Wonder how difficult it would be to do that with a bunch of mineral water? Or at least maybe soak my feet in some hot mineral water. Now there’s a thought, but not until we have some place stationery for me to be able to experiment without making a mess.
And get this, there are recipes to use mineral water with. This is copied verbatim from a recipe that was on a post card I bought while we were there:
Mineral Water Lemonade
Lemonade made with the naturally effervescent mineral waters of Manitou’s springs has been a local favorite since the 1880’s. The high soda content of the water softens the acidity of the lemons and all the ingredients combine into the perfect drink for a Colorado summer day. Sweetening the lemonade is a matter of personal preference. Traditionally, a simple syrup of boiled sugar and water was used but for something a little less caloric, try agave, honey or stevia. Take a hint from the folks in Manitou Springs and try this with Twin Spring water.
2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice Zest from four lemons if a stronger taste is preferred (optional)
2 cups simple syrup or sweetener of your choice
6 cups Manitou mineral water
A few springs of mint (optional)
Combine the lemon juice and sweetener of your choice. Pour into a pitcher of Manitou mineral water and add mint, if desired, for an extra zip. The natural carbonation doesn’t last long so put up any leftover lemonade in an air-tight container.
Now I can drink Lemon- or Lime-flavored mineral water all day long, and did when I was helping my grandparents with their yardwork. Grandma Barry was happy that I didn’t want any kind of sugary drink like a soda or Kool-Aid. Grandfather Barry got a kick because he thought I was trying to be like him. Um, maybe when I was little but after a while I just liked the stuff.
Dad may not have liked mineral water, but he didn’t give me a hard time about drinking it. In fact, he was glad that I never had any dental bills like my cousins did. I never even needed braces though I doubt they could have gotten me to wear them if I had. Just like Benny has trouble with tags in his clothes and some textures, I go bat-crap crazy when I get something stuck in my teeth or when my teeth feel dirty. The dentists loved me as a kid, they just told Dad to only get me soft bristles on my toothbrushes because I used to have to brush my teeth six or seven times a day … when I woke up, after everything I ate, after everything I drank if it wasn’t water, and before I went to bed. I’m not quite that bad anymore but I do still carry around plastic floss sticks in my wallet. And don’t even get me started about the woolly boogers I got when I hit puberty and the first zit popped up on my face. Dad took me to the doctor over that one because I was washing my face til it bled. The dermatologist was pretty understanding and taught me a regimen that I’ve stuck to. I’ve rarely had a zit since, at least on my face. I used to get them on the back of my neck at my hairline (before the pixie cut) or across my shoulders, but charcoal soap and a shower sponge usually took care of that disaster.
Oh good grief, look at the tangent I went down. Benny was doing it all day and now I am. I think it was getting off schedule … or the schedule that we’ve been keeping. Benny has finally crashed and burned after spending some time with his “crew” which seems to calm him down. He’s holding onto the Pike’s Peak badge I bought him. I think I’m going to have to drink some of my caffeine water so I can get some sleep.
I don’t drink coffee. Can’t really. It puts me to sleep. No, really it does. Something about how my ADD works. I made the mistake in highschool of drinking one of those energy drinks and I slept the clock around. It is the only time Penny really disciplined me. Lawrence was deployed and I had just started driving. I forget exactly what was going on but I had a bunch of assignments due all at the same time I had some other activities that I was expected to be there for. Someone told me that they were drinking Red Bulls to make it through finals and offered me one. I’m lucky I’m not dead. At least I waited until I got back to the apartment to pop the top.
Needless to say she got me bad when she asked, “What if you had had Benny in the car with you?!”
Gawd I felt terrible. Probably at least part of the reason why I’ve never even been truly tempted to drink … even when things got bad. All I could think about is “what if I had Benny with me.” She was going to take the car away from me for a month but it barely lasted three days before she needed me to run to the grocery store. Gah. Memories.
Anyway, your average cup of coffee has 95 mg of caffeine. I have some options I keep tucked away for just in case. Bubly Bounce has 35 mg per 12 oz can. That’s calming rather than a sedative. Perrier has a canned variety that is just about the same thing but more expensive. Then I have a few more cans of different brands a little stronger than that. The biggie however is Caffeina Water. Those suckers have 100 mg of caffeine, have electrolytes and a 7+ PH, they’re Keto friendly, and kosher. I mean we all need kosher caffeine, right? Anyway the Caffeina is my rock solid solution to nights like I feel coming on where if I don’t do something I may not sleep well for a month … I get in those cycles on occasion. I keep this water locked up in a storage box in the “garage” so Benny can’t get into the accidentally.
Last night in Mueller State Park. I’ve set my alarm just in case my body is tempted to oversleep. I have a drive tomorrow so I’m only going to drink half a bottle. Hopefully this works and I don’t wind up making things worse.
Cumulative Fuel Expense: $2758
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $958
Cumulative miles: 6583
Resources:
Junior Ranger: https://www.nps.gov/flfo/learn/kidsyouth/upload/ffb_junior_ranger-pc_508.pdf
Junior Paleontologist: Junior Paleontologist Program - Fossils and Paleontology (U.S. National Park Service)
Junior Ranger music: Junior Ranger Music - Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)
Junior Geologist: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/Geology and Fossils Junior Ranger.pdf
Walking Tour of Manitous Springs natural mineral springs
The Mineral Spring Water | Manitou Springs, Colorado
Pikes Peak Cameras | Colorado Springs
Mineral Springs Foundation, Manitou Springs, Colorado | Mineral Water Recipes (manitoumineralsprings.org)
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Griz3752
Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Wife and I tried it; we both think you could ramp up the Garlic to 4 or 5 cloves but we both love Garlic
kyrsyan
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Trying it tonight, cheater style because I'm tired. So canned onions. Arrowroot powder because my 1:1 flour went wandering when we overhauled the first half of the pantry. Adding it to our primitive style shepherd's pie.
Let me know how you like it.
kyrsyan
Has No Life - Lives on TB
It was missing a flavor level. I'll have to experiment more. But for tonight I wanted more creamy so I tossed roughly 1 1/2 tbsp of coconut milk powder in. Not perfect but better. Son is sitting at table going "Mmm. Mmm. Mmm." as he shovels it in so I'd say that I'll work out the issue and it'll become a favorite add on.
Edited to add that I went back in to find him licking the plate for all the sauce. So definitely going to have to work on this recipe. Mushrooms not allowed but maybe chestnuts will help fill that flavor gap. And a strong bone broth or a really strong veggie broth. I don't like defaulting to dairy type flavors so I'll have to experiment some and see what pops.
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When my brain took a left turn down "Doh!" Road. LOL. I have no idea how that happened except to say I do make the occassional eency weency mistake. ROFL!!!!!!
Griz3752
Retired, practising Curmudgeon
So like maybe 5 or 6 times? Out of how many stories?
