Colorado Reflections

Colorado Reflections

It looks like our mechanical issues with the RV, our Vilia, are resolved. We are hoping. We want to resume the flow of our travels. One flow we would like to extend, but won’t, is our time here in Basalt with visits up the road to Aspen and visits down the road to Carbondale and its great Mt. Sopris and Glenwood Springs and its hot springs and the beauty of Glenwood Canyon. But, it is time to move on. I spent a college summer in Aspen in 1969. It was a sensational time there. The town was really coming on but had not yet succumbed to the impact of mega wealth and Hollywood, as it clearly has today. But it is still such a great town. The area has fantastic natural beauty. My summer of ’69 experience was why, when Cathy said, early in our relationship, she was thinking of Denver Univ for her Masters, I said that I’d go there too. It was in our early relationship years, and I think my enthusiasm for Colorado shocked Cathy a bit. We ended up living in metro Denver from 1973 to 1986. We really lived the state, travelling and seeing then revisiting so many of its places and sights. I started my career there, in 1975, working for a wine and spirit wholesaler. By 1977, I was in a position with them where I was travelling the entire state, helping the “rural” sales reps with their sales and coverage. I lived and loved Colorado so especially during that time. I really got to know the state in a unique way, working with local business owners and hearing their stories. Then there was the scenery, of course. So it is with some melancholy that we move on. To NE Utah, then to Wyoming for the Tetons, Yellowstone and Thermopolis. Thermopolis? You ask? Yes, it is a town on the way from Denver to Yellowstone that we had stopped at briefly on a trip when our family was young. We have loved the memory of the town’s name and want to revisit. But that is weeks away. Now, I look at the local mountains and reflect on our time here just now and our history in this state. It is indeed a special place and we will return to it, to the front range area, (eastern slopes), and Denver and many old friends for late summer.