Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Happy Places

Everyone has a happy place. Hopefully more than one. It doesn't have to be any place exotic. My friend Susan considers Target to be one of her happy places.

The Jersey shore is one of my happy places. Avalon is particularly happy, but boating on Barnegat Bay off of Long Beach Island tops the list. Currently I'm blessed to be in one of my other happy places: Colorado.

My love affair with Colorado started several years ago when I brought the family to Estes Park where I was working for Judson Press at a youth conference.We went horseback riding. We saw elk crossing the street like pedestrians. Rob and the kids went fishing and hiking. We went to our first rodeo where Ian won the mutton-busting contest, beating all the local little cowboys and cowgirls. He was on the front page of the paper the next day. Good times and great memories.

I love Colorado because it is simply one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. You never know when you're going to turn the corner and find yourself staring at a scene of incomparable beauty. You might pass elk, antelope, or big horn sheep. The mountains are snow capped well into spring. The creeks and rivers offer yet another source of adventure.

My sister, her husband, and my awesome 16 month-old nephew William live in Castle Rock, Colorado, giving me an even better reason to visit. For spring break I thought I would treat Ian and Abby to this happy place. What I've quickly learned is that mom's happy place is rarely going to be a happy place for her children.
  1. Beautiful vistas do nothing for 11- and 9-year-olds
  2. Hiking is akin to root canal for my son
  3. Abby thinks anything with shades of brown or gray is "antiquey" and she's completely not interested in historic stuff. This was her reaction to my suggestion for visiting Caverns of the Winds and the Manitou Springs Cave Dwellings.
  4. Anything more than 20 minutes away is too far. EVERYTHING worth seeing in Colorado is more than 20 minutes away from Castle Rock.
Right now we're sitting in my sister's living room and the kids are playing Rock Band. Something we never could have done had we not spent a few hundred dollars to fly out to Colorado. Sigh...

While I wait for a call back from the Historic Triple B Ranch (praying that they're offering horseback riding today--the only thing both kids are interested in), please leave a comment sharing your happy place. I may  have to live vicariously through you this week.

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