Welcome to Our Colorado Trip
The following pages detail the sights and experiences that Dianne and I enjoyed during our trip to Colorado in August 2003. As all three of you long time readers probably recall, we had returned from a trip to Oregon about two months earlier. So, how did we end up in Colorado? As always, that is another interesting story.
I’ve had a couple of high school friends with whom I maintained contact since graduation (which was too long ago to mention). One of those good friends is Gary Griffin. After high school, I moved to Fresno (bad choice), while Gary moved to San Jose, then to Los Angeles. Once he completed college at UCLA (he was on the ten year plan), Gary moved to Denver to be close to his mom. He had been living in Denver for about seven years doing a variety of jobs. Now, Gary contacting me is always something of a surprise. We would sometimes go years without speaking to each other. But, whenever we would get together, it seemed like we had only been away a couple of days. That’s truly the sign of a great friendship.
So, when Gary called me in June, it was a small surprise. But, what he had to say was quite a shock: he was getting married in Parker Lake, Colorado. Gary had always been quite the consummate bachelor. But, he had visited me about seven months earlier and had brought his girlfriend, Jennifer, along. She seemed like a great compliment to him. Still, it was a big surprise to hear that he and Jennifer were getting married. Strangely enough, the news got me a little sad. It seemed like one of the last shreds of my adolescence was being severed.
Before getting too maudlin over this news, I realized that it meant another trip to a place I had never been. So, it was time to take a few days around the wedding and see the Rockies. The only question was how we were going to get there. I wanted to drive (big surprise). Dianne wanted to fly. After some intense negotiations…alright, there were no negotiations; Dianne just put her foot down…we agreed to fly to Denver for the wedding.
Just as it was in Oregon earlier that year, it was exceptionally hot when we were in Denver. But, heat aside; we did enjoy our time in Colorado. While we would probably not miss it if we never saw Denver again, we really loved the areas outside of Denver. It’s those areas that we hope to see again in the near future.
For this travelogue, I’ve gone back to the semi-customary format of a daily diary. Most of our days were spent going to one attraction, visiting that attraction, and going back to the hotel. So, the daily diary format seemed to suit this travelogue best.
As for the future, we are “trip-less” at the moment. For a while, it looked like we’d be going to Germany to spend some time with Kelly and Denise. But, that fell through due to a combination of Kelly’s assignments shifting and my fear of flying in an election year. It also looked like we’d be going to New Orleans as a result of my work. But, that fell through also. So, it looks like we’ll be staying close to Fresno until next year.
In the meantime, I want to express my gratitude for all the comments that I’ve received on my other travelogues. I appreciate all feedback that I receive on these web pages, so feel free to send me a note telling me what you thought about this page. Thanks for reading this travelogue. I look forward to sharing my next trip (wherever that may be) with you.
| Date | Location |
| August 13 | Denver |
| August 14 | Fort Laramie |
| August 15 | Buffalo Bill Museum Mother Cabrini Shrine |
| August 16 | Denver |
| August 17 | Garden of the Gods |
| August 18 | Fresno |
| Fast Facts |