SAYING GOODBYES - Sept 11 – 14

Wildfires burning in the mountains, Covid raging everywhere else – wandering has its limits these days.  Our younger son’s birthday falling in 10 or so days and the increasing threat of deteriorating weather were the impetus to get back on the road – not before some important goodbyes though!

Happy to move on from the less than welcoming Chatfield State Park, we packed up and headed back to Cloos’s for the first goodbye.  Rob and Cloos will always be each others’ best bud and we simply couldn’t pass nearby without another visit.  We got situated back on East Prescott Street and we all headed to meet Jacob and Leslie at  Honnibrook Meadery where they would pick up their car from us.

Jacob is an amazing beer brewer and creator of his own mead and we all agreed his was still the best!  We each had samplers and tried a total of near two dozens flavors of mead produced right there and enjoyed listening to the first live music we’ve heard (it was outside, mind you!) since Covid began. 

Jacob and Leslie headed home and we spent our last night with the Cloos’ basking in the hot tub and thinking of ways we might connect again before too much time passed.  With a final hike together on our fav trail in Castle Rock, goodbyes were said and we waved ourselves back down the road.

We had the day with Jacob and Leslie while the girls visited their father.  Having worked so hard on the first round through, we were content to just BE together.  With plans to celebrate the girls’ September birthdays before we left, we went shopping for gifts from us bonus grandparents.  Later Jacob and I did what we do – cook!  We did personal favorites and wiled the hours eating and a few games.

The next morning Jacob and I got back at it (cooking that is) for the birthday brunch.  Jacob produced some top notch eggs benedict with real hollandaise and I threw the mandatory heath bar coffee cake together one more time.  The girls came, we ate another ridiculous amount (yum!) and did presents. 

Monet was off again for a swimming date with a friend and Cozy stayed with us.  It was Sunday and it was the start of football season and it felt good just to hang like family so that’s exactly what we did.  Kind of an uneventful way to draw our visit to a close but oddly and wonderfully comforting. 

Of course no blog can adequately relate how special time with important people is, this one included.  The next morning the girls were back to schoolwork and Leslie was back to work as well.  We reveled in a few hours of time with our son, time so greatly missed all the months and months passing between.  Jacob turned us on to a “Ramen Chops” for lunch and we pigged out on yet more great food before the clock reminded us it was time to go.

And Moonshadow was mobile once again.