This City Girl Only Lasted a Year

Last year I was settling into my new life in Montrose. I was reveling in my new, rural home with a great view; exploring Main Street and the farmer's market; getting into a new routine; and taking the boys to new parks and on scenic drives. As I read back over the blog for the past year, I have had many, many wonderful adventures for sure! A few heartbreaks, too.

The one part of the adventure that has been missing is having my nearest and dearest close by. While my family and friends have been adventurers themselves, coming out to visit and stay long weekends, my heart has had a hole in it since I moved. After working in hospice for the past year I have seen the impact of friends and family-or lack thereof-on my patients lives, and I have decided to change around my priorities. It isn't easy to find the same level of friendship and family support out here, and because of that I am going to return to where I know in my heart is home.

The next few weeks I will be doing some of my lasts visits to places that I have enjoyed, like the Ouray Hot Springs, Ridgway State Park, Telluride, and The Black Canyon...places that will no longer be in my backyard. I took some local pictures last week, just so I can remind myself in the future the many highlights small town living has held for me this past year...

My awesome front porch and the little Fall touches

Grandview Cemetery, my favorite place to walk

The Grandview Cemetery Garden

Chester and Stan's prayer stone stacks at Dennis Weaver Memorial Park

The view on the way to Ouray

Hay (I will miss the cows, horses and sheep that delight in it!)

I came to Denver this weekend, though, and had a few realizations. One was that I really enjoy "getting away" on weekends, which is what the mountains will be for me now. Being out of the city will become a treat instead of a lifestyle and that is okay with me. I also realized I can have parties again. Not that I couldn't in Montrose but I didn't have a lot of people to invite! I can re-join book club and have dinner with my family. I can plan holidays without worrying about the weather. I can see plays, art shows, symphonies, and take my God-children out on playdates. I can go to birthday parties and sip wine with good friends. I can settle in, get another dog, buy a house and make a garden. I can, in essence, return to the very things that make my heart sing.

The Western Slope has been good to me, but the city is just waiting for me to crack open all the delights once again.

Wrapping up

I am wrapping up my weekend in Taos and heading home today. Yesterday I intended to go to Santa Fe for the day but got sidetracked by the beautiful drive on the High Road, the art galleries along the way, the various cemeteries and some time in Chimayo. I came back to Taos and ate the best chile relleno I have had in a long time for lunch. Then I headed to Arroyo Seco, a small little village on the way to the Taos ski area. It is a super cute little place with lots of fun galleries and shops, and home to the Taos Cow ice cream. Last night I finished my day with dinner at Doc Martins at the Taos Inn and listened to music in the hotel lobby. I love coming to Taos and know it is always here for a soulful getaway!

Taos

Mom and Dad took a trip to Arizona and were going to spend this weekend in Taos on their way back to Denver. Taos always sounds like a good idea to me, so I am joining them. I drove from Montrose yesterday and met them at the hotel-we are staying at Inn on the Rio. It is a remodeled motor lodge just down Kit Carson road from The Plaza. It is owned by Robert and Jules, and their dog Stormy. It is a wonderful home away from home, complete with Jules' homemade breakfast, Robert's homemade bread, and their cute hotel touches.

Driving down Kit Carson road there is this field of yellow flowers. I took a few for Dad so he can try to grow some at home.

Today, there was the Saturday Farmer's Market. The produce...oh the produce! There were so many delicious looking foods, and delicious looking flowers, too.

At the Farmer's Market, I decided to get my palms read by a woman intuitive. She described me perfectly to a tee, and we both delighted in each other during the reading.

We went to a little outdoor art market at the park and then returned in the afternoon for wandering the shops in The Plaza and on Bent street. Everything is so vibrant in Taos this time of year!

Tomorrow Mom and Dad leave after another helping of Jules' cooking. I am heading to Santa Fe for the day and to drive the High Road. I will stay again in Taos tomorrow night and then head back to Montrose. Being in Taos is a refreshing getaway for the soul!

A little bit of a French country experience

I have been branching out a bit and hanging out with some of my co-workers. I was hesitant when I started this job to get too socially involved with my co-workers. It is a very small world out here, and I suppose I was feeling a little protective of my personal space. I also believe in boundaries, especially with the kind of work I do, because I would hate for personal issues to ever get in the way of the work environment. Lately, though, since I realized that making friends with people who have my same interests has been challenging out here, I decided to take my co-workers up on social events. We all love happy hours, festivals, live music, dancing, food, and art, so most ideas that are offered-a happy hour here, a concert there-have had the perfect balance of doing something enjoyable without having to share too much personal information.

