Travel Blog Saturday August 7th, 2022

 

Photo credit: Scott Cain "Fish Creek Falls Trail"

Saturday:

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Wake at 4:30am

First one up yet again. We are packing up to leave our vacation rental this morning. My morning routine has a typical rut here. I get up and quietly make my way for the kitchen with my laptop. In the kitchen there is a light on over the sink. It’s still dark out, but that will not last long. I set my computer down on the large wooden kitchen table. Then this is where I will sit for the next hour or so to write.

Before writing, I return to the counter next to the fridge, and turn on the coffee pot. I love Coffee, but for what ever reason, I can’t seem to drink much of it at this elevation. I learned to restrict myself to just one and one half cups per morning. Craig is usually the next person I see. We say hello to each other, and then he opens his own laptop, and turns on the TV and news. We don’t talk much. It’s clear we both have a quiet morning routine, and we leave each other to our selves. Second person I typically see is Mom. She is always made up and ready for the day. When she shows up in the kitchen, I am ready to stop what I am doing. We exchange a hug and good morning hello’s. She always asks if I want to go for a walk, and I always say yes. Today Saturday, our last day here we only walk a short distance. There is much on our minds before leaving. But the morning is sunny and cool. Our walk through the neighborhood is cheerful. Soon all the family is up and we are loading out the house into our respective vehicles. Pamela had rented us a black Toyota Highlander, similar to the car we own at home. After all the cars are loaded, and we have said all our goodbyes, we depart the home we all enjoyed for 6 days. I leave this spot with gratitude. It is amazing that we could house 17 people under one roof as a family, and we all got along as if we had been practicing for years. Call it wha you will. I choose to think there was a good bit of David there with each of us. 

On our drive down to Denver, I have decided halfway up the mountain that I do not like the Highlander. It’s constantly beeping at me for every infraction. For example, if I get to close to the white line it beeps at me. It’s not an easy task to have perfect lane centering on winding mountain roads. So it is constantly squawking for that and a multitude of other things. As we are driving up the mountain out of town, when we realize we are low on fuel. We calculate that we have 39  mile of fuel available and 41 mile to the next gas station. So, at the top we turn around and head back to town for gas. Back on the road to Denver I am driving through the Colorado mountains. It is beautiful, but not so enjoyable. The road is winding, and as we get closer to Denver traffic is getting very heavy. Also Pamela is critiquing my driving even more critically than the Highlander. By the time we have passed through the Eisenhower tunnel I am at my wits end. Crazy aggressive drivers, beeping car warnings, Pamela scolding me. I don’t even know how I made the remaining drive. I am silently filled with emotion. My words cannot help anyone so I turn on the quiet mode to full. By the time we were at our hotel I huddled inside my head with no words. 

At our destination the Hotel is a Westin, it is located in downtown Denver. It’s clean and comfortable. It’s location in the business district is quiet. Near by there is 16th street with many shops and restaurants. It’s full of people from all walks of life. Sadly there are many homeless and transient people living on this same street. Surprisingly the level of filth feels more like Mexico than the US. None of us feels particularly happy with the environment. We look in vain for a restaurant Pamela finds agreeable. In the end we decide Colins first choice after Pamela has shown much displeasure at the food choices. The food at PF Changs was very salty, but it was 5pm and I had not eaten since 6am, so I found I was very grateful to finally get fed. After that we went back to the hotel. I lounged around and scrolled Ticktoc for the next few hours while Pamela went shopping for a suitcase, and Colin and Avery went swimming in the hotel pool. I had my eyes closed by 8:30. Tomorrow we fly home.