I think we'll get over it ....moving on Ma'am.
BTW - thanks for the many hundreds of thousands of words spread across 4 or 5 platforms, thus far.
Yes, I understand if that sounds like I have high hopes for lots more.
Very high hopes, actually
G.
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Old Gray Mare
TB Fanatic
You mean there's more????!
Texican
Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
The DW and I were in Colorado one trip at Manitou and Pike's Peak. The Pike's Peak Run was being held. We took the train up to Peak's Peak and watched the runners running up the trial along the rail line. This was my second trip to Pike's Peak. The first trip to Pike's Peak was by vehicle.
We returned by the train to Manitou from Pike's Peak and watched the runners crossing the Finish Line. There was one runner in his early 70's that made it up and down Pike's Peak. He received a standing ovation at the Finish Line. Even then I was in good shape and probably could have hiked up to Pike's Peak, but would have ridden the train down.
Absolutely great views on the train ride and at the top of Pike's Peak.
Kathy, your story is great. We have visited many of the national parks in your story, but now have several more to visit.
Thank you.
Texican....
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May 19 - 21: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado (part 1)
Weather: 66F/37F
Driving Route:
Wifi/Cell Signal: Good around the cities. Fair to barely fair outside the cities and on the highways and interstates. Zip to nada in most locations after Colorado City, even with the cell booster, especially parts of the National Park. There was some signal available
May 19th
The reason I picked the longer route was so we could stop in Colorado Springs, CO and Pueblo, CO. Colorado Springs turned out to be someplace we should have stopped for about a week. It is a place you stop and use as a base while doing things outside of the city limits like Garden of the Gods or Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. A couple of old houses, lots of trails and waterfalls as well. We didn’t have that kind of time, so we just stopped for gas and a good photo.
Cheyenne Mountain was interesting but that sort of stuff is way over Benny’s head. I mean it isn’t exactly easy to explain “continuity of government” and similar concepts to a five-year-old. And I didn’t explain it on the blog either since the social media overlords might take notice. Lawrence used to try to explain to me out the internet used to be a free speech zone. Kinda hard to believe. Have the wrong thing run through someone app’s algorithm and you get locked out fast. Nearly locked up too in some cases. At one time they tried to break apart the social media monopolies but they reformed nearly as fast as they were separated into smaller parts.
Pueblo was a little overrated as well. I’m not saying it wasn’t nice to look at in places, but when you lifted the lid, the place had some issues. The “river walk” the city advertised as one of them main downtown tourism points was mainly a few bars, lots of closed store fronts, and their bathrooms were disgusting. I remember Uncle Daniel telling Dad (a conversation I wasn’t supposed to be privy to) that “Dad” meaning Grandfather Barry was right, that nothing came back from the pandemic of the 20’s the way it was before. And too many people were okay fine with that because it fit their outlook on how things were or they said the government needed to step up and pay for things that they allowed to happen. I don’t know, Uncle Daniel could be … cranky. He and Dad didn’t always get along even though they shared the same politics as my grandparents. I asked Lawrence one time how we could all believe the same things but be so different. His answer was pretty simply.
“Believing the same thing doesn’t mean you are going to act on it in the same way. Remember what Dad says? Garbage in, garbage out.”
“I get that. But …”
“Gus, I’m oversimplifying it. But here’s another way of looking at it. You know what you believe right?”
“You mean the church stuff? About their being a Creator and that? Yeah.” I was a little embarrassed my brother had to ask if you want to know the truth.
“Okay. There’s a lot of people that believe in a Creator. There are some that even believe in the Creator the same way we do … the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. Right?”
“There’s entire churches of people like that.”
“True. But do all of those people act the same?”
I gave it a think and started understanding what he was trying to get across. “No.”
“Do they all act the same and are happy about the Afterlife?”
“No.”
“Are they all comfortable in their skin with what they believe, or at least what they profess they believe?”
“No. And okay, I get it.”
“You’ll get it even more as you grow up. And don’t give me the laser beams. I know it is annoying to hear that – annoyed me when I was your age and heard it – but it is the truth. The more of life you experience, the more people you are around, the better you’ll understand. But do me a favor.”
“Yeah?”
“When it comes to Uncle Daniel, try and … keep some boundaries. He isn’t the same man he was when I was your age. Or maybe I just didn’t see it at your age. Dad always excused him by saying that Aunt Manda running off and the divorce soured him, or he and Grandfather were too alike to work together. The truth is … Uncle Daniel is blind as a bat where his own kids are concerned but will pick every little thing wrong on us. And hear this Gus, he’s especially jealous of the way our grandparents treated you. He thought you got too much attention over his girls especially when Grandfather had did mention his kids in his will.”
“He didn’t mention us either. Only Dad and him.”
“Wellll … I’m not so sure of that. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You were supposed to get Grandma Barry’s jewelry. I’m not sure what happened to that stuff. I … haven’t been able to go through all of Dad’s stuff yet. And Uncle Daniel somehow got the house and I think there is something going on there too. I just … can’t get into it right now. Maybe next year.”
“I’d rather have everyone back than have their stuff.”
“I get that Gus and feel the same way. But, I’m … look, I don’t want to spin this off track. All I’m saying is that Uncle Daniel can get mean when his illusions get popped and deflated. When our grandparents died, I thought he’d gotten all of that out of his system. Dad thought so too, or said so to me. But the way he acted when Dad died …” He shook his head. “I’m trying to not let my anger screw up a good thing for us but he just acted like I never expected him to. I need to get a lawyer on them papers but that’s an expense that is going to have to wait. You don’t let him talk you into anything when I’m not around.”
“I won’t let him do that to Penny either.”
“Penny …” He shook his head sadly and that’s when I found out that the reason why there wasn’t money for a lawyer to take care of our grandparents’ estate and the questions that Lawrence had about it was that he’d spent the money making sure that Penny could screw up their finances and that as soon as I turned eighteen, he planned on making me a co-signer on everything. Geez, I guess all this figuring out what I’m going to do to take care of Benny … where we will live and what I’ll do for a living … has got me thinking about things that I thought I’d buried along with Lawrence and Penny. What a mess.
And speaking of a mess, there was enough construction through Pueblo on I25 that I nearly rerouted us. Finally made it through but decided to stop for a little bit at the rest area in Colorado City. Didn’t look like a lot there beyond a golf course and some horse stables but it gave us a chance to get out of the van and get the kinks out. All in all, had we driven straight through we would have gotten to Great Sand Dunes National Park it would have only been a 3.5-hour drive. We didn’t stop near as much as I thought we were going to and we got there well in advance of when our campsite was going to be ready so we were able to do a little more in the park than I expected.
A little before the park entrance I stopped at a store to get a surprise for Benny, one he wasn’t really paying attention to.
