My Summer Vacation

-The bad thing about great vacations is...they're usually expensive. The one I just had was fairly expensive...but not painfully so. The best thing about this one had nothing to do with the money. It was that our family was reunited in a beautiful place for a few days.

Since our oldest son Ian moved away from home last November, the four of us (me, Barb, Ian, and younger son Stewart) hadn't had the chance to all be in the same place at the same time. We set up this vacation to fix that. And having the boys together again in the beautiful Vail valley in Colorado was a great and satisfying thing. We took a lot of pictures..(a few of which are shared at the right)...we hiked, went sight-seeing, ate and drank very well, and generally did what ever came to mind in a spectacular setting. (I dislike vacations that are too structured...hard to really relax).

We spent a few minutes standing at the highest spot on earth that I've ever encountered...the continental divide at Independence Pass between Aspen and Leadville (elevation 12,095 feet). We saw the hoity-toity shops and the beautiful homes and mountain scenery in Aspen. We hiked up the side of a mountain to a beautiful natural lake formed by the cascade of the melting snow. It's called Hanging Lake, and many who visit Colorado take the same hike. It's just off I-70 in the Glenwood Springs area. While in Glenwood Springs, we all bellied up to the bar at Doc Holliday's Saloon. Dr. John Holiday(right), of Wyatt Earp and OK Corral fame, spent time there thinking the area's hot sulphur springs would help cure his tuberculosis. Too bad it actually had a negative effect and he died in the Glenwood Hotel in 1887 at the age of 36.

There are many more short stories I could tell about the trip...but your eyes would glaze over like at a slide show. Other people's vacations are never as interesting as they think they are, right? With the exception of a few airline delays, the trip was a great one. And, most importantly, our little family got to re-connect.

Now I'm back to reality here in the St. Louis area where, at least, the air contains more oxygen. More traditional blog posts are forthcoming.