New Friends, Independence Day, and Wildflowers
Buckle up, this one is going to be a long one because there was SO MUCH GOOD and I would be remiss if I skipped out on the details.
As we continued on our Colorado journey, it quickly became a tour of Connor’s favorite places. He lived in Colorado Springs on and off for about 2.5 years, so he had some pretty cool spots picked out. It was Saturday and we were itching to be active after a decent amount of driving, so of course, we picked out a local bouldering gym to climb some plastic rocks.
Side note: the way the Lord answers our prayers are sometimes a whisper, while other times blindingly obvious. At this point on the trip, we had been reading our Bibles together and had grown significantly in our prayer life together simply because we were spending so much time together that it made no sense to keep even the little prayers in our heads when we both know two believers uniting together in prayer are stronger than one. We would pray for a break in the rain, and boom- sunny day outta nowhere. We’d pray for a secluded camp site after being crowded by others for the past couple of days, boom- mountaintop seclusion. We’d pray for friends along the way, and boom- we met this fella named Jonny at the climbing gym and talked for four hours about our shared faith, scripture, and beliefs.
This newfound friendship with Jonny led us to his church the following morning, a more traditional Baptist church where women wear head coverings and the men and women sit on either side of the pews. The church sang hymns in four part harmonies, taught directly from the Bible, and were incredibly welcoming and warm to these new strangers. Jonny’s mother invited us to lunch at their family home where we had our first home-cooked meal since Louisiana- goulash, potatoes, hot coffee, dessert… my mouth is watering just thinking about it. His family were all Serbian immigrants who fled to the United States seeking refuge from religious persecution. It was so interesting to sit in their home, hear their stories, and share our travel journeys as if we’d been friends for years. God’s family is truly much larger than we could ever imagine. And although I didn’t admit it at the time, it made me quite homesick for my own family’s Sunday lunches.
Earlier that Sunday morning, we packed up camp, visited through Garden of the Gods around 7:00am, and headed to the nearest Walmart after I realized I didn’t bring a single dress to wear to church. (Now I wear the same green one every Sunday, no matter which church we attend.)
After lunch, we made a pit stop, per my request, at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs. My dad and sister, Noelle, would have thought it was the coolest place on earth. We spent another night camping right outside of Woodland Park and the wind was absolutely terrible. We’re 95% sure we heard a bear sniffing around our tent that night as well, so that seemed like our cue to get outta dodge the next morning.
We were originally planning on going straight to Creede, but I mentioned to Connor that the wildflowers were in full bloom in Crested Butte and his reply was “If my wife wants to see wildflowers, we will go see the wildflowers”. The four hour detour was amazing. We stopped by Cottonwood Pass on the way and took a short hike up to the Continental Divide summit there, drove through Gunnison National Forest, and had delicious pizza at The Secret Stash- highly recommend (get the “poor boy” its a slice of pizza, a shot, and a PBR for $6).
The next day, we stopped and smelled all the flowers and headed up to Creede where we cooled off at Blue Mesa Reservoir along the way (yet another answered prayer) and were greeted with the MOST beautiful campsite I have ever been to. I was secretly praying on the way up that even though it was a selfish ask, we hadn’t seen a ton of breathtaking sunrises or sunsets yet. I knew they were coming, but I asked my Father for a gift and boy did He deliver. Pink skies, orange and blue wildflowers, fresh mountain air- it was picturesque. Truly a core memory. Creede’s wildflowers gave Crested Butte, the wildflower capitol of Colorado, a run for their money. Oh, and we stopped for ice cream before heading to camp, as if that day could get any more perfect.
Our next stop was Silverton, a “Victorian Mining Town”. After Creede, I wasn’t sure that Colorado could get any better. I was wrong. We had a couple of hiccups here and there- the Forest Service road up to our campsite was pretty technical, Connor got us stuck in the mud (thank you to our new friend, Dakota, for pulling us out!), and a match literally blew up in my hand as I was trying to start a fire and sprinkled a few chemical burns on my fingers. But the next day was so good that we forgot all of our woes.
The Fourth of July in Silverton was better than I could have ever hoped for. A fantastic town parade that resembled the small town southern ones I had attended every year with my family growing up, a picnic in the park, a DUCKY DERBY (are you kidding me???), and the best fireworks display I have ever seen, right from the comfort of our rooftop tent. It was an Independence Day for the books.
Our last stop in Colorado was Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park- not a whole lot to explore, unfortunately. We did the scenic drive and while it was beautiful, we were really hoping for some adventure. So we passed through, got my NP passport stamp, and kept on truckin to UTAHHHHH! Stay tuned for all of those upcoming stories!
Onward and upwards,
Alicia