First stop inside the park, naturally, was the visitor center. In addition to the Junior Ranger Booklet we checked out a Junior Ranger Backpack with compass, magnet, measuring tape, magnifying glass, binoculars, tracking guide, and more. There was even a clipboard in there. Benny was told if he finished the more in-depth activities that he’s also earn a patch to go with his badge. Uh yep, you know what he thought of that.
I’ve read in several travel guides that Great Sand Dunes has a different feel to it compared to many other parks. Have to admit that is true. It felt both big and small at the same time. Strange and hard to describe. But at the same time, wowee, this is one hopping and busy place. I think because we made the mistake of coming at the most popular time of the year for this particular park.
Late May is the average peak of Medano Creek's annual flow. That’s a place that I had on our to do list. May temperatures in the park are generally moderate, with highs in the 60s-70s F. However, snow is still possible in May and the park rangers were warning that creek temperature was cooler than normal because it had an excess of snow melt in it and the "surge flow", where waves up to about 20 inches high flow down across the sand, is particularly strong as well. Trees and bushes along the creek were leafed out despite that. There are also more “no-see-ums" than usual but mosquito season hasn’t set in because the water is still too cold for the larvae just yet.
The rangers warned that the water comes out of the mountains cold, but warms up significantly when the sun shines on it as it spreads across the sand. But their “warm” and my “warm” turned out to be quite different. I think people around here must be part polar bear or something. Because of the creek's popularity as a “swimming hole”, late May and early June weekends are extremely crowded, with long lines of traffic, overflowing parking lots, a crowded beach, and full campgrounds. I beat most of it by reserving when I did, but I still ran into the busy roads and parking lots.
Let me tell you though that as cold as that creek was, the dunes were roasting hot. In May afternoons everyone was warned that the dunes could reach 150F, so that you needed to schedule the time at the dunes for early morning or evening to avoid burning sand, high winds, or thunderstorms with lightning.
As far at the park trails, the hiking trails are generally melted out up to about 9,500 feet, but alpine lakes and trails are still under deep snow this time of year.
We left the Visitor Center and I surprised Benny by heading towards the dunes.
“Isn’t it too hot?”
“Might be. We are just going to look.”
Hot or not the parking lots were nearly full and there were people sand boarding just like I thought they would be.
“Cooooool! What are they … wait, wait, wait. Aunt Gus, that looks like the boards you bought at that weird place.”
I laughed. “Didn’t buy them, rented them Little Bear. We’ll come here first thing in the morning if you are interested.”
“Oh yeah!!!”
I laughed. Boy after my own heart. I was really wanting to hop on the sand and give it a try myself but I took the warnings of the rangers seriously, especially when I saw a dad have to run out onto the sand and pick his kid up after he fell off a sand board and started shrieking. Uh … Aunt Gus decided to use some commonsense and come out in the early morning. I’ve grabbed a hot steering wheel a few times in Florida and that was bad enough.
From there we headed to a hike. A ranger at the visitor center told me that Montville Trail that this was a good afternoon hike – the time you avoided the sand - along a shady forested trail named after a late 1800s settlement that had a whopping 20 houses in its heydey. That was considered a settlement? There’s more than 20 houses on a city street these days, even in a small town. Heck, I knew farmers that had 20 buildings on their acreage. At the higher elevations there were outstanding views of Mt. Herard, the dunes and the valley that made for great panoramic pictures on with my phone.
We decided to head back to the campground and set up. Benny was fine playing with his crew and getting their “help” working on his junior ranger activities. I wanted to go over the itinerary to make the best use of our time, hit the hay early, so we could get ahead of the crowds in the park. It meant putting off the nighttime activity I had originally planned but that’s not egregious. We’ll either do it tomorrow night or the night after that one.
Piñon Flats Campground is where we are staying for the next three nights. It is full to bursting and I hope they enforce quiet time. All the kids running around without adult supervision is making me twitchy. Not doing much for Benny either though he seems to be able to ignore them better than I can. Might be because he is playing up on my bed inside the van. I am sitting outside trying to enjoy myself and get a little work done. Instead I’ve had to help dig a ball out from under the van and redirected a game of frisbee to keep it from knocking over stuff on “our” picnic table or hitting the windshield on the van. Where have all the parents gone?
I hope the sun goes down soon. Hopefully the kids will all be called back to their campsites. And geez don’t I sound like a grouchy old lady.
Weather: 66F/37F
Driving Route:
Wifi/Cell Signal: Good around the cities. Fair to barely fair outside the cities and on the highways and interstates. Zip to nada in most locations after Colorado City, even with the cell booster, especially parts of the National Park. There was some signal available
May 19th
The reason I picked the longer route was so we could stop in Colorado Springs, CO and Pueblo, CO. Colorado Springs turned out to be someplace we should have stopped for about a week. It is a place you stop and use as a base while doing things outside of the city limits like Garden of the Gods or Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. A couple of old houses, lots of trails and waterfalls as well. We didn’t have that kind of time, so we just stopped for gas and a good photo.
Cheyenne Mountain was interesting but that sort of stuff is way over Benny’s head. I mean it isn’t exactly easy to explain “continuity of government” and similar concepts to a five-year-old. And I didn’t explain it on the blog either since the social media overlords might take notice. Lawrence used to try to explain to me out the internet used to be a free speech zone. Kinda hard to believe. Have the wrong thing run through someone app’s algorithm and you get locked out fast. Nearly locked up too in some cases. At one time they tried to break apart the social media monopolies but they reformed nearly as fast as they were separated into smaller parts.
Pueblo was a little overrated as well. I’m not saying it wasn’t nice to look at in places, but when you lifted the lid, the place had some issues. The “river walk” the city advertised as one of them main downtown tourism points was mainly a few bars, lots of closed store fronts, and their bathrooms were disgusting. I remember Uncle Daniel telling Dad (a conversation I wasn’t supposed to be privy to) that “Dad” meaning Grandfather Barry was right, that nothing came back from the pandemic of the 20’s the way it was before. And too many people were okay fine with that because it fit their outlook on how things were or they said the government needed to step up and pay for things that they allowed to happen. I don’t know, Uncle Daniel could be … cranky. He and Dad didn’t always get along even though they shared the same politics as my grandparents. I asked Lawrence one time how we could all believe the same things but be so different. His answer was pretty simply.
“Believing the same thing doesn’t mean you are going to act on it in the same way. Remember what Dad says? Garbage in, garbage out.”
“I get that. But …”
“Gus, I’m oversimplifying it. But here’s another way of looking at it. You know what you believe right?”
“You mean the church stuff? About their being a Creator and that? Yeah.” I was a little embarrassed my brother had to ask if you want to know the truth.
“Okay. There’s a lot of people that believe in a Creator. There are some that even believe in the Creator the same way we do … the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. Right?”
