Terami.com Blog

Last night we returned home from an autumnal vacation in Colorado. A bumpy ride in a seriously scary airplane, a long drive from the Durango airport, and a few thunderstorms later, we arrived at my dad's adorable cottage, which smells like pine needles and cinnamon. It's as if Mrs. Claus lives there, infusing the home with her sugary goodness and jolly delights. And fishing leuers.

The first day we just settled in, visiting our favorite restaurant, which serves mini muffins with every meal. The next afternoon, we headed out to Weminuche Valley. There were thunderheads in the sky, so we rode carefully up up up up up the mountains to find some tree color. We were almost too late, as most of the aspens were shedding the mortal weight of their leafy flames.

On our way out of the valley, I was lulled to sleep by the swivel of the car. It's a good thing, too! While I was unconscious, my dad and Kevin got stupid and went to a cliff and jumped to a disconnected point for this photo opportunity.

It doesn't look that bad. Right? Yeah. Look at the water on the left. That's a RIVER, not a trickling stream. And those are full-grown bushy trees, not shrubs, behind him. He's high, high high above solid ground. Like, 20 stories up. And that surfboard he's standing on? Yeah. He had to JUMP from the edge of the cliff to get over there. I don't even want to think about how he clawed his way back up.

Please don't think that I'm publishing this photo in order to glorify Kevin taking such risks. No. I'm publishing this photo so his mom will see it and scold him in ways I can't even fathom.

We also spent a lot of time at my dad's friends' house, which has a lake front view of the sunset. After several attempts of trying to break the camera with my face, I decided to give it my best side...

OK. Is this better?

(Note the lobster claw of hair reaching out from behind my left ear! It's huuuuuuuuuungry for my eyeballs.)

Later, we enjoyed a small hike by Williams Lake. I got my shutterbug on, snapping this portrait of the camera-shy Kevin, camouflaged by his indigenous environment.

(It's not snowing, by the way. Behind him is the rushing Williams Creek.)

The biggest event of our trip was the monster hike to Chimney Rock. I'm sure if you do a search on Google, you'll get mighty confused about just WHICH Chimney Rock we visited. So to make it easier for you, we visited THIS ONE. The road was closed to vehicles, so we hiked from the highway all the way up.

More than anything, the altitude was rough on us. (Well, the altitude and my bad choice of hiking shoes. My ankles are only now starting to forgive me for the brutality I inflicted with each step. Can anyone say blisters?)

Kevin, who lurves skipping rocks, tried to skip limestone on our way up the road. I got a good action shot of this, though nothing could capture the deadened applause of rock hitting gravel.

Check out the storm brewing. And the weirdos.

On our way down the road, Kevin and I decided to prepare ourselves for the storm in traditional Anasazi fashion. Stealth and subelty, people.

Of course, there were many other (less photogenic) moments during our trip. And, with that said:

Yesterday, I started to get ill. So today I'm in full cruddy bloom, stewing myself in a swamp of used tissues and nasal spray. However, with each blow of the nose, I'm happy to know that the bug of illness only came because I had waaaay too much fun on a high altitude, moody weather vacation. Yay for autumn.