It’s Been Too Long

I was trying to figure out the last time I had a vacation. In this case, I am not including visits to family, trips for work, or anything like that. I mean actual vacation to a place where no one you know lives. Days to just explore and enjoy life, with no work on the horizon. Looking through my photos, I found what I am pretty sure is my last vacation: Summer of 2013.

Almost 5 years ago.

In the interim I have visited family for a few days off here and there, but again, that is not a vacation. Usually, after visiting family, you still need a few days to recuperate.

5 years is a long, long, loooooong time.

The vacation was you southern Colorado, to see the sand dunes, slip down to Taos, and drive the mountains.

Here are some sand dunes, at the edges of the Sangre de Cristos mountains.

Near the same area, I managed to find Creede, and old mining town. I have vivid memories of that side trip. I wandered into town, hoping to do the tour and see the old mining ruins in the mountains. There was a kindly old man in the visitor’s center. As I picked up my map, he said “the road is steep.” I didn’t think too much of it. It was in the mountains, of course the road would be steep. I smiled, paid for my map, and left for my car.

The start of the self-guided road tour was pretty easy. Then, I met the hill. Which was more like a direct vertical ascent up a packed dirt road. Of one lane. With cars coming down from the opposite direction.

It was steep enough that flooring the gas pedal let you go maybe 20mph. And if you at all came to a stop, the only way back down was in reverse. The old man didn’t lie. I spent most of my tour white-knuckling the steering wheel and praying that there were no cars coming from the other direction.

Moral of this story… listen to the kindly old men in mining town visitor centers.

I also hit up the headwaters of the Rio Grande, some waterfalls, and the Continental Divide.

I had a week to myself. A hotel room all of my own. A car, gas, and freedom to do whatever the hell I wanted. I loved it all. Getting out in the world and exploring places that I found on the way to somewhere else.

That is vacation, to me. I want it again. Someday.