“There’s entire churches of people like that.”
“True. But do all of those people act the same?”
I gave it a think and started understanding what he was trying to get across. “No.”
“Do they all act the same and are happy about the Afterlife?”
“No.”
“Are they all comfortable in their skin with what they believe, or at least what they profess they believe?”
“No. And okay, I get it.”
“You’ll get it even more as you grow up. And don’t give me the laser beams. I know it is annoying to hear that – annoyed me when I was your age and heard it – but it is the truth. The more of life you experience, the more people you are around, the better you’ll understand. But do me a favor.”
“Yeah?”
“When it comes to Uncle Daniel, try and … keep some boundaries. He isn’t the same man he was when I was your age. Or maybe I just didn’t see it at your age. Dad always excused him by saying that Aunt Manda running off and the divorce soured him, or he and Grandfather were too alike to work together. The truth is … Uncle Daniel is blind as a bat where his own kids are concerned but will pick every little thing wrong on us. And hear this Gus, he’s especially jealous of the way our grandparents treated you. He thought you got too much attention over his girls especially when Grandfather had did mention his kids in his will.”
“He didn’t mention us either. Only Dad and him.”
“Wellll … I’m not so sure of that. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You were supposed to get Grandma Barry’s jewelry. I’m not sure what happened to that stuff. I … haven’t been able to go through all of Dad’s stuff yet. And Uncle Daniel somehow got the house and I think there is something going on there too. I just … can’t get into it right now. Maybe next year.”
“I’d rather have everyone back than have their stuff.”
“I get that Gus and feel the same way. But, I’m … look, I don’t want to spin this off track. All I’m saying is that Uncle Daniel can get mean when his illusions get popped and deflated. When our grandparents died, I thought he’d gotten all of that out of his system. Dad thought so too, or said so to me. But the way he acted when Dad died …” He shook his head. “I’m trying to not let my anger screw up a good thing for us but he just acted like I never expected him to. I need to get a lawyer on them papers but that’s an expense that is going to have to wait. You don’t let him talk you into anything when I’m not around.”
“I won’t let him do that to Penny either.”
“Penny …” He shook his head sadly and that’s when I found out that the reason why there wasn’t money for a lawyer to take care of our grandparents’ estate and the questions that Lawrence had about it was that he’d spent the money making sure that Penny could screw up their finances and that as soon as I turned eighteen, he planned on making me a co-signer on everything. Geez, I guess all this figuring out what I’m going to do to take care of Benny … where we will live and what I’ll do for a living … has got me thinking about things that I thought I’d buried along with Lawrence and Penny. What a mess.
And speaking of a mess, there was enough construction through Pueblo on I25 that I nearly rerouted us. Finally made it through but decided to stop for a little bit at the rest area in Colorado City. Didn’t look like a lot there beyond a golf course and some horse stables but it gave us a chance to get out of the van and get the kinks out. All in all, had we driven straight through we would have gotten to Great Sand Dunes National Park it would have only been a 3.5-hour drive. We didn’t stop near as much as I thought we were going to and we got there well in advance of when our campsite was going to be ready so we were able to do a little more in the park than I expected.
A little before the park entrance I stopped at a store to get a surprise for Benny, one he wasn’t really paying attention to.
First stop inside the park, naturally, was the visitor center. In addition to the Junior Ranger Booklet we checked out a Junior Ranger Backpack with compass, magnet, measuring tape, magnifying glass, binoculars, tracking guide, and more. There was even a clipboard in there. Benny was told if he finished the more in-depth activities that he’s also earn a patch to go with his badge. Uh yep, you know what he thought of that.
I’ve read in several travel guides that Great Sand Dunes has a different feel to it compared to many other parks. Have to admit that is true. It felt both big and small at the same time. Strange and hard to describe. But at the same time, wowee, this is one hopping and busy place. I think because we made the mistake of coming at the most popular time of the year for this particular park.
Late May is the average peak of Medano Creek's annual flow. That’s a place that I had on our to do list. May temperatures in the park are generally moderate, with highs in the 60s-70s F. However, snow is still possible in May and the park rangers were warning that creek temperature was cooler than normal because it had an excess of snow melt in it and the "surge flow", where waves up to about 20 inches high flow down across the sand, is particularly strong as well. Trees and bushes along the creek were leafed out despite that. There are also more “no-see-ums" than usual but mosquito season hasn’t set in because the water is still too cold for the larvae just yet.
The rangers warned that the water comes out of the mountains cold, but warms up significantly when the sun shines on it as it spreads across the sand. But their “warm” and my “warm” turned out to be quite different. I think people around here must be part polar bear or something. Because of the creek's popularity as a “swimming hole”, late May and early June weekends are extremely crowded, with long lines of traffic, overflowing parking lots, a crowded beach, and full campgrounds. I beat most of it by reserving when I did, but I still ran into the busy roads and parking lots.
Let me tell you though that as cold as that creek was, the dunes were roasting hot. In May afternoons everyone was warned that the dunes could reach 150F, so that you needed to schedule the time at the dunes for early morning or evening to avoid burning sand, high winds, or thunderstorms with lightning.
As far at the park trails, the hiking trails are generally melted out up to about 9,500 feet, but alpine lakes and trails are still under deep snow this time of year.
We left the Visitor Center and I surprised Benny by heading towards the dunes.
“Isn’t it too hot?”
“Might be. We are just going to look.”
Hot or not the parking lots were nearly full and there were people sand boarding just like I thought they would be.
“Cooooool! What are they … wait, wait, wait. Aunt Gus, that looks like the boards you bought at that weird place.”
I laughed. “Didn’t buy them, rented them Little Bear. We’ll come here first thing in the morning if you are interested.”
“Oh yeah!!!”
I laughed. Boy after my own heart. I was really wanting to hop on the sand and give it a try myself but I took the warnings of the rangers seriously, especially when I saw a dad have to run out onto the sand and pick his kid up after he fell off a sand board and started shrieking. Uh … Aunt Gus decided to use some commonsense and come out in the early morning. I’ve grabbed a hot steering wheel a few times in Florida and that was bad enough.
From there we headed to a hike. A ranger at the visitor center told me that Montville Trail that this was a good afternoon hike – the time you avoided the sand - along a shady forested trail named after a late 1800s settlement that had a whopping 20 houses in its heydey. That was considered a settlement? There’s more than 20 houses on a city street these days, even in a small town. Heck, I knew farmers that had 20 buildings on their acreage. At the higher elevations there were outstanding views of Mt. Herard, the dunes and the valley that made for great panoramic pictures on with my phone.
We decided to head back to the campground and set up. Benny was fine playing with his crew and getting their “help” working on his junior ranger activities. I wanted to go over the itinerary to make the best use of our time, hit the hay early, so we could get ahead of the crowds in the park. It meant putting off the nighttime activity I had originally planned but that’s not egregious. We’ll either do it tomorrow night or the night after that one.
