Colorado

There are few places where I sense God's presence as keenly as Colorado. No doubt the breathtaking majesty of His creation there wakes something up in me that the Great Plains just doesn't inspire. My grandparents have lived in the Denver area my entire life (with the exception of a brief stint they took in Montana - also awesome), so I've been visiting there every couple of years since I was born. With them moving near my parents this fall, one last trip was in order, so that's exactly what we did last week. Along with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, our party of 5 loaded up into an RV and hit the road west.

There was a bit of fear and trepidation about how our kiddos would travel, I won't lie. But they did AMAZINGLY well. My mom brilliantly brought along lots of new items to entertain the masses, and the boys' cousin, Liam, brought along lots of "new" things that helped keep Grayson entertained for the duration of the drive. We even made it through the entire first day without relying on the TV/DVD player (not from lack of trying, however. The outlets in the RV were funky, and we couldn't figure them out at first). The first day we drove to Omaha and crashed at a campground there, enjoying swimming, hot dogs, and s'mores. Our second day brought us to the foothills of the Rockies where my grandparents and aunt and uncle from New Mexico awaited us. We had a great evening reconnecting, and the boys of course immediately located great-grandma's toys.

The first day out we drove a few miles from my grandparents' house to Deer Creek Canyon because Jeran just couldn't stop talking about climbing a mountain. So we lunched at the picnic area there then did some exploring. It was HOT hot hot, so we kept it short, but the boys loved it.

Day 2 was our day to celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday. We started out in the morning with a family photo shoot, joined by my aunt and cousins who also live in the Denver area. My aunt and one of my cousins were in the midst of preparations to move to Ecuador where they will be living/working/schooling for the year, so we were really glad that our visit fell at a time before they left.

The Gunnink Fam

We lunched at a park near G and G's house which also happened to be the site of the Columbine memorial, so we took the opportunity to take a look at that and reflect. It was pretty powerful, and it's hard to believe that 11 years have passed since that nightmare unfolded.
After we had eaten and let the kids play themselves out we headed home, taking a detour to visit my uncle Paul's gravesite. Three years ago on the 30th of July he lost his battle with lung cancer; the last time we were in Colorado was actually for his memorial service. Going to the cemetary was a tough visit to make but also a good time to spend remembering him and the life of faith that he lived. It was the kids' first visit to a cemetary, so it also brought out an interesting line of questioning from Jeran.

In the evening on Tuesday we all trekked down to G and G's church for Grandma's birthday open house. It was a neat time of celebrating her, seeing other extended family members, and speaking with friends of my grandparents and hearing about the many lives they have touched during their years of ministry there (my grandpa is a retired minister). Following our celebrating we had some time at the house to just all hang out together and sadly had to also spend this time saying goodbye to my aunt and uncle who headed back to New Mexico the following morn.

Taken at Grandma's open house. Ben and my cousin Leesha really hit it off!

Our 3rd day of the trip was our day to head up into the mountains. This has always been one of my absolute favorite parts of our Colorado visits. Driving along the winding roads, taking in the awesome scenery, ending up at some small (or not-so-small) town or landmark in the mountains. We drove for about an hour to a state park in the mountains where we did a short hike (to feed Jeran's "climb a mountain" fix), followed by a drive to a panoramic lookout point, and ended up at a VERY cool but remotely located restaurant where we all had lunch (a restaurant which, incidentally, doubles has a hot night spot apparently and was located directly next to the drive-thru liquor joint. Sa-weet). My brother and sis-in-law took off in their rented car after we ate to do some camping in the mountains with just the 3 of them. We were really sad to see them go but were so glad for the time we got to spend with and grow closer to them on this trip. On the way back from the mountains we drove through some absolutely breathtaking areas and watched a rain storm track us almost all the way back to G and G's before catching up to us. One of only a very few times that we experienced rain on the trip.

Day 4 was our last day in town. One of the state parks has a "beach" (I have to use the quotes after experiencing Michigan's sandy shores), and our boys LOVE the water, so with another hot day granted us (and the beach being only 5 mins. from the Gp's) we spent some time playing lakeside. In the evening we said our good-byes to my aunt and cousins over dinner and then spent a few more hours hanging out as a fam.

Leaving CO, I fastened my eyes on the mountains until I could no longer discern if it was the peaks I was seeing or simply clouds. While it's melodramatic (me? Never!) to say that I'll NEVER see the mountains I love so much again, it probably won't be soon and certainly not as frequently as these first 30 years of my life. It was a wonderful time spent bonding with family, and I was particularly happy that my boys could get to know these people whom I love so much.

The trip home mirrored the trek out, with a stop overnight to camp. The boys once again did marvelously well and while it was with a slight air of sadness that we said farewell to our home on wheels, it was also reallllllly nice, as it usually is, to be home once again.