Colorado dreamin'

Katie D.

August 2, 2010 - 1:22 PM

Today I'm blogging from my home in Littleton, Colorado. I'm sitting at the desk where I did all my high school homework, in a room still full of pictures of middle school friends and high school marching band memorabilia.

It's a little disorienting, but we'll keep on keeping on.

I so love the time I get to spend at home with my family in Colorado. I love seeing the Rocky Mountains again, and the chance to wander around the old stomping grounds, visiting neighbors and old teachers. As I become increasingly attached to my home in Eugene and my life at the University of Oregon, it is still so important that I return home and spend time with my roots.

I'll only be home for five days. I'm packing in all kinds of adventures and visits: time with parents, old friends, my grandmother (who just celebrated her ninety-first birthday) and my aunt, uncle, and cousin. Then my mom and I will head up to the mountains, meet my sister for a day of adventure, and then I get to go see my sister's new home and college town in Grand Junction at Mesa State College. I can't wait to see what she's made of her college experience.

Then my mom and I head west in a U-Haul, carrying more furniture, books, and sundries from Colorado to my home in Oregon. We've got quite the route mapped out--one of my favorite professors gave me a detailed route map that includes almost thirty steps, back highways, and instructions such as "note the gigantic canyon you are driving through." This will be quite the adventure.

The primary reason for the road trip is my graduation present from the folks. My mother has this beautiful, dark red, sparkly scooter (Vespa style) that she loves dearly but hardly ever uses. Part of my mission this week is to gain some confidence riding it, then load it in the U-Haul and take it back to Eugene as my new transportation. I am SO excited. Just wait until I can blog about zipping around the streets of Eugene with my shiny new scooter. It's going to be the stuff of legend.

I'll have a great array of travel and adventure blogs for this next week and a half. For now, I can hear my next door neighbors playing in the backyard (a four-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old). Time to go see all these people I've been missing.

PS Travel hazard warning: spent yesterday with altitude sickness. I grew up in this place, for crying out loud. But I guess you get used to being a flatlander, and the mile-high as a starting place gets iffy on the overall system balance. VERY embarrassing.

And another note, if traveling to Colorado be sure to pack chap stick. I swear that I get off the plane and feel my skin dry out. This glorious grassland, elevation, and the clear, hot summer. Hopefully there'll be a thunderstorm in my near future!