Piñon Flats Campground is where we are staying for the next three nights. It is full to bursting and I hope they enforce quiet time. All the kids running around without adult supervision is making me twitchy. Not doing much for Benny either though he seems to be able to ignore them better than I can. Might be because he is playing up on my bed inside the van. I am sitting outside trying to enjoy myself and get a little work done. Instead I’ve had to help dig a ball out from under the van and redirected a game of frisbee to keep it from knocking over stuff on “our” picnic table or hitting the windshield on the van. Where have all the parents gone?
I hope the sun goes down soon. Hopefully the kids will all be called back to their campsites. And geez don’t I sound like a grouchy old lady.
May 19 - 21: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado (part 2)
May 20th
Had a blast today. First thing in the morning … I mean first thing as in early, early with only a smoothie for breakfast … we did sandboarding. We found out from the visitor center that sandboarding, sand sledding, and sand skiing are permitted anywhere on the dunefield so long as it is away from vegetated areas. But it isn’t exactly the easiest spot to get to.
From the main Dunes Parking Area, it's a minimum 0.7 mile hike to get to the small or medium-sized slopes. The top of the first high ridge is 1.25 miles. It was recommended that since we didn’t have any experience to start with the smaller slopes at the base. Basically that is the kiddie slopes. Both Benny and I know how to ski … yes, really, Benny knows how to ski … but it has been a few months. We started at the kiddie slopes just to make sure there was a similar vibe to it. Well, sorta, but we quickly got to the point that the kiddie slopes weren’t challenging enough.
If I had one person tell me where the kiddie slopes were as we hiked toward the steeper area, I must have had a dozen. I finally just started smiling and nodding and let them think I didn’t speaka ze inglish. I was going to be with Benny the same way I was when I taught him to ski, surf, and kayak. And yes, he showed them all. Boy has natural balance and had found his determination at two years of age and has never lost it. I’m not saying that we didn’t take a few spills but all he did was laugh and turn around and go right back up to start over. He was even wearing me down.
The people that tried to use snowboards, snow saucers, or similar quickly found out they didn’t work. Instead of sliding like the sandboard do, they dragged or pushed the sand. Now had the sand been wet they might have worked but with the sand dry you needed the particular design of the sandboards or sand sleds. I saw a few homemade sleds using ultra slick plastic but they weren’t very stable and rather than a smooth run off if you made it down to the bottom, they always seemed to wipe out and take other people with them.
About mid-morning, when I noticed the sand starting to significantly warm up I told him we’d come back the next day but that we needed to save some strength to have the fun we were going to have the rest of the day. I saw him almost ready to tune up until he saw a bunch of teens heading towards “our spot” and he was ready to go post haste.
“You know Little Bear …”
“I just wanted it to be us. They were going to make noise and try and do tricks and get in the way.”
I winced as I’d been thinking very similar thoughts. I had also wanted to get out of there before I had to witness any injuries. The reckless were starting to show up and that’s usually the best time to head out. “Well, we can’t hog all the fun now can we?” I asked trying to rationalize it. “Maybe this is the only adventure they get to have. We are having lots of different kinds of adventures. Gotta share when we can to set a good example.”
He shrugged. “I still like it better when it is just us.”
I gave him a chase and a bit of pretend tickle. “I like it when it is just us too monkey boy. But we both need to learn to let other people have fun with us. We don’t need to turn into crazy ol’ cat people like that lady that lived next to Groucho’s place.”
That made him laugh but he got the idea. I never did learn her name. Not even Stella had been able to break the ice with her. But there were a gazillion cats that came in and out of that house and it smelled like it. She also dressed very … er … eclectically. No way to say some of it nicely but Benny knew what I meant. Stella said that she had moved in not long after Groucho had opened the shop and only the cops and social services ever went over to see her, though like I said Stella had tried to reach out. Brrr. I hope that is not my fate after Benny grows up.
Sandboarding takes a lot of energy so I fixed us another smoothie to fill the corners and cool down with. I tell you it is great to take your galley with you everywhere you go.
From the dune area we headed to Medano Creek. Geez Louise, was it busy but I managed to find a parking spot for the Ark and tell Benny to change into his swimming clothes.
“Swimming?!”
“Okay, wading. And we are probably going to wind up with sand in some places we’d rather not have it but it is warm enough and it sounds like fun. Unless you’d rather not. It’s crowded.”
“Like the beach?”
I looked out the windshield and nodded. “Exactly like the beach. Maybe not wall to wall people but it will definitely be more than just a few out there in the water with us.”
He gave it a thought. “Welllll, we do have to share the fun like you said. And I can mark it in my Junior Ranger book and tonight I’ll tell the crew how it went.”
“Sounds like a plan. So change. ‘K?”
Boy was I glad for the shower tonight. We had to be careful because there were no hook ups in camp but at least there was a place to get water and a dump station at the front of the campground. I was also glad for the diaper wipes that I keep on hand. The muddy sand might have been finer than the sand on Florida beaches, but that didn’t mean it was anymore welcome in certain places.
What was really fun was that apparently the water was a little deeper than it normally was. The creek can splash up to knee deep when it is at full swing but this year the water was at knee depth and splashing up to an adult’s waist. Benny and I are used to rough surf but a few of the kids and adults obviously weren’t expecting the strength of the water and were getting bowled over. Many laughed, but not all of them. I grabbed a woman and Benny grabbed her baby when the sand washed from beneath their feet during a surge flow … think of them like a sudden mini-flood. The woman was coughing and nearly panicking because she couldn’t see her little boy … maybe a year old. She’d gotten sand in the face and was trying to wipe it away and call for her kid at the same time.
“Easy, your kid is right here. Hold on tight and I’ll walk you to dry land so you can wash your face.”
The husband had been panicking a bit himself as he was on the other shore and was fighting another surge flow to get to them.
He reached us right before we hit the dry sand and tried to pick all of us up. I noticed the cut of his hair and his forearm and said, “Hooyah and all that but ease up on the grip, you’re scaring the kidlets.”
When the guy registered what I had said he stopped and looked which gave Benny a chance to say, “Uh Aunt Gus? The little boy is scared like a starfish.”
I turned and then bent down seeing the problem. “Whoa, you’ve got a grip on you. Daddy is going to have to teach you how to manage that. That was some wave. I bet when you are bigger you know exactly what to do.”
Benny said, “This is my Aunt Gus. She can help with the snot bubbles that have sand in them.”
The little boy let go and I handed him to “Daddy” and then asked, “You got a bottle of water? It’s better to wash the sand from your eyes instead of wiping it. Same with snot bubbles.”
The husband was over his panic and a couple of other people of the same obvious flavor had shown up. One guy threw a pack on the ground and then opened it up and it gave me butterflies. I groaned in pleasure and then sighed. “Love me some good gear.”
