the view from all around me

     Long, long ago (ok, ok really up until January of 2013), I never realized that the state of Colorado extended past the Front Range area of Denver.  Yeah, you had your Colorado Springs and Pueblo, even a place called Ft. Collins but that was about it.  At least that's the way I looked at it in my mind's eye.  From time to time throughout the years, I had visited this state but for whatever reason, I just never ventured over the top of the mountains to see what was on the other side.  To me, to THIS flatlander, the rest of Colorado was just a place to have to travel through to reach Utah and all points beyond to the Pacific Ocean.  I suppose it was indeed true.  I didn't get out very much.

     When Mike and I first started visiting with one another through emails and online, he told me that he had been living for several years  in this city called Montrose, Colorado in the southwestern part of the state.  I had never heard of that place before and when I said something about it to him, he told me to just look on the map and to follow Highway 50 as it left straight out of Hutchinson, Kansas.  So I did and sure enough, lo and behold, Mike was right!  By my quick calculations, via MapQuest, I learned that the distance from my front door on East 14th Street in Hutch was just about 611 miles from his front door on Locust Road just outside the city limits of Montrose.  I got pretty good at driving it, except for the time that I plowed into a snow-filled ditch up on Cerro Summit last February, during the 5 trips out that I made before we got married.  I think by my last count that I have made 11 trips back and forth since this new adventure in life got started.  I could probably make the trip with my eyes closed by now but I promise you that I won't unless I just have to.


The sign just at the outskirts of South Hutchinson, Kansas that I saw each time I headed out to visit Mike in the "early" days and the one I follow after I've returned to Kansas for a visit and head home to Montrose.  I used to ride my bike down this street in the city of South Hutch.  From my front door to McDonald's down there is 5 miles.  I miss that Kansas skyline.

     At the risk of starting to sound like I like it here or something (LOL), this morning I have to admit that in its own weird way, Colorado has begun to interest me.  Geographically, I have never lived in a place that is as varied as this state is.  All around our home as far as the eye can see (which is NOT far at all by Kansas standards) are the mountains.  Doesn't matter which direction you look, N-S-E-W, it's all you see.  In the early days here, I was so claustrophobic and there were times when it nearly sent me into a panic attack.  I would be driving along, missing Kansas and home, and those mountains would seem like sentinels to me.  I actually felt at times like they were holding me a prisoner here, that on any given day I might not be able to pass back over them again to return to Kansas when I wanted to.  Now I know that's silly and actually kind of pathetic, but remember that I had all of a sudden found myself in a place very foreign to me.  I was homesick, dang homesick and I just wanted to go home.  Thankfully that changed for the better several months down the road.

    To the south of us, lie the beautiful San Juan Mountains.  They really are gorgeous I admit.  Right now, they are snow capped and will stay that way until probably early June.  When we go down to Ridgway and Ouray we see them up close and personal.  I take photos of them all the time because truly they are about as stunning as mountains come.  When Mike and I chose our wedding rings, we only had to look at one pair before we decided on which ones that we wanted.  They were made by the silversmiths down at Ouray and they depict the view that we see out our window every day.

      The view just outside of our kitchen window each and every day.  Sometimes I feel like they appear so surreal.

     To the west of us, nearing the state of Utah which is only about 60 miles from here as the crow flies, is the Uncompahgre Range.  It's a huge landform that runs forever or so it would seem and it's home to the Uncompahgre Peak, the sixth highest peak in the state.  I can remember when I first came here that I didn't even realize that people lived up there.  Geesch, one time in mid-summer last year I noticed this little glimmer of light shining in the late evening hours.  I remember saying to Mike, "Hey, what's that light doing up there?" and he told me that was someone's home.  Once again, pathetically I remarked...."What??  You mean people LIVE up there?"  He told me to look at it and I'd see plenty of lights and he was right.  Lots of folks make their homes in places I hadn't even thought of.  All I can say is three words.....flatlander, flatlander, flatlander.  

Sunset over the Uncompahgre Range as seen from our home just outside of the city of Montrose.  Most evenings, except for the cloudy ones, you can see God's paintbrush at work in the sky.

    To the north, lies the Grand Mesa which is the largest flat-top mountain in all of the world. It spans an area of over 500  square miles and stretches all the way from near Grand Junction to Delta, 40 miles in all.  Each day as I drive back and forth to school at Olathe, it rises up to greet me.  It's so weird, during all of those months of coming out here before we got married, I hardly noticed it.  Now its presence nearly "smacks me in the face" on a daily basis and I laugh to think that all of a sudden, there it is.  We went to the top of it last summer in late June to catch a glimpse of what the top of the world, at least to this Kansas farm girl, looks like.  The picture from up there at over 10,000 feet or more will always remind me of my dear social studies teacher from back in the 7th and 8th grade at Haven Grade School. The view from the top was like seeing the late Mr. Rex McMurray's topographical map of the world unfurled before my very eyes.  It was a gorgeous view, without a doubt.

     To the east of us lies the Black Canyon and it is by far my favorite view, if I WERE to have one :)  The Black Canyon is an area formed long ago and is even older than I and my good friend Dennis Ulrey from back in the Flint Hills of Kansas are.  It's home to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and contains the most magnificent of views that anyone could wish to see.  The mighty Gunnison River runs through it and manages to drop down at a rate of on the average 34 feet per mile.  Thus the Black Canyon is noted for having the 5th steepest descent in all of North America.  It gets its name, the Black Canyon, due to the fact that sunlight has difficulty in reaching the steepest parts of the canyon walls.  When I miss Kansas and home there, I look to the east and realize that those mountains are my friends, not enemies, and they will lead me back to my friends and family on the Great Plains.  I have grown to respect them in many ways.

     Yep, those are the views.  I have slowly but surely grown accustomed to them.  Time has a way of making things a little easier to get through and for that I say "AMEN".  There is still much to learn about life here but shoot all I have is time anyways.  Oh yeah, there's a couple of more views that mean the world to me.  Without "these" views, I'd be pretty lonely here along the Western Slopes.  I'm thankful that God saw fit for me to meet up with about 19 people that I was meant to know in this life.  I love them all and one more thing.  I love you guys too!  

At the top of Cerro Summit last September with the guy who got this whole thing started in the first place!

They have grown into wonderful boys and girls.  I'm glad that I got to meet them and become their teacher.  There is no greater blessing in life than to work at a job you love for over 36 years.  I was born to be a teacher and I'm glad I listened to that "calling".