Vacation Time

I haven't had many vacations in the last decade or so.  Too busy working and dealing with 'must do's'...

A few days after my birthday, I flew off to visit daughter Leah in Colorado.

I just got home - 12 days later.  When I do it, I do it big!  LOL

I landed in Grand Junction around 9 AM and Leah met me with our plan to visit Mesa Verde!  I have always thought I wanted to see that some time, so we decided no time like the present!  It was a good 4 hour drive in the opposite direction of her home, so we left from the airport.

Extreme difference in topography than what I'm used to.  Pretty, but not the easy driving of the plains states :)

Leah's research had her deciding we should stay in the Mesa Verde park, and we are sure glad we did.  The motel wasn't fancy - no tv, no wifi, and a bit rustic, but it was clean and the beds were comfortable.  Bonus was it saved a lot of miles on challenging roads.  Lots of curves, mountains, steep drop offs and even a tunnel.

Fascinating stuff!  I didn't take alot of photos as Leah had her 'big camera', but my small auto camera did ok.  There were older sites than the cliff dwellings and museum and other learning spots that were really neat.  I wouldn't mind going back again!  We were so enthused we saw a great portion of the sites on the night we got there.  The temperature was perfect and not much traffic that time of day.

The next afternoon, we left that park and headed home by way of Utah.  We decided to take the 'straighter roads' around and then we would have the opportunity to check out Arches Park.

As starkly beautiful as the landscape was, we didn't enjoy this park as much.  There was alot of traffic, it was windy and had gotten a bit warmish.  You see alot from the car, but if you are an avid hiker, this park is for you.  We were not prepared with footwear, water, hiking equipment, etc.  I think I could appreciate this park almost as well by the pictures :)  But we were driving right by, so I'm glad we went in.

When we got to Leah's we finished off the weekend with helping their friends brand a small group of cows and also do some roping practice at another friends place.  A graduation party and getting a tour of more places around their home made me ready for the week while everyone else was at work.  I took pointers from Leah's cat Jack in relaxation and did some napping and reading... not that Jack reads...

Flew home on Friday, late flight.  Very bumpy - enough that the flight attendants stayed strapped in and no drinks or snacks for the flight.

I stayed with my son so I could see my infectious disease doctor.  My incision had some changes right before my trip and I dread that I'm going back to prior problems.  I took antibiotics while I was traveling and the last few days the area has improved, so maybe that is it.  We are in wait and see mode yet again.

All for now,  JULIE