Picture gallery at the bottom of the blog!
Waking to blue skies after two rainy days put me in the mood to get up, get out, and get going. Plus, Wednesday was a big day, filled with reunions.
First was a short drive from Pueblo to Colorado Springs to visit with an old friend, Nancy “Nano” Hobbs. When I arrived, she was mucking out the stables in the barn on her property (inside the CS town limit) where young friends board their horses. She lost her horse last year after having him for 23 years, so having other equine companions is a blessing, especially after having lost her mom last fall. In fact, she’d just gotten back from Bethlehem from holding her mom’s delayed memorial service. Nano and I go back a long way – kindergarten at Governor Wolf Elementary School. We laughed remembering how we looked in all those grade-school class photos and the memory of our Principal, Mr. Rinker, who early defined my image of God. Her dad was a Lehigh Finance Professor and she moved to Bethlehem just before we started kindergarten. When we graduated, she was voted most athletic and I received the most spirited award in our HS annual. She continued her athletics career and went on to found and become the Executive Director of the American Trail Running Association. She travels the world with the American team competing against the world’s best. She is the same energetic, ebullient, ball of energy as I remember from our school days. Such fun reconnecting.
Leaving Colorado Springs, I was treated to an unexpected air show. In a period of about 15 minutes some 15 military jets performed a series of skilled maneuvers doing a ballet in the air. At one point five jets formed a pyramid pattern and flew in tight formation circling the sky. Later four planes made a diamond pattern and flew in a different quadrant. This reminded me of the Air Force Academy’s presence in CS and with gratitude I remembered the various “Zoomies” I’ve known over the years and that Westminster’s Ansley Johns will be joining the ranks at USAFA in the fall.
I zoomed on down the highway to the airport to be reunited with Amy and Leah who had flown in. They, and Ben who flies in this morning, are joining me for a long Memorial Day in the mountains; we’ll be in Breckenridge for a few days exploring the Colorado mountains. We checked into the Art Hotel that Amy had booked, which is right next door to the Denver Museum of Art and is an art museum in its own right. We scurried to the DMA but only had time to do one floor before closing time. Like the Terminator, “I’ll be baaaack.”
For dinner we went to the popular Steuben’s Uptown to meet Amy’s nephew, Brandon, who had recently moved to Denver, with his son, Mason. Unfortunately, Mason was interviewing for a job in Fort Collins. He’s the closest in age to Ben and Leah and they don’t often get to connect with their cousin.
Wonderful reunions and a relaxing day. Tomorrow off to the mountains!
