Good Bye to Mornings on the Highline Canal Trail

In Denver all month, we walked the Highline Canal Trail every morning to catch the sun rise.

Flossy really liked spending a bit of time off leash, chasing squirrels and visiting with the ducks who shared the path and the mornings with us.

 Grasses blowing in the cool beneath the giant old cotton wood trees made shifting patterns as I thought about the day ahead, and asked for direction; for comfort sometimes.

 

Tomorrow we will be heading north and west, leaving Colorado - perhaps for the rest of our lives.

And although we are excited for the drive - who doesn't love a great summer road trip? - we are going to be sad, too.  My Father, born here, and my Mother, who raised our family, five miles from this neighborhood. 

Who ever thought we would be this old? 
Who ever knew we would travel so far?
And thank God...
we can't know these things.
We probably couldn't bear it.
 

I will be taking a little blog break now, but will be posting to my Instagram place as we travel, as well as visiting around Blogland in the interim.  Flossy and I wish all a beautiful end of May and hope to see you in early June when we get back to Seattle and whatever the future may bring.

Road Trip

Denver to La Junta Colorado, to visit my father's old home town.

On the way, we passed Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs, a hazy morning due to forest fires in other parts of the west.

Rocky Ford, Colorado - my Dad stayed in a room in this building during the Great Depression while he worked washing dishes in his Uncle Bob's Green Lantern Restaurant the summer he was 15 years old.

Rocky Ford's high school sports team name was emblazoned on a local shop window.  They were the rival to my Dad's home town team, the La Junta Tigers.

The storefront on the left was the site of the Green Lantern.

Figurines in a thrift shop window on the main drag in Rocky Ford.

Near La Junta we explored Bent's Old Fort, a trading post originally built during the mid-1800's as a trading post for the westward expansion of the United States.  They want you to stay on the trail, right?

Prickly Pear cactus and rattle snakes (not pictured, whew) menace those who stray.

The Fort lies along the Arkansas River.  The landscape is flat, flat, flat.

Old equipment bakes in the sun outside the entrance to the reconstruction.

Our most surprising discovery was the presence of a Peacock.  The docent said there was indeed a Peacock at the Fort during the olden days, serving as a guard bird.

Also surprising was this very friendly little cat who claimed to be a direct descendent of the cats who lived here in 1839.

The adobe structure utilized fur as insulation around doors and windows.

Bee Hive ovens inside the Fort.

Inside the thick adobe walls, the rooms were relatively cool.

View of the prairie through gun port on the second level.

After the Fort we had lunch and then started back to Denver.

 Along the way we saw lots of fields of corn, peppers, alfalfa, and melons, but pictures from the moving car didn't make good blog photos.

We stopped at a fruit stand and bought one of the lovely watermelons pictured in this bright yellow case.  Bought a cantaloupe, too.

Took a pass on the squash, but they were sure interesting shapes.

I will be traveling toward home again in a couple of days.  In the mean time, best wishes from Colorado.