Life is a Highway: Part II {Colorado-Oklahoma}

As we traveled several thousand miles to our new home, I’m reminded of an Eskimo legend on how big the world is. The story goes…

Two couples lived together. One day, the two men fell to talking, "The world is big," said the first.

"How big?" said the second.

"Let's find out," answered the first.

So they took their sleds and set off in opposite directions. Their wives cried at parting from each other, but each accompanied her husband, running beside his sled.

Year after year they traveled. The wives had babies, and the babies grew up. Then they had children, and so on, until there were two whole tribes traveling across the ice.

The original couples grew old and frail. The men could no longer drive their sleds; the women could no longer keep up the pace beside them. But still they traveled.

At last, each of them saw movement in the far distance. They kept on going, and, finally, they met, back where they had started.

"The world is big," said the first man.

"Even bigger than we thought," answered the second

With modern transportation, the world doesn’t seem so big. In fact, with the luxury of cars, planes, and trains, we can now be on our families doorsteps within days, even hours. And so that’s what we did.


Colorado

Ron’s side of the tracks is Colorado, so making it an extended part of our road trip was a must.

First stop, Casa Bonita for a good time filled with mediocre Mexican food and cheesy entertainment --the cheese is what gives this place its charm, you know. The kids were mesmerized by the array of rainbow lights and Spanish props. And the way they had the restaurant set up made it feel like you were truly enjoying dinner in Mexico while the sounds of trumpets filled the air.

Krysta’s favorite part was watching the various acts, and the mariachi band was a big hit with William. If you’re ever in the Denver area, swing by for some Over the Boarder family fun.

Since we stayed overnight in Denver, we made extra use of our time by hitting up the Denver Children’s Botanical Gardens before heading down to The Springs.

The Botanical Gardens were equal parts beautiful, as well as educational. My babes loved running up and down the dirt paths in search of butterflies and hidden parts of the gardens, like tunneled caves and a tea party full of stuffed forest animals. William was digging the man-ish tea party which was fully equipped with tree trunk chairs and circular wood chips for stacking. We finally had to pry him away so sister could play in the water stream. After a small tantrum, William concluded that Oh hey, the water stream was just as fun.

Oh by the way, the entire botanical garden was built on a rooftop, which earns extra cool points.

We ended our Colorado stay by saving the best for last --visiting Ron’s peeps.

It’s so important to keep in touch, to see one another face to face instead of a phone call or social networking, so I was over-the-moon to be able to visit my in-laws after 4+ years, and to let my children see --in person-- their daddy’s side of the family.

I loved watching my dad in-law enthusiastically talk about their vegetable gardening with all the potential that it holds, along with re-landscaping their backyard with great passion and determination. I imagine their gardens (they currently have about five growing) full of juicy ripe vegetables and flower blossoms that attract various species of butterflies. I can’t wait to see how their backyard transformed during our next visit. They’ve inspired me to do a little gardening myself --you know, once we get settled into our new home.

Grandma’s trampoline was a hit….for ALL of my babes. And of course, Krysta couldn’t jump without brother wanting to jump. Monkey see, monkey do.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Colorado visit. It was full of laughs and catching up, bridging the gap of time between our last visit.

We ended the night with tight hugs and a “we’ll see you later” instead of goodbyes. I love ending trips this way…and tight hugs. They make you feel important and special and welcomed.

Note to self: head to the Rockies more often.

The remainder of this post isn’t elegantly put. Maybe it’s because it was so fast paced and we were aching to arrive in Oklahoma, after two weeks of being on the road.

Here are just a few snapshots from each state:

New Mexico

New Mexico was short and sweet. Just long enough to touch the tip, then move on to the next state. Before we left, we stopped at the giant dipped ice cream cone for chili dogs and to stretch our legs.

Texas

I wish we could’ve seen more of Texas. I’ve heard it’s really beautiful there, but the area that we passed through was super dry with spider web-like tumbleweeds and dust that rolled in like storm clouds. Now I know why in western movies the cowboys often times wear bandanas over their mouth. And here I thought it was just for holding up banks…

Now here we are. We’ve arrived at our final destination --Oklahoma.

The page has turned, a new chapter of our lives is beginning, and I can’t wait to create it!

Here’s to new beginnings. Cheers!
 
Em