The last piece of our journey was out of a little teeny tiny town in the heart of Colorado called Wiggins. Of course, this wasn't before stopping to see my mom's good friend from college, Debbie, and later that night Aunt April-- my mom's half sister from her dad-- with Uncle Jordan, who coincidentally happened to be in Denver from D.C. for a wedding. We got ice cream from an adorable milk jug before reaching our destination.
I really had a lovely time spent with the family. And away from society for a little bit. And enjoying nicer weather than the raging desert heat-- though of course it poured for days in AZ and shut off the faucet as soon as I got back {it has yet to turn back on too}.
Once we left, we were anxious to get home. We had to fit a full-grown golden retriever in an eight-seat car filled with eight people and all their stuff, and after three {wonderful} weeks I really missed my friends. I was pretty sure those were some of the longest fourteen hours of my life, but I decided not to complain because technically at least we can travel a thousand miles in a bit more than half a day while sitting.
It had been a three-thousand mile journey overall. And one I will never forget.
We stayed with my mom's Uncle Chuck and Aunt Sue along with her half-sister Mayme {from her mom's side} and her family who met up with us from the South Carolina. With our family of eight, Mayme's family of eight, Great Grandpa Archie, Chuck & Sue, and their grown children Josh & Jessie who came to be together, we had a full house of 21 people. But with a basement and an endless amount of open land, it was quite enough space for the many of us to spend time together, and even the nine primary-aged kids never got bored chasing frogs & wild cats and petting the Pomeranians who I swear have been around forever and playing Josh's old 90's video games.
I love summer because you have vast opportunities to do anything: We went to the lake. We baked all the traditional family sweet treats. We read books {at least Rachel & I were forced to for English}. We sifted through old photos. We "s'mored" at the campfire. We watched funny YouTube videos. We tossed Baby Brielle a few inches in the air to make her giggle. We took long walks between the cornfields and snapped pictures in the farm junk yard. Back in the day, Grandpa Archie was a big hunter in Africa, so the kids were fascinated by the taxidermy rhinos, zebras, etc. And of course, it was a pleasure to return with Grandpa to the familiar old restaurant we stop at every trip for giant pancakes. He seemed pleased as he showed off two of his granddaughters and twelve great-grandchildren to his buddies. {At one point I was holding Brielle on half of my lap while three-year-old Noelle napped with her head rested on the other half of my lap. Suddenly Brielle swatted a full glass of ice water and the the whole thing spilled on my lap-- with poor Noelle in it.}
Colorado holds a lot of precious memories for the Glazier family. Having lived their ages, the small town holds more than a small part of our hearts. Especially when we visited the graves of my Grandma Diana and Great-Grandma Shirley, who were both taken from us when I was not even eight years old by cancer.
{top left: the home where Great-Grandpa Archie and Great-Grandma Barbara lived before Grandma passed away. I can still remember the spinning bird on the ceiling and the collection of teddy bears and the old blocks we would build with before Grandma gave us all $10 to spend as we pleased at WalMart; top right: used to say "Glazier & Co before Grandpa's company went out of business; bottom: the home my mom lived in during kindergarten with her mom and grandpa. When we passed it, she smiled, remembering some of the first of many pet bunnies she kept growing up.}
Colorado is beautiful.
Once we left, we were anxious to get home. We had to fit a full-grown golden retriever in an eight-seat car filled with eight people and all their stuff, and after three {wonderful} weeks I really missed my friends. I was pretty sure those were some of the longest fourteen hours of my life, but I decided not to complain because technically at least we can travel a thousand miles in a bit more than half a day while sitting.
It had been a three-thousand mile journey overall. And one I will never forget.
