Week 8: Colorado

Week eight – my favorite week yet.  Colorado is a dream.  It is wild, unpredictable, diverse, and full of adventures waiting to happen.   We’ve experienced the drastic change of the penetrating heat of a dusty dry desert and transitioned to sleeting rain, icy roads and freezing hands and toes within a single day. We’ve seen mountains glazed with snow – touched the snow ourselves – and shaded our eyes against the intense ray of the sun, walking on ground cracked and dry from lack of rain.  We’ve gone from teeming cities to isolated valleys surrounded by mountains, lakes and wildlife.  We’ve visited museums and climbed mountains.  It’s been a dream.

Sunday our Colorado adventures began.  We met up with a couple who discipled 

Dad as a new believer and college student.  It was wonderful to meet them, spend the evening talking with them and hearing stories from their interesting life.  From college ministry to missionary life in Ghana, they had a lot of wisdom and experience to share with us. 

The next day went to visit the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs. We experienced the Whit’s End replica, and even recorded a shortened Adventures in Odyssey radio drama in the Kids Radio studio. A life long dream of staring in radio theatre was partially fulfilled in me.  

The next day we visited Garden of the gods.  Talk about unique!  It was a reminder of how much diversity in land and nature a single few miles can hold. 

Later in the week we make the trip up Pikes Peak to one of the most breathtaking views of our lives.  Pikes Peak is the largest mountain peak and point of elevation in the United States, with the height reaching a grand total of 14,114ft.  We made it 2/3 of the way up the mountain and discovered that it wasn’t only raining – it was sleeting! We hopped out of the car and found ourselves suddenly shivering in the cold, thin air.  Our stop was prolonged due to the icy roads, but we were finally given the ok to go the rest of the way up. The view speaks for itself. It was incredible.

Thursday we left Colorado Springs and drove six hours through the breathtaking Colorado terrain.  Mountains loomed up around us and streams of water gushed by the road or snaked through grassy valleys.  Trains chugged alongside the mountains and white water rafters cut through the gurgling waters.

We set up camp in Gunnison, Co in an area surrounded by mountains and wildlife, so isolated that even the cell phone signal fell dormant.  Along with a climb up a nearby mountain that David and I enjoyed, basketball playing on Brandon’s part, and general exploring the area, we began school.  Friday morning the structure of a school day began, and I, for one, welcomed it greatly.  Brandon began 10^th grade, Kaden 3d and Bethany k5.  David has an uncanny talent for escaping school duties and got away free for the day, while I greatly enjoyed the time to catch up on my Bible study course, Bulgarian studies, and writing, as well as spending some time working through a leadership book with Dad.  The day was ideal in my book – the disciplines of a school day in the morning, mountain climbing in the afternoon, and a trip to the pool in the evening.