Sunday, August 9, 2009

Kevin, my husband, pinged me at about 3 on Friday.
"Want to go camping this weekend?"
My initial reaction was not just no, but are you crazy? I didn't say that.
Our dryer was on the blink - so laundry up to the ceiling; I have my 2nd of 5 trips in the next six weeks on Monday; my 6-year old had a birthday party on Sunday and I had not bought a gift; my 10-year old was serving at 11:30 Mass on Sunday; I had a surprise conf call scheduled for 4:30 - and it was my babysitter's last day - with a new and unknown sitter arriving bright and early Monday. Oh, and did I mention that I am not a huge camping fan?
"Sure, if you want," I wrote back.
And so we did. By 8:30 pm, we were pulling into the camp grounds outside of Estes Park, Colorado, suburban full, kids unfed and laundry in charge at home.
If you have not been to Estes Park, it is a great little town at the base of Rocky Mountain National Park. It is ice cream shops, souvenir taffy and lots of rocks, antlers and t-shirts for sale. The food always looks better than it is but there is no denying the absolute majesty of the Rocky Mountains. We had not been in a while and it was sad to see the economy taking its toll - leaving closed shops in its wake - but at least for this weekend, the town was packed. We were happy to be away from it all in our little cabin outside of town.
And you know - it was fun. We played cards, hiked, grilled before the rain came and ate smores afterwards. We watched the lightening in the clouds and listened for sounds in the night. (I'll leave it sounding scenic rather than go into the lack of showers.)
By Sunday morning, when we loaded up to drive back through the Canyon (Big Thompson Canyon), none of us were quite ready to go (shower, yes - go, not so much).
We got home safely - the laundry had kept everything else at bay; the delivery man brought a new dryer, there were phone messages for sleep overs and end of summer plans, and United beckoned on my email for early checkin. And I am glad I can close my eyes and see the breeze sweeping through the meadows and the moon rising over the ridge.