It was two years ago, just about this time of the month, when I visited southwestern Colorado for the very first time. Mike was anxious to show me all of the scenery around these parts and so off we went each day to find something wonderful. I must have said "WOW!" at least a gazillion times over and over again as each new sight appeared, even more spectacular than the one right before it. For a flatlander from Kansas it was like stepping into a whole new world, one that had been literally right next door to me all along.
I just never had the occasion to go looking for it.
That first Saturday we spent time at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park located only a very short drive from home here in Montrose. We would have stayed longer but with a fairly decent covering of snow on the ground we could only walk around by the entrance and the visitor's center. But believe me when I say there was way plenty to see from there and I'm sure going to guess that a smile was on my face the entire time. This past summer we were there once again only this time we were able to venture further down into the paths that lead you deeper into the canyon. If you have never had the chance to come here to see it, please do! You really will enjoy it.
January of 2013
July of 2014
Even with all of the spectacular things there were to do around here, the greatest of them would be found about 40 miles to the south of here and about another 1,800 feet in elevation at the beautiful place called Ouray. On the Sunday before I went back to Kansas that very first time, Mike took me there so we could watch the ice climbers. I remember that when he asked me if I wanted to go, I had no idea what he was talking about but I was here to experience it all and so we did.
I remember watching them with awe and thinking "How on earth do they do that?" We stayed for about an hour, maneuvering ourselves to different spots around the Ouray Ice Park, a manmade arena for this very sport. It was wonderful to listen to their yells back and forth to one another as their voices echoed through the natural walls of the canyon. The ping of their ice picks provided quite a melody as they scaled the ice covered canyon walls. Their comradarie with one another was very evident and even though I would never try a feat such as this, I admired so much the ones who can and do. This weekend we are planning another trip there to see it once again and I'm sure that we will enjoy it this time as well.
I liked this picture that I took right before leaving that day. Those guys and gals are brave souls.
Before we left, Mike and I stood for a picture at the Box Canyon entrance sign on that sunny and actually quite mild Colorado winter day.
The view of the majestic mountains on the way to Ouray. The view just before Ridgway, Colorado.
Looking back on it I think that weekend, my very first one here, I must have realized that sooner or later I would make my home in this place too. Even though the mountains at first made me feel trapped here, they also provided some of the most spectacular scenery around. I waited kind of late in my life to make this move but now that I am here I have grown more accustomed to it as each day passes by.
A golden ripe field of Hard Red Winter wheat as it waits patiently to be harvested every June in south-central Kansas is a beautiful sight to behold. The rolling landscape of the magnificent Flint Hills area of northeastern Kansas can take your breath away without your even knowing it. The quaintness of the Amish community of Yoder, very near my hometown of Haven, will etch a memory into all of your senses if you should ever chance to see it. A lifetime of living in the Midwest provided many memories for me.
I have seen the picturesque New England village of Owego, New York and witnessed the Susquehanna River as it flows through there. My toes have dipped into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Elizabeth, Maine and into the waters of the Puget Sound on the opposite side of the country. I have flown to California and seen the bright lights from the city of Los Angeles on the ground below me. Finally after saying for so many years how much I wanted to see it some day, I have visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona. From one side of this great country called "America" to the other, it has been my privilege to experience so many things.
Now in the winter of my soon to be "60th year" from the outside of my classroom at Olathe, I have the chance to have one mighty fine view of the San Juan Mountains and the Grand Mesa. It's most certainly never where I thought I would be but in God's perfect timing, it's where I landed.
And stayed.
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