A couple weeks ago, on a fine Saturday afternoon, me, Dan, Preston, Justin, and Stephy took a road trip to Colorado.
I sat in the back seat. This was my view.
We stopped at Multnomah Falls. Everyone pulled out their smart phones to see if Multnomah falls is anything special, like the tallest waterfall in North America or something.
I tell you, road trips with smart phones are a whole different ballpark than road trips without smart phones.
Of course the info they were googling for was right on the plaque behind them.
It is the second tallest year-round waterfall in the United States.
The topography in extra-eastern Oregon always reminds me of how I imagine the wild English moors to be whenever I read “Wuthering Heights” or “Jamaica Inn.”
We stopped in The Dalles. The thrift store we visited had some bizarre mannequins on display.
Dan’s sister and her husband own this amazing old motel in eastern Oregon. That’s where we stopped for the night.
I got some tea and sat at the bar and imagined that my friends and I were settling political disputes that would end in a bar fight and a pistol fired at the chandelier.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early for a long day of driving. The skies got sunnier and the ground got browner as we drove along.
We spent Sunday night in Montrose Colorado with another of Dan’s siblings, and then left Monday morning for Canon City.
Yes, Canon City, where I lived four years ago. Justin, Dan, Preston, and Stephy had a good friend at Bible School named Heather who is now living in Canon City also, so the main objective of the trip was to go see her.
That’s Heather on the exercise machine. They house we stayed at had exercise equipment that people would randomly use.
Dan and Preston were busy playing “four pics one word,” which is a smartphone app that we played relentlessly during this trip, everyone competing against each other by trying to see who could get furthest along in the game.
As I said, traveling with smartphones is not like traveling without smartphones.
Monday evening we just chilled. Justin took too mega-stuffed oreos and put them together into a mega-mega-stuffed oreo.
Tuesday we all headed to Colorado Springs and fulfilled a childhood dream: Visiting Whit’s end.
After that we went to the mall and tested mattresses.
Wednesday we went to this wild western restaurant way up in the hills. It was called the “General Store,” even though you couldn’t buy any general things there except things like general bacon and general eggs and general coffee, already prepared and ready to eat.
All the locals told us we had to eat there, and they also told us there were dogs in the restaurant.
Dogs in the restaurant? Hmm. I imagined that they would probably be running around under the table begging for spare scraps of bacon. Instead they were enclosed in a pen of sorts.
I kept waiting for one of the dogs to stand up and give a speech from that podium, but it never happened.
When I lived here, Skyline Drive was the thing to do on a Saturday night. After the resturant experience was over, we all headed to Skyline to see the view and take pictures.
Hey look, it’s me and Stephy and Heather and Colorado.
Justin and Stephy. How presh.
They told me that when they went to Bible School people thought they were dating.
I thought that was funny.
They’re actually brother and sister.
Just so you know.
Heather insisted that we must experience the redneck bliss that is “subbing.”
Subbing is driving along back mountain roads in a suburban with the top cut off.
Despite Heather’s enthusiasm in this picture…
…she’s not a fan.
I put a scarf over my ears to keep them warm.
“You look like a woman riding in a convertible in the 50′s,” said Stephy.
“You look like Thelma and Louise,” said Dan.
(Later I dreamed that my sister Amy and I were Thelma and Louise in a magical green car from the 50′s.)
The back country roads took us to this little Wild West town full of casinos.
As far as I could gather, it was once a mining town, which became a ghost town because it was in such a remote area. Wanting to revive the town and preserve its history, Colorado voted to let it have casinos.
We didn’t go into any casinos. We just walked around admiring the historical buildings, ate lunch, and then went subbing back home.
I took a nap, and missed the great excitement that ensued when Preston found a scorpion crawling on him.
Stephy decided to fly to Ohio and see her boyfriend instead of driving home with us. So Thursday morning everyone else took Stephy to the airport while I hung out with people I’d known when I lived in Colorado.
That evening we left to go home.
The ride back was very uneventful. We drove straight through the night, so I slept a lot of the time, and when I wasn’t sleeping we occupied ourselves by listening to Odyssey.
And then, as soon as I got home Spring term started and I didn’t find time to post a bevy of pictures until now.
But now they are posted.
And I hope you are satiated.
