Wow, the last couple of weeks flew by. I stayed off the grid for most of it. I didn’t have electricity, cell service or Internet and I’m telling you, there’s something to be said for getting away from everything. I went first to the Front Range to stay the night then off to my first Sisters on the Fly Event, which was a complete blast! I met some great gals. We had an event at the Altona Grange and gave tours of our trailers and raised money for both the Grange and for Casting for Recovery, a charity that provides fly fishing expeditions for breast cancer patients and survivors. On Sunday, 6/2, I drove on up to Rocky Mountain National Park and stayed two nights, then back to Denver to watch the grandchildren. We “practice camped” in their other grandma’s driveway. What a hoot! Then on Thursday night, I drove up into the Poudre Canyon. I guess I really didn’t know how bad the fire was up there last year. It was pretty devastated. I stayed one night in Dutch George Campground near the west end of the canyon where the fire damage wasn’t so bad. I love sleeping next to a river…very soothing.

While I’ve been on this trip, I have seen more wildlife than all of our travels combined with the exception of the trip to Yellowstone last year. Dan was the on that always saw bears when we lived in Pagosa Springs and I never saw one in Colorado, and I’ve lived here since 1975. So, I was talking to Mr. Virgo and thanked him for bringing all the animals to me to see on this trip. Then I chided him for not bringing me a bear. Last Friday morning I left early to head west toward Steamboat Springs. I was on CO 14 heading west and if you have never been over that way, you MUST put it on your bucket list. You climb and climb till to reach the top of Cameron Pass which is over 10,000 feet. There’s a reservoir at the top that was still half frozen so I parked in the lot to give the engine a chance to cool down. After awhile I took off down the other side. Just a little ways down, there is a pull off where you can get an amazing view and then the road has a sharp turn to the right. Just as I cam around that turn, there was the most beautiful, BIG bear standing alongside the road, not 15 feet from me. I reached for my camera and the disk was full! Argh! By the time I got my cell cameral open and ready, he just went right over the side of the bank and out of view. Mr. Virgo brought me my bear and I suppose it was just for him and me to have. Pretty neat!

When I got to Steamboat, I decided to keep going up to Steamboat Lake State Park and camped there for two days. I left there yesterday morning and decided to squeeze one more day into the trip and stayed at Sylvan Lake State Park south of Eagle. I have driven by that sign a zillion times and never went there. WOW! If you haven’t been there, that is another thing to put on your bucket list. The most amazing thing about it was the lack of pine beetle damage. So many places are just devastated with the majority of the pine trees dead and it’s been long enough now that they are falling and being removed. The valley up by Sylvan Lake honestly looks like Colorado did before the pine beetle infestation. The only bad part was, even on a Sunday, it was pretty packed, pretty noisy, and very smoky.

I got up early today and headed home. It’s so hot here compared to the alpine campgrounds I’ve been staying in. I emptied out the car and the trailer and everything is where I left it in the living room. Tomorrow I’ll start putting it away and doing laundry. Part 2 of the Grand adventure is over. I have met many wonderful people. I have made some great connections for my jewelry. But one of the best things that happened was connecting with women, telling them of my loss, and demonstrating to them that just because our spouses die, doesn’t mean we do and there is no reason why we can’t move forward, with whatever means we have available, and still have a life and create more joyful memories. I have tons of pictures and I found that I can’t put too many out at a time or it floods your page. So, while I am fussing around the house over the next couple of weeks, preparing for Part 3 of the Grand Adventure, I will post some of the better shots of Parts 1 and 2.

In the meantime, the Ritz Carlton where Mr. Virgo worked, is having a memorial service for him tomorrow and will plant a tree and place a plaque in his memory. This of course brings up lots of feelings, but now I can think of the happy things we did together and when I talk to people about him, I glow and tell people how wonderful he was and how grateful I am that I had him in my life. I am looking forward to the conversations I will have with his coworkers tomorrow.