Camping by the creek!

I’m baaaaack! Once the graduation festivities were over, I could pack up the camper and get up to the mountains to visit my brother and camp for a bit. As soon as I arrived, I got a weather bulletin for the mountains of Colorado stating there is a winter storm warning for Friday and Saturday. They are predicting 4-10” of snow with up to a foot to a foot and a half in the higher elevations! Well, as much as I personally detest snow…I’m praying they get tons because it is SO dry here! And, that puts a kink in my plans. I immediately asked the campground to extend my stay at least one day and possibly two, which they did. Then I called Daughter #2 to tell her I may not be back in time to see her on Sunday. Then I called Mr. FixIt and said I’d probably have to extend my stay till after Memorial Day in order to spend more time with my daughter and to have a better chance of finding campsites on the way home.

The drive up was gorgeous. It was in the mid-seventies and sunny with big puffy white clouds. The traffic wasn’t bad at all and moved right along. This town is so vastly different than it was when we moved here in 1986. There are so many more people living here now and the number of tourists is off the charts. It’s bittersweet…it was just a sleepy little mountain town back then. Now it’s like a bee hive. I supposed the feeling is exacerbated by the fact we live on five acres out in the country and the little “town” we live near has a population of 888 people.

There are some good things around still. My favorite doughnut shop and coffee house is still there, as is my favorite clothing and shoe stores. I’m hoping to run into the Thursday morning coffee group that have been meeting every week for three decades. I’m going to visit a friend on Friday morning that I haven’t seen in years. I’d love to get a massage at one of the many spas in town and then soak in the local hot springs. I’m going to be so pampered by the time I head home!

There is a bear that frequently visits this campground so I went to Walmart and bought some bear spray. It’s now sitting just inside the door of the camper. The biggest thing is to not keep a lot of smelly food in your camper or vehicle. And always, always, always lock the car doors and keep the windows rolled up. A bear has no problem opening a car door or pulling a window out if it can get a hold of it.

This is a very small campground and the sites are relatively close together. Someone started playing loud music at 8:45 last night and I am so glad I brought my noise canceling headphones! I just put them on, turned on my rain and thunderstorm sounds and I was good to go. I could even sleep like that if I have to but there is a noise ordinance here from 10pm to 8am. Hopefully they enforce it. That is my one pet peeve about campgrounds…loud music. That’s not what I come to the mountains for. I won’t harsh their fun, but it’s a shame when they disturb the fun of others.

I’ll spend some time with my brother today at his day program. He said he’d be coloring and I asked if I can colors with him. He said yes, and that he might be reading, too. So, I’ll bring a good book…or my knitting…and we can sit in companionable silence. 

?

“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:30-31 ESV

#Rest, #Relaxation, #Camping, #Colorado