Colorado: An Adventure

We had a long weekend from school at the end of the semester, and we made it a day longer to take a super fun trip. The Banana, Mr. TOF and I flew to Colorado and then took a train to visit YaYa at Winter Park where she works at the National Sports Center for the Disabled. It was an adventure! The only thing that could have made it better is that I ended up getting sick while we were there, but on the other hand, I didn’t have to try to take care of a toddler while I was sick, so I decided that resting when I needed rest was a treat in and of itself.

The Banana and Mr. TOF were not always confident in my travel abilities, but we made it though the airport, on the metro train from the airport to Union Station, and onto the train to Winter Park just fine! And we made it back too! It might take me longer to figure things out than their other speedy traveling parent, but I get there eventually! I’m always afraid of missing busses, planes, and trains, so I left plenty of travel time. This meant that things felt inefficient to my quick teenagers, but it all worked out! They have a lot of memorable stories regarding travel with me that they will not be forgetting anytime soon!

I absolutely loved the Amtrak train ride from downtown Denver to Winter Park. It was completely stunning, and might have been my favorite part of the whole trip, other than getting to see my daughter, of course. There is something special about riding in a train through mountains. It feels like the train can squeeze places that cars can’t squeeze, and it feels like a private show even though anyone can ride the train. Maybe it’s because you aren’t seeing other trains and cars. The scenery was so amazing . . . vista after vista. I had never been to the mountains in the winter, and it was beautiful.

Although I finished three books, I didn’t read as much as I thought I might because of the times I ended up napping due to that nasty little virus. But I did really enjoy reading in the airport and on the plane. I did not read on the train because I was so enraptured with the scenery.

I’ll tell you all about how The Banana and Mr. TOF loved skiing in another post, along with a crazy adventure we had.

I was surprised how the adjustment to being at a high elevation was a little tricky for me. It was more tricky than I anticipated. On top of catching a virus, I also was experiencing some high altitude effects like shortness of breath when trying to go places as fast as my fast young people, some headaches, and a tummy that didn’t feel quite right for a day or two. My brain also felt a little fuzzy. But after I got more used to things, I felt a lot better. For the record, The Banana and I decided that high altitude cooking is definitely a mystery.

We got to visit YaYa in her apartment, go grocery shopping with her, and visit the community rec center to do a little swimming. (We missed the library, but there’s always next time!) At the rec center YaYa and The Banana convinced me to go down a water slide. I haven’t been down a water slide in a really, really long time, and this water slide was very fast. Even The Banana admitted later that it took her breath away the first trip down! It was fast, and it was twisty and spinning down at such a velocity made me panic a little bit inside! For a moment I thought I might drown at the end, but then I remembered my Aunt Nancy at a water park when I was a teenager, and when she panicked the lifeguard reminded her to just stand up. The water was not deep. So, I stood up. The water was not deep. It all worked out. I don’t think I need to go down many more waterslides at my age. Although invigorating, it was a bit much! I don’t mind being a slow moving creature at this point.

We were going to go to the tubing hill to try that out, but the temperature really dropped that day, and we ended up going to the rec center instead. Tubing will stay on our list of things to try next time!