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 10th
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.