This last Friday, my co-worker Nina asked if I would like to join her for a fundraiser for the Paonia Mountain Harvest Festival that is held at the end of September at a vineyard outside of Hotchkiss. I decided why not and we reserved space for two. The vineyard is Leroux Creek Inn and Vineyard and it has a bed and breakfast as well as acres of grapes. There are horses and ducks and dogs that roam the property, along with spectacular gardens and a small pond. The event cost $40 and included food, some wine, and live music. The vineyard and inn is owned by a French man and his wife, which of course made it feel like I was in another country. The food was small plate food, but was delivered in a lovely manner...the sides of the barrels that were used to age the wine were cut into long serving dishes. On these lay grape leaves, pate, a small beet salad, cheeses, prosciutto, pickled onions. Along with these delicacies were warm bread and olives. After this feast (which they kept bringing more of whatever we wanted) there was a peach tart with cream.

The evening was clear, just after a rain storm, so the sky started to turn the pinks and yellows that it does at sunset. The vineyard is located on a mesa so the view was wonderful. The band played fun rock and roll music and Nina got up and danced-I just sat back and enjoyed the experience. I didn't bring my camera, but check out the link below for a video about this charming and unexpected piece of French country right here in Colorado!

http://vimeo.com/92415056

Just gettin' away

If there are any benefits at all to having lost "The Boys" is that I can up and go whenever I want without worrying about who will take care of them. Granted, I would rather go nowhere and stay home than not have them around, but such things are out of my control. I had managed a long weekend in Denver recently; Thursday night I stayed in Grand Junction to see some friends, one of whom was traveling for work; and Saturday night I decided to stay in Crested Butte.

I started my little getaway at the Gunnison car and craft show. I am not usually someone who pursues going to a car show, but Gunnison is on the way to Crested Butte so I thought I would stop by. There were rows of impressive cars from the past and present, lots of beautiful colors, and proud owners who would tell you anything about the history of the car.

My favorite, as I have become a "Maisie Dobbs" mystery reader of late, is the little black MG. Maisie drives a red MG, but it was still fun to see this little number.

There were some intriguing ones, as well as a police car that reminded me of those in old school cartoons.

I headed up to Crested Butte and was reminded of what a beautiful drive that is. Once I got into town I was reminded of just how I think it should be rated #1 on The Cutest Small Towns of Colorado list!

Ahhh...The Internet

I love staying in hotels for a number of reasons, but since I unplugged from the Internet one of the main reasons is I get to spend time on the Internet. So, if you have noticed, I have updated the font and design of my blog because...yes...I am staying at a hotel.

Last weekend in Denver I told Meg, "OK, I really should get the Internet." And she looked at me in that way someone does when they want to say, Duh!, and she said, "Yeah, it would be nice to be able to email each other more."

Email, such an antiquated aspect of having Internet, and poor Meg is missing even that from me.

I have been resistant because where I live in Montrose people have told me the only thing available is dial up or satellite, both of which are very slow. And I don't do well with slow Internet...it is either high speed or nothing for me. The other day, however, I got a little advertisement in the mail that said, "HughesNet now has high speed Internet in your area!" So, I suppose I owe it to Meg to at least research that as well as Internet through my satellite TV provider.

I am at a hotel this weekend because I decided to take a little trip to Crested Butte. I LOVE this mountain town in the summer. The town is one of the most charming mountain towns ever, and the drive is so stunning with the ranches at the base of Mount Crested Butte. Yesterday I went to the Gunnison car and craft show on my way up to CB. I will post pictures at a later date as there were some wonderful classic cars on display. When I got to CB I wandered around downtown for quite some time. This morning I plan on a nice walk and then the farmers' market starts at 10am.

I feel that I owe it to myself to enjoy the various beautiful parts of Western Colorado since I live out here, so while the weather is gorgeous I plan to be out and about!

Reminiscing...a few old posts back in the day...

Last night I had a dream that included Chester and Stan. It felt like a positive dream as I awoke feeling pretty good. It prompted me to look at posts from my other blog about the boys from the past...

"Over the weekend Mike and I primed the basement floor...we are finally finishing that project. We forgot to put the baby gate up and upon waking from a lovely, long and luxerious nap we found painted paw prints all over the house. Yikes! You guessed it...our sweet and innocent Stan went down the basement, directly to his food bin (it was obvious the path he took) and upon discovering it was locked he came upstairs. Lovely. Lucky for us the paint came right up, especially off the hardwoods AND newly laid kitchen tile. Stan...gotta love him."

