Colorado: Travel

The first week of March before things got hairy with the pandemic, Adam had a business trip in Avon, Colorado. He was able to take me with him so I happily tagged along. 

He was often in meetings so I spent my time exploring the nearby areas. I took an Uber into Edwards to visit a cute bookstore called The Bookworm. I ate at a local bagel joint then walked around some trails.

The Rockies are beautiful. Lots of snow piled high in March with clear skies and great weather. 

I had many firsts: first time in a gondola, first time having a nice older gentleman sit near me by the river and partake of his weed openly, first time crunching around in snow boots, first time snowmobiling, first magpie sighting, first time making a snowman.

The fly fishing reminded me of the Appalachians. 

I hope if Adam goes again next year that I can bring the girls along. They would have loved it.

So we have been home for two weeks now. Our spring break started March 16th. We went kayaking one day, then grocery shopping, then to a plant nursery that first week. After that the news got scary so we have just been staying in. Today officially marks Orange County's Shelter In Place.

Times are strange right now. Three days ago a man tried to steal the lawn equipment out of the trailer of our lawn guy right in front of our house. The lawn guy happened to see it in action so he drove his mower over there, reached into the thief's car, and got bitten by the thief as he was pulling his blowers and weed eaters back out. Thankfully our neighborhood has cameras at the entrance and was able to capture his tag. Not even two days later Adam goes outside to get the newspaper on the driveway and hollers for me to come outside. I was greeted by a parade of about 20-30 cars slowly circling our neighborhood honking their horns and waving hello. Some had posters on their doors and hoods that read "We miss you" and "We love you." It made me cry for some reason. 

This week I would be planning for my last nine week period of teaching. The kids and I would be reviewing mostly as to prepare them for the state standardized tests in May. Instead, I find myself working 12 hour days trying to get our online teaching platform in order almost as if it was the first day of school all over again. They say we will only be doing this until April 15th, but for some reason I have in my gut we will finish the year out like this. The testing is cancelled, which is good. But I am nervous.  Hopefully the long hours will pay off and the kids will get something great out of this and it won't be too taxing on their parents. Goodness knows. I have two of my own I will be trying to help through this too. 

What markers have you encountered that remind you that these are times that will be significant in history? What stories do you have?