The woman now had herself under control and laughed. “Do not disappear until I can get this crap out of my eyes and say thanks.”
“Er … not necessary.”
“I say it is.”
A few minutes later, as the so-called grown ups were introducing each other, Benny and another boy were eyeing each other from behind the legs of their adults. The other boy was a year or two older than Benny but only an inch or so taller. He asked, “Wanna help build a sandcastle? He’s too small.”
Benny looked at me and asked, “May I?”
“Rules?”
“Don’t go out in the middle. Stay on the sides. No throwing stuff. Don’t wander off. Don’t go off with anyone else, kid or adult. Stay where I say I’ll be.”
“Good enough.”
“Can I get muddy?”
“Dude, mud happens. That’s what they make showers for.”
He smiled big at me but then got a little bashful and carefully went a few feet away from us before sitting down in the water and sand to “help.”
“Thanks,” I told the mom.
“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”
“Uh … mean your son. Letting Benny play with him.”
“How did you know he was my son?”
“Only a big brother can make that kind of face about a younger sibling not being ‘big enough.’”
She chuckled before blowing her nose to get the last of the sand out. “Good eye. And pardon me for asking … but Gus?”
Having gotten the same question most of my life I wasn’t offended. “August … but most people call me Gus. And Benny is Little Bear.”
From behind me I heard, “Aunt Gus and Little Bear? In the flesh?”
I slowly turn and see a ranger. I nod and say, “In the flesh.”
He laughs. “Looks like Bill wins.”
“Uh …”
“We had a pool going to see which park you were hitting next. Bill and Casey picked here. Hadn’t seen anything on your blog.”
“Connection sucks. I’ll put it out tonight if I can get a signal.”
“Good deal.”
The ranger wandered on, checking to make sure people were following the rules – few though they were – and I wound up getting some looks from the couples (three after two other females showed up).
“Blog?”
I gave a brief explanation and an hour passed before you knew it as we conversed, and they asked me about the sandboarding after I admitted that Benny and I had spent the morning at it. We all had to get going at that point and we told each other goodbye and good luck on our respective trips.
Benny was starving so we ate lunch before doing anything else. “Did you like talking to the adults?” he asked me.
“Er … wasn’t a chore. Did you like talking to that boy?”
“Chaz. He was okay. He played nice.”
Slowly I asked, “Do you want me to try and find other kids for you to play with?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. Only if they are nice like Chaz. Not if they are mean or noisy.”
“Well, maybe we’ll meet some more nice people. At least maybe we should be open to it.”
He looked at me and nodded. “Might be a good idea. We don’t want to turn into crazy ol’ cat people.”
I chuckled at him turning my words on me even if he didn’t mean it to be funny, and then we cleaned up our meal and headed onto the next thing … a little hiking.
First, we gave the Eastern Dune Ridge a try. There are no formal trails in the area so we needed to be careful. Using our high clearance 4WD vehicle, since it was about time I tested that feature out, we drove to Castle Creek picnic area. At Castle Creek we found a crazy tall and steep sand dune face with Medano Creek running along the base. That was neat and let me use my compass skills to keep us going in the right direction even when the van and picnic tables were out of sight.
Our next hike was one of the higher dunes in the park called “High Dune on First Ridge.” Literal but appropriate nonetheless. Just like with Eastern Dune there are no formal trails and you need to be careful.
In the park there are five dunes over 700 feet tall. Yepper campers, I did say 700 feet. According to the trail description: “The high dune on the first ridge is neither the highest in elevation nor the tallest in the park, but it looks that way from the main parking lot. This is the most common destination in the dunefield, providing a great view of the entire dunefield. It is about 699 feet from base to top. Cross a half-mile of the Medano Creek bed, then zigzag up along ridgelines to reach it.”
I’m glad that I brought all the water that I did. It wound up being hotter and drier than I anticipated. Wearing our floppy trail hats that gave shade to both our face and the back of our neck at the same time also turned out to be a good idea. We took two hours to travel the 2.5 miles. Sounds ridiculous until you remember that we were traveling in loose sand much of that time. Some people take four hours to hike roundtrip, mostly because of high altitude and lower oxygen level though I’m thinking the inevitable sand in our boots didn’t help either. Thankfully I think if I stay below 11,000 feet I am okay but anything over that and I start to have to deal with altitude sickness. I need to see if we have any more of that on the adventure.
We went back and sandboarded for about an hour but since we are coming back to do it tomorrow again, it wasn’t hard to convince ourselves to go eat some dinner before our last activity of the day.
Dinner was a fully loaded omelet – I was too tired to fix anything else and it helped use up a few veggies that were getting beyond their prime – and a lot of water. Man were we dry as a bone. From there we headed to the activity called “Half the Park is After Dark!”
When Benny found out that there was a very special junior ranger patch he could earn he just about flipped out. It is called the Junior Ranger Night Explorer and I had quietly picked it up while we were at the visitor center yesterday. It worked well with the Ranger Walk we were going to out on the Dunes. The moon was full and you didn’t need a flashlight to see it was so bright. I wasn’t stupid of course; I had both a flashlight and a compass with me in a secure pocket.
Benny saw Chaz and his family and the two boys came together and I followed along quietly. I could tell I wasn’t the only one making sure I knew where the parking lot was; the trail wasn’t obvious even with the moon being so bright. When hiking back toward the Dunes Parking Lot, aim toward the left end of the long line of trees along Medano Creek. The parking area is located about 100 yards to the right of the end of the trees.
The boys were getting a kick out of looking for animals as much as at the sky. There was something called a camel cricket and then the kangaroo rats that were hilarious to watch. Supposedly there are also toads out there though I didn’t see one. Saw a couple of salamanders and a couple of owls in the sky. Heard at least one coyote but thankfully didn’t run into any bobcats. There was a group of people using flashlights to look for animals, ruining everyone’s night vision, but thankfully a couple of rangers spoke to them before I felt the need to get in their faces. My eyes are brown most of the time but in low light they sometimes turn hazel, and nothing ouches quite like getting pegged in the eye with a light beam when they are playing “what color am I”.
We stayed out longer than most people did and I had Benny to use his ears to listen and learn. That’s when we heard the coyote, but he also identified something scurrying across the sand, the sand blowing against rocks, and just the wind blowing in general. It was my way of teaching him to concentrate and use his ears to work around the “noise” rather than zone out when a noise bothers him or pegs his APD.
But eventually even we needed to head in and go back to camp. I had paid for the nights in advance which was $60 but I’d gotten notice that I got the 50% discount back on my card. That means that all three nights cost a total of $30. Not bad, not bad at all. The RV sites didn’t have hook ups but there was a dump station, a water station, and a camp store. Can’t beat that with a stick.
