Since hyphen is lazy about getting me gifts, I cajoled him into a family camping trip in lieu of a Mother's Day/ anniversary present. Colorado. Cool weather in August. Beauty. Peace. Tranquility.
He agreed, partially because he wanted to buy a space trailer, because he can't travel in the van if it's messy(there is a phrase for this, I think it is known in the medical community as bat shit crazy). So we had this new puppy who we couldn't board, two wild children,a bunch of camping gear, and a dream road trip, if you like road trips, which I do.
Drive to canyon tx, see the texas show in palo duro state park, leave the next day, drive to colorado. Arrive. Enjoy the mesa verde national park ( where we were staying) on Monday, whitewater raft on Tuesday, train trip on Wednesday, head to another camp ground higher in the mountains for the rest of the week. Come home on Saturday. Done. Perfect vacation.
Until the vacation gods decide to take a big, big crap on you.
We got to canyon. We ate at a cafe. We were going to get ice for our coolers, when the van crapped out on us. The same van we had spent tons of money on earlier in the summer to get ready for all these road trips.
Now Canyon is in west Texas. And it is hundreds of miles away from the hustle and bustle of Houston. It is one of those places where nothing is open on Sunday. Or much past five on Saturday. We managed to pull into an o' Riley auto parts right as they were closing. Alternator. Nearest place to fix it was in Amarillo, but the next day was Sunday and there was not a lot open. The show at the state park was starting in 3 hours. The girls were getting worried. Numerous phone calls were made, including one to my dad, who went to college in canyon, and grew up not too far from there.
Through the miracle of small towns, his sister has a friend in canyon. A stranger gave us a ride to the hotel, and hyphen a ride to Amarillo see about a rental car and car repair shops. I called my aunt's friend. My conversation went like this " hi, my name is Stella stevens, I am e------ n------ niece." His taciturn west Texas reposnse? "I'm sorry." Ok. So this dude gave the girls and I a ride to the show. He's totally getting a christmas card.
Long story short, we got the car fixed on Sunday. Which was our anniversary. I am leaving out the part about how the firestone in Amarillo was out of power for a few hours, but that doesn't matter. It was fixed. And at four o'clock, we were on our way. We decided to stay at a Koa in Santa Fe. On our way, I share with hyphen what I learned from my aunt's friend while he was taking us to the texas show--there was some kind of chemical spill in silverton, which was affecting the river downstream in Durango, and that white water rafting may not happen. Just some toxic sludge. Thanks EPA.
We arrived at the Koa, in the dark of night. Ever pitched a tent at night? Don't. Got up the next morning, packed up and enjoyed downtown Santa Fe, which is lovely, and I will move there some day. We continued to Durango, all the while calling the whitewater rafting place, trying to figure out what was going on. We decided whitewater rafting was probably not going to happen, so we tried to find a place that would take us horseback riding. And when I say us, I mean Tallulah. The minimum age for most outfitters was six. I started my conversations out like this "I've got a kid who is almost 5, we won't say she is 4, we will say she is almost 5..."
We arrive in Colorado on Monday afternoon, but notice that the car is still acting funny. We make camp, and as we head for the showers, I notice I can barely turn the wheel of the van. We decide that it is better to spend Tuesday trying to fix the car. So we spend a fair amount of Tuesday at a Firestone station, then we decide to check out the train station, and I call the dog kennel to confirm our reservation for while we are on the train ride the next day. Turns out that whoever took out reservation, despite the fact we discussed my puppy's age, did not have to authority to let us go there. The puppy was too young. So we scramble and beg and cajole before we find a private, in home, dog sitter who will take her. They are my fb friends now. We are also scrambling to find a horseback riding place, since the river is totally contaminated. We find a place that doesn't care about 4 year old kids being safe, get on the horses, and then, it starts to thunder. And thunder some more, but the horse people assure us, that the rain always goes around the mountains. Twenty minutes later, I am soaked to the bone, and laughing, and my guide says "I guess you must like rainstorms." Not particularly, but there was nothing else to do at this point.
But may I now just say, that riding horses with my family in the San Juan mountains in Colorado, is my most favorite thing to do in the world.
On Wednesday we drop the car off again to get some power steering thing fixed, while we have our train excursion.
I saw real waterfalls, falling off the sides of mountains. Real waterfalls.
By the end of the day, the car was fixed. And we were exhausted. We decided to stay in Mesa verde, we saw in the indian ruins on Thursday, and on Friday, we headed home, a day early, because I needed a break from my Mother's Day/ anniversary present.
But now, if I want to feel peace, I think of my horse ride. My horse liked to be last, so I was separated from the girls and hyphen. This made me nervous at first, but once I saw my tiny, but mighty, Tallulah guiding her horse, controlling her horse with her reins--like a natural horsewoman, I stopped worrying at all. I just started enjoying. And this scenery has replaced that one spot on frio river, the one with the blue clay bottom and the cliffs, as the place my brain likes to go to calm down.
Hyphen drove the whole way home, and as we drove home through New Mexico, we listened to that old Paul Simon song, hearts and bones, which although sad, somehow perfectly fit where we were. Tell me why, why don't you love me for who I am where I am? Becuase that's not the way the world is. This is how I love you babe. This is how I love you babe.
And now we are back on our busy street. School has begun, soccer games tomorrow morning, ballet, CCE, funrun stuff, get kids up, make breakfast, make lunches, laundry, clean the house, shuttle children, puppy crapping every where but the grass, PTA meetings, homework, friend with new baby, funrun kickoff--just the slings and arrows of raising kids in 2015. And that is just my list. I am not running several multi million dollar businesses. That is someone else in my house.
So forgive me for looking back through the cracks in the door, for thinking about when we were free to wander wherever we chose. And while I am not ready to laugh about the griswoldian vacation, I do notice that we never said one harsh word to each other during it.
But annabelle, annabelle who reads joke books before bed, sees the humor. Her back to school essay went something like this, " our car broke down. The epa spilt chmcals. It rained while we rode our horses.." There is a picture of a black car, an orange river, and a horse who looks to be pooping.... I am filing that in my keep forever folder. It's a real folder I have upstairs in the attic, not to be confused with the one I have in my heart.
