Our 35^th Wedding Anniversary Trip-2000

This was the first of many anniversary trips and we did not journal as we did in later years. We left and went to Oklahoma City where we visited with Linda’s mother and father. We slept on hard twin beds in the guest room of their new home. This was to be their final home and I think Linda’s father never really liked it. To this day I am not certain why he bought it. Probably just because he wanted to please his wife and simply wanted to get the matter settled.

We left and went to Laredo where we purchased medicine at a very good price and we had a nice trip. I remember the traffic as we went through San Antonio. On the way out of Laredo, we stopped to take a picture of a bird and a very big black hairy tarantula which jumped under our car and we hurried away. A bobcat scurried across the road in front of us.

 As we left to go toward Big Bend National Park we stopped to visit the Judge Roy Bean location.  We finally made it to Big Bend NP where we went to the gift store and looked across the Rio Grande River into Mexico. The river was full and we could have taken a small boat across but chose not to. We took pictures of donkeys on the other side of the river in Mexico from the Texas side. We saw deer, and wild pigs which took pictures of.  We took a picture of a road runner.

We went up from the 100 plus degree weather into the very coolish 50 degrees of the mountain campsite. We were surrounded by mountains which led to Mexico. That night we could hear the wind coming in a rush from far away it seemed and out tent would lay flat on top of us.  Linda tripped and gave us a scare but was fine and we left fairly early on our way to Carlsbad Coverers.

 We passed a strange but beautiful hill sticking up in the fog in Texas and of course took a picture. We visited a world famous telescope and Linda and I both trudged up the stairs for a firsthand look.

The McDonald Observatory was very impressive.

Carlsbad was the same as it had been many years ago when we were children first married and in the Army stationed at Fort Bliss. It was a nice interlude.

We drove through Roswell and took pictures of the “alien” atmosphere. We saw people dressed as “aliens” and it was fun.

We went on to Denver through Santa Fe where we visited the Cathedral, the Market and just relaxed. We visited Taos and went out pass the Viet Nam Memorial on the way to Denver where we took in a baseball game.

We left Denver and got as far as Cheyenne where we made a very important decision. We chose to stay where we were and got a motel back in Fort Collins and the next few days were to change us and our attitude toward Colorado forever. We discovered the Poudre River and the road to Walden. We found moose and later beautiful Big Horn sheep, solitude and a great camping spot. This happened because we finally got tired of rushing from place to place. This also was the beginning of  what was to become a long term and ongoing love affair with this beautiful area. We camped way up on Long Draw road just below the Rocky Mountain NP summit. We were only a mile or so straight down from the Park but well over  a 100 miles driving time. It was bitter cold one night and we got up and went to the car where we woke to see a huge group of Elk walking slowing and quietly pass us so close we could have reached out and touched one.

We took many pictures but our memories are even clearer. We found joy in each other and pleasure just being together in a way we had not experienced for many years. This was an especially good time and trip!