Travel Blog, Monday August 2nd 2022

 

Photo credit: Karen Bryce

Monday:

Custer, South Dakota

Awake at 4:30am, up at 5.

At the Bavarian Lodge in Custer, there is a breakfast restaurant called the Feel Good Cafe. With sunshine in the air Mom, Karen, Alex, Nichole, Rebecca, and I all enjoyed a wonderful meal before our departure. Mom and I had vegetable quiche, blue berry muffin, and a large coffee. Our posse then headed west out of town towards our destination in Colorado. Much of our journey took us through Wyoming, which at times felt like driving across the moon. Beautiful, desolate, and NO cell service. Ten miles out side of Lusk Wyoming we found a stoplight in the middle of nothing. There was a crew doing road work. Two miles away at the other side of the valley you could see the stopped oncoming traffic at their light. The ordeal added a 20 minute delay, however it seemed like much less, because there was so much good conversation to be had with Mom. 

When we reached Laramie where the elevation is 7200 feet I had my first experience with altitude sickness. Thankfully mom volunteered to drive for a bit, and I discovered that a bit of water, and some snacks helped greatly. By the time we crossed the pass next to Walton Peek into Steam Boat springs Colorado we were at 9566ft I was feeling great. And it was so sunny and delightful, and the view of the valley over lake Catamount and into town was exhilarating. 

The town it’s self an obvious bastion of money, was full of new and desirable buildings. Our rental at 1020 Montview is by comparison, the cheep eats. The building a duplex had its attached neighbor for sale listed for 2.4 million. Eye opening to me for sure, this plain thread bear duplex was both in need of a bit of TLC and still had twice the value of my own waterfront home in Michigan. But let’s not knock it. The building held all 17 of us comfortably, and it had a hot tub!

After pizza for dinner we went on our evening walk and saw a mother moose with two baby moose in our yard. And yet more amazing than the moose in our front yard was the fact that all our family had managed to converge here within a few hours of each other. Simply amazing considering from how many places we had all began our journey. Mom (Eileen) from Richmond Michigan, Karen, Alex, Nichole, and Rebecca from New Baltimore Michigan, my self and my family traveling separately from Northport Michigan. Stacy and Craig traveling from Pennsylvania. Ashley and her wife (add name) from Minneapolis Minnisota. Brook and her fiancé Mark from Texas.

Before bed I did get a soak in the hot tub. The dip had rejuvenated me and I managed to rally my energy to stay awake until 10. It was great to see so many family members. And so this was the conclusion of the journey out. Four days of driving alone with Mom. It was the most time alone I had spent with her in my entire adult life. It was wonderful. I am so blessed to have her as Mom and friend. Also, on a side note, I realized that she is a bit of a chatter box. She kept the conversation rolling for the entire ride, and it was delightful.