Clear Creek Campout / Salida July 24-26, 2009Have you ever tried to capture something after the fact? My guess is that if you have, then you have experienced what I am about to embark on. It can be extremely difficult to remember all of the sights, sounds, aromas and the emotions that were part of that and if it is something that is pleasant it is a joy to try to recapture that time.
Bill has always done the blog for us previously and so when he asked if I wanted to do it for this outing I said sure. If I would have realized the timing and the stretch of time that would be in-between the outing and then having time to write I might have declined. However there are enough things that made me really want to capture the outing and not blow it off.
First of all it was Bill’s birthday weekend. We were not celebrating per se over the weekend since his birthday was the Monday coming up but if you know Bill you know that being out and hiking and on this occasion camping you know that is celebrating in itself. We had wanted to campout and we were looking forward to it. The NewLife Men’s Retreat had just gone out a couple of weeks before to the same spot and Bill wanted to go back.
We headed out early Friday morning and got to the spot about mid day southwest of Buena Vista. We have only camped once before together and that was just after our “revelation” from friends to dating. I had considered not going that time, that was in 2007 but we decided to go anyway and had a very nice time. It was in September so it had already gotten cold and the spot we had planned on had been blocked off for the winter and we had to make other arrangements. We had intended to pack in; everything in the camp site would have been on our backs and hauled in several miles.
Well this time and that time both we have ended up with the car close by so it has been luxurious in that you have access to your “stuff”. In 2007 we packed light. In 2009 we had everything but the kitchen sink. At one point this trip we even emptied the Jeep so we could go fill it up with all the firewood we would need for the night & next morning. Enough was left for the next three campers when we left!
One of the luxury’s that were part of the trip was lighter fluid. I saw a part of Bill that was new to me. He really, really likes fires…… I would not recommend him for a Firefighting position. :-) The fires were wonderful to have, it sprinkled early evening that Friday night so the fire not only provided the buffer from the evening chill it provided my first “smores” experience. Decadence at its best no doubt, and with some friendly advice from the previous groups outing we had multiple options for our smores.
It rained through the night but we were already in the tent and conked out for the night. I did get up around midnight for a nature break and by then the weather had cleared. The sight at that time is one that is easy to capture in my mind because of the magnificence of the stars out that you see when you get away from the city. We could see the Milky Way and a gazillion other stars. It was truly breath taking. Even thinking about that now it is almost as you could reach out and touch them.
The next day we got up and of course Bill had to use up every bit of lighter fluid to get the fire going for the morning……..well ok, had to or chose to…. Due to several factors we determined that was not the day for my first 14’er so we took our time and broke down camp and ended up having a casual day of making our way to Salida Colorado close to where my father A.K.A. Papa grew up.
One of Papa’s sisters still lives there in the town of Howard just 11 miles east of Salida. This Aunt has always been special to me and I have a deep love for her. When you drive up to her house she declares with signage in her yard exactly where her heart is; “Jesus is Lord”. One of the things that I love most is that when we get together it is a “Love Fest”. We cannot share enough about how much we love the Lord and what He is doing in our lives. We never tire of doing what Hebrew’s 10:25 asks us to do: “Encourage one another, and all the more as the Day approaches”!
We were blessed with a visit with her family including praise worthy note of a cousin that has completed treatment for breast cancer and is doing incredibly well and her sister I had not seen for 30+ years we also visited with. My Uncle had just returned from the Flaming Gorge and we had not expected him to be there so praises and good times sent with them and of course Bill will go on forever about her cooking! We tried to head back to Salida that night but due to an accident on highway 50 the road closed for about 5 hours so we went back and stayed until about 2:00AM then headed back into town.
We also joined my Aunt for service the next morning at the church she attends; Living Waters. If you are in the area and want to hit a church for service it is just east of Salida and got two thumbs up from both Bill & I. I thought the young pastor was the “youth pastor” but no, the youth pastor looks like he is still in high school :-). However as noted, a blessed service with the nail on the head about Water Baptism and its significance in claiming Christ in your life.
So here we are about two and a half weeks after that and it seems to be months! It is a blessing for me to go back and capture that weekend for so many reasons… First taking Friday off and getting on the road with the hubby for a “break away” weekend, pseudo birthday celebrations, the real ones came on Monday, camping & camp fires, my first smores, the magnificence of the stars that Friday night, the views, the rain & aroma’s, the time spent catching up with my Aunt & her family and the honey & I on the road. All of this makes life rich.
The pictures for this outing can be found on our picture website at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/howethru
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