"My baby Chester is feeling okay. The vet said that he had an obstruction of sorts, and before she took him into surgery he went outside and pooped out the obstructor. A peach pit. Where the h%^* did he get a peach pit? She said he is feeling better, but we have to watch him the next 24 hours. His rapid weight loss concerned her so if he is still sick we will need to take him back in. Poor guy...I hate it when my guys (all 3 of them) aren't feeling well. Glad to know Ches is on the up and up."

"Last night, I got super irritated with Stanley and Chester (Stan especially). I was making dinner and they rudely forced themselves in between me and the counter. They were both licking the air, hoping to catch miscellaneous pieces of food that may fall from the heavens. I finally pushed them out of the kitchen. Then, as we sat down to eat (in front of the TV) Stan kept hovering over the food, thinking that one of these steaming plates of steak were his. I got mad again, telling him to lay down. Mike came to Stan's defense. I felt guilty (still do). So, guys, this one's for you. You know that I love you three with all my heart. You are my guys."

And this one...my all time favorite!

"Mosquito bites lurking in random places. Still groggy. Dirt in my nails, still, after showering. These are all signs that I went camping this past weekend. Mike and I took the boys for their first camping trip. How cute, you must think. How peaceful. How serene. Well, I hate to say it, but none of these things actually describe our experience! But, no matter how tired I was the next day, no matter how cranky I got, or how much mosquitoes enjoy my sweet blood, I want to go again and again. We drove up Friday afternoon to Homestake Creek, which is outside of Minturn going toward Leadville. We had discovered that spot a few years back, and thought it would be great for our first family camping trip. We got there around 5:30pm and there were hardly any places left to make camp. We found a spot that was not ideal, with a huge family camping behind the trees in front of us and a lone man with a tricked out jeep to the side of us. We decided it would be fine, since it was so late in the afternoon trying to find another place to camp would be hard. We set up camp and went for a walk. We took the boys off leash and they went romping through trees, over rocks, and in the creek. This was one highlight of the night. We got back to camp and started to make dinner. The lone man came over and started talking to us-he was meeting a bunch of friends to go 4X4-ing over the Holy Cross City jeep trail. We made dinner-soup, bread and cheese (it sounded good when we planned it...)-and then had a hot chocolate before going to bed (another highlight of the evening). Now, let me put this in context. We had Chester and Stanley attached to 20 feet of thin rope that was secured to the truck bed. They got all tangled, inside and out so the night consisted of constantly untangling them. Earlier in the evening we had them tied to a stake in the ground, but when the family camping across from us and their dog walked by, that stake was history. We also took too much stuff. I felt like I was constantly digging through our plastic bin for cups, food, spoons, etc. When we did sit down to eat, I felt like the only words coming out of my mouth were, "Sit, no, stay" because the dogs really wanted to eat our dinner. And the dinner...it sounded good when I packed it, but that night it was pretty anticlimactic. Canned soup, bread, and cheese...people in jail eat better than that. Our hot chocolate was weak, we split a packet between ourselves and it wasn't very good. So, I was actually looking forward to going to bed. That was when it all took a turn for the worse. The buddies of the guy next to us finally showed up, it was about 10pm. They had a huge bonfire that we could see through our tent walls. Someone slept with his engine on all night. We were right off the road, so car headlights kept shining through our tent. The boys were still a little damp from their romp in the water earlier, and Stanley was a dirty mess. The night got cold, and the boys were both freezing. Chester was shivering so badly that at one point Mike had Chester's head in the sleeping bag. I remember at one point waking up (I woke up almost every hour) and thinking it was almost time to get up. I looked at my watch and said, "It's only 3:30!" Mike responded, "better than it only being midnight." So true. Around that time, the boys kept wanting to leave tent, so at one point I was laying there clutching onto Stan's leash so he couldn't. 5am rolled around and we got up. We made coffee from these coffee singles that were years old and tasted that old. Although we did bring ingredients to make pancakes, we decided to pack it all up and head to Vail, where McDonald's was calling our names for a hot breakfast and good cup of coffee. I think we left the campsite at 6:30am. We were all exhausted after our long night, but spent the morning in Vail and Leadville. When we got home, we crashed for about 2 hours. Why would I want to subject myself to that again? In all the frustration, it was good to get away. I think the next time we will find a place that is more secluded. The next time I think we will pack it all in backpacks. We will get the boys their own sleeping bags. I don't want to give up. Did I mention we have a 5 day camping trip planned for July? That ought to be interesting!"

Ahh...I miss my guys, all 3 of them.