Pining for Colorado

I am an Okie from Muskogee. Just like Merle Haggard says in the song.  I've lived in Oklahoma all my life, well almost.  Several years ago, Shawn and I talked it over with our children and we all decided to pack up and move to Colorado.  Shawn is a mountain boy at heart, having grown up in Idaho and I just loved the mountains.  We decided we wanted to give it a try lest we should grow old and regret never doing something we'd long talked about.  We wanted to experience the numerous outdoor activities and natural beauty Colorado offers.  And we did.  We spent weekends on long drives, visited National parks, hiking, exploring and with the long ski season we were at Breckenridge every weekend skiing and snowboarding our hearts out.   As I look back now, it seems as if it were a year long vacation, a dream, a very pleasant dream.  One I try to dream of often.

Today I'm sharing just a few photos from our year in Colorado.  So sadly many of our photos we had stored on one of our computers were lost when it crashed. We learned to back them up...the hard way.

We lived in the Southern part of Colorado Springs, nestled into the foothills of Cheyenne Mountain, part of the Rampart Range.  Norad lay within Cheyenne Mountain.  We had a huge deck that ran the length of the back of the house.  It looked down over the entire city.  The view below is a zoom shot of Garden of the Gods which was about 7 miles directly North of our back deck.  Garden of the Gods is known for its unique rock formations.

These were taken in the park at Garden of The Gods.  There are trails for hiking, walking and bike riding throughout the park.

The below photos is of four of my nieces, my son Trevor and my two girls (our youngest three) taken at the base of Pikes Peak.  

We went fishing here at Crystal Lake often.  Pikes Peak is one of Colorado's 54 14ers...the term given to those mountains with elevations of 14,000 feet or more.  

* Wikipedia says 53 14ers minus one or two.  Coloradans say 54.

  

Pikes Peak is the most visited mountain in the United States.  We were so fortunate to buy a pass and go there often.  Below is a view from atop the mountain.

When we first moved to Colorado it all seemed so strange, having left all of our family, all of our friends...we were alone.   The first few weeks we noticed to the West of us, higher in the mountain, a building of sorts which looked like a castle turret jetting up from the mountain.  At night, it stood gloriously lit against the darkness of the mountain for the whole city to see.  I wondered what it was and why it was so brightly lit.  We took a drive up through the zoo, yes you drive right through the zoo to go up here and found that it was a Memorial to Will Rogers.  I think most know who he is and if you're from Oklahoma...by golly you have to know who Will Rogers is...he never met a man he didn't like!  My piece of Oklahoma was  but several hundred feet away from my home.   I could walk out onto the deck, day or night and see it in all its glory standing tall.  It was, is, beautiful.

This view from the shrine is the same view we had from our deck, just a little different angle.  We were over to the right side, East just a bit.  The tailored grounds below are that of the Broadmoor hotel and golf course.  We drove by it several times a day taking our children to and from school.  You can see downtown further back into the photo.

I have to give credit to my sister for all these photos.  She's got a talent for photography and has enjoyed it for years.  We loved living above the city with mountain views directly West and North and the plains to the East.  The following pictures she took from our deck at night as we watched a magnificent lightning storm out on the Eastern plains.

 A night view from the deck, looking North East.

Dream Awake (by me)

I wish to sit a moment and take in the quiet still of the day
For too soon it will take its slumber and slowly drift away

Whilst still here I will reach for the day soon gone by
And as the light does begin to drift, so to shall I

Dream awake about a place of tranquil respite found
An abode within my mind I have created in abound

I close my eyes for moments and often want for more
To ponder myself upon the things I question of my lore

Somewhere there is harmony between life and ones dreams
One must pause to remember though time not ample it seems

So my mind still drifting as descending is the time
Wonder now, is time not itself to be considered as sublime?

© 2001 Nancy M Roberts

And of course, what would my post be without a piece of transferware?  I found this on Ebay after we'd moved back to Oklahoma.  I got it for Shawn.....ok I got it for me too.  We miss Colorado so.  I look out to the West often and imagine the Rockies are there.  I close my eyes.  I visualize.  I smile...and I cry.

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Linking to Outdoor Wednesday hosted by A Southern Dreamer and

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