Sunday, July 27, 2008

a series of perfect moments

we've just returned from five days in gorgeous colorado. it was one of those trips that strung together a series of perfect moments, each small but rich in their impact.

the first two days was spent in denver, where the highlight of the trip was seeing a dear friend from college and her fabulous south african husband. we spent five hours on their patio catching up, talking about favorite trips taken, politics and economics and the state of the world. it was one of the most enjoyable, stimulating and thoughtful conversations i've had in awhile. i miss this friend dearly, and felt so glad we could pick up after all these years. it was a sign of a true, great relationship.

once we took leave from the pollocks, we joined up with team engel, aka mickey's family for baseball at coors field. rockies won due to a routing 7 run first inning against the pirates. beyond that, it was a great night at the park -- the thunderhead clouds moved in later in the game, just in time for sunset, and we saw in the sky why the rockies' colors are purple.


it helped that our seats were dynamite. roughly 30 rows up behind first base, with full view of the sky and the field.

following our stopover in denver, team engel headed west to breckenridge, where we'd rented a beautiful "cabin" that was equipped with central stereo, theater room, a gourmet kitchen, three balcony decks that faced the ski runs, and too many remote-controls for light switches. this was the first family vacation i'd experienced with team engel in its entirety (plus one -- miss kate, scooter's "ladyfriend" who i was thrilled to have there as the only other honorary team engel mate). miraculously, we all behaved ourselves, got along swimmingly, with no fights, no upset stomachs to ruin the vacay, and no hurt feelings at the end of the trip.

scooter and miss kate at the coors brewing company in golden, colorado

i grew up traveling through colorado to visit my grandparents, and so the area has a soft spot in my heart, almost a second home. this trip brought many of those sentimental feelings back -- the deep blue skies against the towering 14K peaks, the little back country towns where, free of my parents and the backseat of my family stationwagon of my childhood, i could get out and experience what these little ski towns had to offer (mostly microbrews). also, i finally fulfilled a childhood dream of mine: floating the arkansas river.


pre-raft trip on the arkansas

i was glad to get to know the feminine members of team engel -- my SIL and scooter's aforementioned ladyfriend. chelle and i have not spent a ton of time together in the 12 years i've been with her brother. one afternoon, she and i stayed back at our "cabin" to drink wine, cook dinner together and unwind from the day's shopping madness in silverthorne. miss kate was also a delight, and i knew we'd be fast friends when i found out her hair stylist now is the same guy i went to in college (and that chelle knew from her days living in lincoln). miss kate is tight with "kirky" so she called to tell him that we all remembered him. between our hair stylist and common love for coach purses, the three of us are now thick as thieves.

and my final perfect moment -- a small grove of aspen trees outside my bedroom window.


view the flickr set for more perfect moments.