Both Benny and I were a bit chaffed in a couple of places from hiking without showering all the sand off. I put some butt paste on the spots and we both experienced some relief. Yowzer. Won’t be doing that again. Benny was ready for bed and all I did was borrow the signal from the camp store to post to the blog and then write this up. I’ve got tomorrow mapped out. By getting here early we’ve made time for a little bit of venturing in other directions. Hope Benny likes it.
May 20th
Had a blast today. First thing in the morning … I mean first thing as in early, early with only a smoothie for breakfast … we did sandboarding. We found out from the visitor center that sandboarding, sand sledding, and sand skiing are permitted anywhere on the dunefield so long as it is away from vegetated areas. But it isn’t exactly the easiest spot to get to.
From the main Dunes Parking Area, it's a minimum 0.7 mile hike to get to the small or medium-sized slopes. The top of the first high ridge is 1.25 miles. It was recommended that since we didn’t have any experience to start with the smaller slopes at the base. Basically that is the kiddie slopes. Both Benny and I know how to ski … yes, really, Benny knows how to ski … but it has been a few months. We started at the kiddie slopes just to make sure there was a similar vibe to it. Well, sorta, but we quickly got to the point that the kiddie slopes weren’t challenging enough.
If I had one person tell me where the kiddie slopes were as we hiked toward the steeper area, I must have had a dozen. I finally just started smiling and nodding and let them think I didn’t speaka ze inglish. I was going to be with Benny the same way I was when I taught him to ski, surf, and kayak. And yes, he showed them all. Boy has natural balance and had found his determination at two years of age and has never lost it. I’m not saying that we didn’t take a few spills but all he did was laugh and turn around and go right back up to start over. He was even wearing me down.
The people that tried to use snowboards, snow saucers, or similar quickly found out they didn’t work. Instead of sliding like the sandboard do, they dragged or pushed the sand. Now had the sand been wet they might have worked but with the sand dry you needed the particular design of the sandboards or sand sleds. I saw a few homemade sleds using ultra slick plastic but they weren’t very stable and rather than a smooth run off if you made it down to the bottom, they always seemed to wipe out and take other people with them.
About mid-morning, when I noticed the sand starting to significantly warm up I told him we’d come back the next day but that we needed to save some strength to have the fun we were going to have the rest of the day. I saw him almost ready to tune up until he saw a bunch of teens heading towards “our spot” and he was ready to go post haste.
“You know Little Bear …”
“I just wanted it to be us. They were going to make noise and try and do tricks and get in the way.”
I winced as I’d been thinking very similar thoughts. I had also wanted to get out of there before I had to witness any injuries. The reckless were starting to show up and that’s usually the best time to head out. “Well, we can’t hog all the fun now can we?” I asked trying to rationalize it. “Maybe this is the only adventure they get to have. We are having lots of different kinds of adventures. Gotta share when we can to set a good example.”
He shrugged. “I still like it better when it is just us.”
I gave him a chase and a bit of pretend tickle. “I like it when it is just us too monkey boy. But we both need to learn to let other people have fun with us. We don’t need to turn into crazy ol’ cat people like that lady that lived next to Groucho’s place.”
That made him laugh but he got the idea. I never did learn her name. Not even Stella had been able to break the ice with her. But there were a gazillion cats that came in and out of that house and it smelled like it. She also dressed very … er … eclectically. No way to say some of it nicely but Benny knew what I meant. Stella said that she had moved in not long after Groucho had opened the shop and only the cops and social services ever went over to see her, though like I said Stella had tried to reach out. Brrr. I hope that is not my fate after Benny grows up.
Sandboarding takes a lot of energy so I fixed us another smoothie to fill the corners and cool down with. I tell you it is great to take your galley with you everywhere you go.
From the dune area we headed to Medano Creek. Geez Louise, was it busy but I managed to find a parking spot for the Ark and tell Benny to change into his swimming clothes.
“Swimming?!”
“Okay, wading. And we are probably going to wind up with sand in some places we’d rather not have it but it is warm enough and it sounds like fun. Unless you’d rather not. It’s crowded.”
“Like the beach?”
I looked out the windshield and nodded. “Exactly like the beach. Maybe not wall to wall people but it will definitely be more than just a few out there in the water with us.”
He gave it a thought. “Welllll, we do have to share the fun like you said. And I can mark it in my Junior Ranger book and tonight I’ll tell the crew how it went.”
“Sounds like a plan. So change. ‘K?”
Boy was I glad for the shower tonight. We had to be careful because there were no hook ups in camp but at least there was a place to get water and a dump station at the front of the campground. I was also glad for the diaper wipes that I keep on hand. The muddy sand might have been finer than the sand on Florida beaches, but that didn’t mean it was anymore welcome in certain places.
What was really fun was that apparently the water was a little deeper than it normally was. The creek can splash up to knee deep when it is at full swing but this year the water was at knee depth and splashing up to an adult’s waist. Benny and I are used to rough surf but a few of the kids and adults obviously weren’t expecting the strength of the water and were getting bowled over. Many laughed, but not all of them. I grabbed a woman and Benny grabbed her baby when the sand washed from beneath their feet during a surge flow … think of them like a sudden mini-flood. The woman was coughing and nearly panicking because she couldn’t see her little boy … maybe a year old. She’d gotten sand in the face and was trying to wipe it away and call for her kid at the same time.
“Easy, your kid is right here. Hold on tight and I’ll walk you to dry land so you can wash your face.”
The husband had been panicking a bit himself as he was on the other shore and was fighting another surge flow to get to them.
He reached us right before we hit the dry sand and tried to pick all of us up. I noticed the cut of his hair and his forearm and said, “Hooyah and all that but ease up on the grip, you’re scaring the kidlets.”
When the guy registered what I had said he stopped and looked which gave Benny a chance to say, “Uh Aunt Gus? The little boy is scared like a starfish.”
I turned and then bent down seeing the problem. “Whoa, you’ve got a grip on you. Daddy is going to have to teach you how to manage that. That was some wave. I bet when you are bigger you know exactly what to do.”
Benny said, “This is my Aunt Gus. She can help with the snot bubbles that have sand in them.”
The little boy let go and I handed him to “Daddy” and then asked, “You got a bottle of water? It’s better to wash the sand from your eyes instead of wiping it. Same with snot bubbles.”
The husband was over his panic and a couple of other people of the same obvious flavor had shown up. One guy threw a pack on the ground and then opened it up and it gave me butterflies. I groaned in pleasure and then sighed. “Love me some good gear.”
The woman now had herself under control and laughed. “Do not disappear until I can get this crap out of my eyes and say thanks.”
“Er … not necessary.”
“I say it is.”
A few minutes later, as the so-called grown ups were introducing each other, Benny and another boy were eyeing each other from behind the legs of their adults. The other boy was a year or two older than Benny but only an inch or so taller. He asked, “Wanna help build a sandcastle? He’s too small.”
