A Pearl After a Rain

August 10, 2019



Brooke and Michael





A Pearl After a Rain

“I guess he'd rather be in Colorado. He'd rather spend his time out where the sky looks like a pearl after a rain…”, John Denver sort of nailed it in his description of the Colorado sky and finally after more than a year away, I headed back out to pay a visit to our Colorado home, which is now complete with even the landscaping coming in nice and full. 

 

Kathy actually headed out a week before I was able to go and I joined her to spend my birthday week between Colorado Springs, Lyons and Estes Park. During the week Kathy was gone, before I left for Colorado, I spent some time hanging out with a friend who was visiting Key West on her own vacation.

Brooke and Michael

My friend Brooke is actually the youngest daughter of one of my best friends who I grew up with back in Indianapolis, her father Henk, as well as her aunt and two uncles were some of my best friends from my grade school years through college and the time I moved to Key West. We have all maintained our friendships for more than 40 years and Brooke has been to Key West a couple of times previously.

Brooke and Mikey 

This time she was part of a large group with her boyfriend Mikey and his family who are regular annual visitors to the island and who brought Brooke along on this trip. I had never met any of them, but suddenly had a pack of new friends when Kathy and I took them out to dinner at the Hogfish the night before she left for Colorado.

 

 

 

Also the morning I was leaving coincided with the launch of the latest SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, which was able to be seen really clearly from Key West and I managed to get a cool photograph of as it streaked across the sky.

They in turn, invited me to a huge family cookout at the Coconut Beach Resort where they were all staying. They virtually took over the entire place and had a huge party featuring the fresh fish that some of their group had caught that day. It was a really fun night with a great group and it was so nice to hang out with Brooke and meet her boyfriend and his family. I met her and a few of the group for lunch at the Half Shell Raw Bar the day before I was to go to Colorado as well.

I arrived in Colorado and was thrilled to see how great our house looks and how well the landscaping is filling in, Kathy wasted no time in getting me out to hike in the Garden of the Gods park, which is located only about two blocks from our house there. Columbia Road dead ends into the park and the Columbia trail, trailhead is literally only a few short steps down the road.

 

We took a nice long hike my first day there and then another one the following day when our friends from Key West, Roger and Cyndi happened to be visiting the area for a couple of days. The weather was about perfect and we had a great time showing off this little slice of Colorado beauty to our Key West friends. We capped off a great day with a visit to the nearby Manitou Brewing Company in Manitou Springs which is less than a mile from our house.

Roger, Cyndi and Kathy

 

One of our favorite haunts in Colorado is the Buffalo Lodge which is located just up the street. They have a  funky bar and attract a fascinating crowd as they specialize in being a bicycle resort and you always meet interesting people who choose to stay here. This time was no exception as we met adventurer Dave Corthwaite, who was stopping off briefly here as part of his ride on a recumbent bicycle from California to Tennessee. It was only the latest in a crazy series of adventures that also includes such treks as riding a skateboard across Australia. He is a nice and fascinating guy and you should check out his adventures using the link below.

Dave and Kathy

https://davecornthwaite.com/home