Smoky sun from our smoke yesterday evening.

We are winding down our vacation day by day. In two days time we’ll be back on the road headed east. Where does the time go? It seems as I get older time speeds up. When I was a child summer vacation from school lasted at least a year. Or so it seemed then.

I am preparing in my head to leave. I think this year I am ready. Some years we are not ready and choose to stay one extra day. This year we’ve been here longer than any other year. As much as we love the cabin and it feels like home, it’s not home. New Jersey is. At least for the next several years.

Can I break in here to add that I love my new iPad keyboard!

Okay, back. Sorry about that but as I’m typing away and not making as many mistakes as I usually do without the keyboard I am full of appreciation.

I haven’t blogged in a few days. I guess I am getting lazy. The dogs are getting lazy too. For the first week they were ready anytime we were to go for a hike/walk. Now they lay around like black blobs on the floor and give us a look that says “you guys go ahead, we’ll wait here.” Like kids given free rein of a candy shop, they soon tire of all the goodies. Sugar, or in this case, exercise overload!

I am the same way about blogging or trying to journal our stay. I started out with a bound journal, writing every day about what we did, what we saw and what meals we ate. I think that lasted about four days and I haven’t done anything since.

It’s like taking your camera on vacation with you and you never see the sights except through the view finder of your camera. Sure you have a lot of photos to document your trip but you also might have missed some high points because you were always trying so hard to capture them “on film.”

Same thing with my trying to journal. I was spending so much time writing things down I wasn’t living in the moment. So, I don’t feel bad about it.

We’ve been taking so many walks! I still don’t have my high altitude lungs. Usually I am not winded easily by the end of the first week (going from 600 feet above sea level to 8,650 is quite a change) but this time I find I still don’t have full lung capacity on some of our more strenuous walks. The dogs seem to have adjusted more easily, even old man Alex who is coming off spleen removal surgery just a few short months ago.
Last Thursday we made the drive down to Ft. Collins to meet up with some friends (some of which we’d seen since our move to NJ, and some that we hadn’t seen for years) at a restaurant we all used to hang out in. I have to admit it was bittersweet seeing them all again and the fact that even though we’ve been out of sight and most likely out of mind for most of them, so many people showed up! Rick and I were torn between two tables of people trying to talk to as many people as we could in the two short hours we were there. Sniff, sniff. I miss these people! If you are one of the people who came and you are reading this: Thank You. It meant so much to us. And, I have to say it made me question why we are living in New Jersey.

BUT ...

All that being said, we love living in New Jersey. It’s strange because I spent about 30 years in Colorado (give or take and minus those European years, but many of these friends shared one of our European experiences with us but that’s another blog entry altogether) and only six years in New Jersey.

It’s tough being torn in different directions. So many things are great about New Jersey that I would never have expected until we moved there. The trees. Where we live. The culture. Being so close to New York City. Little winding roads for Mia. Even the climate!

So many other things I wanted to blog about while up here but those ideas, although formed in my mind, have not yet made it to the blog. Time for catching up on those things once I am back in New Jersey and reflecting on our time here rather than not living in the moment. Now.




But never fear, I still have several blog posts left in me before we leave! Lots of flower photos (which I am sure my sister will enjoy), some great footage Rick finally got of a ground squirrel leaping into the bird feeder, and who knows what else?

Sorry for the rambling post!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

Haha. I DO love your flower photos because the flowers are so different from the ones we have here. I’ll be soooo glad when you are back…CO is just too far away!

But you don’t have to choose between Colorado and New Jersey, because you have both. How great is that?!

I love that butterfly photo.

It’s always exciting looking forward to a holiday but great to get home and into a familiar routine. I have lived in so many houses in different parts of the UK and it can get very confusing making and saying goodbye to friends.  Have a safe journey home.