Benny looked at me and asked, “May I?”
“Rules?”
“Don’t go out in the middle. Stay on the sides. No throwing stuff. Don’t wander off. Don’t go off with anyone else, kid or adult. Stay where I say I’ll be.”
“Good enough.”
“Can I get muddy?”
“Dude, mud happens. That’s what they make showers for.”
He smiled big at me but then got a little bashful and carefully went a few feet away from us before sitting down in the water and sand to “help.”
“Thanks,” I told the mom.
“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”
“Uh … mean your son. Letting Benny play with him.”
“How did you know he was my son?”
“Only a big brother can make that kind of face about a younger sibling not being ‘big enough.’”
She chuckled before blowing her nose to get the last of the sand out. “Good eye. And pardon me for asking … but Gus?”
Having gotten the same question most of my life I wasn’t offended. “August … but most people call me Gus. And Benny is Little Bear.”
From behind me I heard, “Aunt Gus and Little Bear? In the flesh?”
I slowly turn and see a ranger. I nod and say, “In the flesh.”
He laughs. “Looks like Bill wins.”
“Uh …”
“We had a pool going to see which park you were hitting next. Bill and Casey picked here. Hadn’t seen anything on your blog.”
“Connection sucks. I’ll put it out tonight if I can get a signal.”
“Good deal.”
The ranger wandered on, checking to make sure people were following the rules – few though they were – and I wound up getting some looks from the couples (three after two other females showed up).
“Blog?”
I gave a brief explanation and an hour passed before you knew it as we conversed, and they asked me about the sandboarding after I admitted that Benny and I had spent the morning at it. We all had to get going at that point and we told each other goodbye and good luck on our respective trips.
Benny was starving so we ate lunch before doing anything else. “Did you like talking to the adults?” he asked me.
“Er … wasn’t a chore. Did you like talking to that boy?”
“Chaz. He was okay. He played nice.”
Slowly I asked, “Do you want me to try and find other kids for you to play with?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. Only if they are nice like Chaz. Not if they are mean or noisy.”
“Well, maybe we’ll meet some more nice people. At least maybe we should be open to it.”
He looked at me and nodded. “Might be a good idea. We don’t want to turn into crazy ol’ cat people.”
I chuckled at him turning my words on me even if he didn’t mean it to be funny, and then we cleaned up our meal and headed onto the next thing … a little hiking.
First, we gave the Eastern Dune Ridge a try. There are no formal trails in the area so we needed to be careful. Using our high clearance 4WD vehicle, since it was about time I tested that feature out, we drove to Castle Creek picnic area. At Castle Creek we found a crazy tall and steep sand dune face with Medano Creek running along the base. That was neat and let me use my compass skills to keep us going in the right direction even when the van and picnic tables were out of sight.
Our next hike was one of the higher dunes in the park called “High Dune on First Ridge.” Literal but appropriate nonetheless. Just like with Eastern Dune there are no formal trails and you need to be careful.
In the park there are five dunes over 700 feet tall. Yepper campers, I did say 700 feet. According to the trail description: “The high dune on the first ridge is neither the highest in elevation nor the tallest in the park, but it looks that way from the main parking lot. This is the most common destination in the dunefield, providing a great view of the entire dunefield. It is about 699 feet from base to top. Cross a half-mile of the Medano Creek bed, then zigzag up along ridgelines to reach it.”
I’m glad that I brought all the water that I did. It wound up being hotter and drier than I anticipated. Wearing our floppy trail hats that gave shade to both our face and the back of our neck at the same time also turned out to be a good idea. We took two hours to travel the 2.5 miles. Sounds ridiculous until you remember that we were traveling in loose sand much of that time. Some people take four hours to hike roundtrip, mostly because of high altitude and lower oxygen level though I’m thinking the inevitable sand in our boots didn’t help either. Thankfully I think if I stay below 11,000 feet I am okay but anything over that and I start to have to deal with altitude sickness. I need to see if we have any more of that on the adventure.
We went back and sandboarded for about an hour but since we are coming back to do it tomorrow again, it wasn’t hard to convince ourselves to go eat some dinner before our last activity of the day.
Dinner was a fully loaded omelet – I was too tired to fix anything else and it helped use up a few veggies that were getting beyond their prime – and a lot of water. Man were we dry as a bone. From there we headed to the activity called “Half the Park is After Dark!”
When Benny found out that there was a very special junior ranger patch he could earn he just about flipped out. It is called the Junior Ranger Night Explorer and I had quietly picked it up while we were at the visitor center yesterday. It worked well with the Ranger Walk we were going to out on the Dunes. The moon was full and you didn’t need a flashlight to see it was so bright. I wasn’t stupid of course; I had both a flashlight and a compass with me in a secure pocket.
Benny saw Chaz and his family and the two boys came together and I followed along quietly. I could tell I wasn’t the only one making sure I knew where the parking lot was; the trail wasn’t obvious even with the moon being so bright. When hiking back toward the Dunes Parking Lot, aim toward the left end of the long line of trees along Medano Creek. The parking area is located about 100 yards to the right of the end of the trees.
The boys were getting a kick out of looking for animals as much as at the sky. There was something called a camel cricket and then the kangaroo rats that were hilarious to watch. Supposedly there are also toads out there though I didn’t see one. Saw a couple of salamanders and a couple of owls in the sky. Heard at least one coyote but thankfully didn’t run into any bobcats. There was a group of people using flashlights to look for animals, ruining everyone’s night vision, but thankfully a couple of rangers spoke to them before I felt the need to get in their faces. My eyes are brown most of the time but in low light they sometimes turn hazel, and nothing ouches quite like getting pegged in the eye with a light beam when they are playing “what color am I”.
We stayed out longer than most people did and I had Benny to use his ears to listen and learn. That’s when we heard the coyote, but he also identified something scurrying across the sand, the sand blowing against rocks, and just the wind blowing in general. It was my way of teaching him to concentrate and use his ears to work around the “noise” rather than zone out when a noise bothers him or pegs his APD.
But eventually even we needed to head in and go back to camp. I had paid for the nights in advance which was $60 but I’d gotten notice that I got the 50% discount back on my card. That means that all three nights cost a total of $30. Not bad, not bad at all. The RV sites didn’t have hook ups but there was a dump station, a water station, and a camp store. Can’t beat that with a stick.
Both Benny and I were a bit chaffed in a couple of places from hiking without showering all the sand off. I put some butt paste on the spots and we both experienced some relief. Yowzer. Won’t be doing that again. Benny was ready for bed and all I did was borrow the signal from the camp store to post to the blog and then write this up. I’ve got tomorrow mapped out. By getting here early we’ve made time for a little bit of venturing in other directions. Hope Benny likes it.