So far so good. The air is thinner, the sun is brighter, the food comes in a much wider variety, and the people watching is hysterical. I don't know how many times Theresa and I have remarked that our friend Dave Holmes should live here, he would fit right in (the CO Granola Atmosphere would provide endless amounts of joy for him).
We arrived on Thursday afternoon after a busy day of driving to the airport in Richmond and napping on air planes. It was fun to have someone to fly with as per my routine of solo travel, and we were able to speculate what our trip out west would look like. In addition to the purpose of this visit which was to see and hang out with Alicia, we have seen some really cool stuff. The Garden of the God's was beautiful even though Pike's Peak was covered with clouds... and we were able to walk around and enjoy the mild weather.
Friday Alicia took us out to Frontier and Trail West, which was really great as we've never seen those two properties. An absolute highlight was seeing Tricia (the National Retail YL Manager), and having lunch with her in the small town of Buena Vista. I also loved seeing Meredith (the Store Manager at Frontier), and Julie (a chef at Trail West), as they have been fun friends to make and know through Young Life. Little reunions are always fun.
The great thing about seeing YL Camps is the idea that while I no longer am on staff, my relationship to Rockbridge is still so strong- so the idea of "We're all in this together, we are all serving the same God for the same purpose", really means quite a bit when you see partners in the Ministry. I have been so blessed by relationships when working on staff, and being able to connect with some of those friendly faces during the day on Friday meant quite a bit.
Today was probably one of those days that comes along in a blue moon, you always think you are going to make time for it when you are at home in your routine but the truth is, you never seem too. Theresa and I headed out around 10am, grabbed breakfast at a great local joint and then walked the cute little downtown area. We stopped in some gift shops that inspired me, and made me really want to pursue having my own shop... this is a good thing- even if the notion completely overwhelms me. We sat at Pikes Perk a local coffee shop and had the best people watching- from a gambling addict talking on the phone next to us about how much he lost recently, his three legged dog, a mid 30 something man and woman on their blind date and their awkward conversation and body language...to just the every day Joe's and plain Jane's of the area. We moved along to Chipotle for lunch (a shout out to Stegs), then continued on our way. We both spent a ridiculous sum of money on shoes that we thought about before buying (we walked around the block for 10 minutes and then went back in to debate the purchases for a good 30 minutes before a credit card was swiped). Moving along to a fantastic used book store/gift shop/coffee shop/wine bar/chocolate bar we spent another chunk of time sipping hot beverages, reading and writing, people watching, and thinking "wow what a great day". We returned back to Alicia's around 6:15pm after spending the entire day on a stretch of town not much longer then 6 blocks (well, it could be bigger I'm just bad with distances like that).
We've had a lot of great moments, sincere belly aching laughs, meaningful conversations, and quiet restful times to enjoy the in-between. It's been a great trip. We are thankful for it, each other, and the great hospitality provided by Alicia.
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