Finally
work is done, everything is prepared and packed and we go to the airport, tired
of the lack of sleep and full of anticipation to see family and friends after
three years….
After a
long flight and a short night we finally arrived at Connie’s house. Thank you
all for your warm welcome, for sharing your space with us and for having such a
good time with you all. The boys kept talking about you all and especially
about Syrina, Raymond and Alonzo the whole vacation and missed playing with you, the cats,
the dogs and the pigs. We had so much fun watching the chicken hatch, hiking
and canoeing in your backyard and sharing stories on the front
porch. Thank you!
On to the
next highlight we went to Aspen
to meet our friend Patti, her cute little daughter Amaya, Patti’s Mom and her
brothers and their families. We played minigolf, chatted on the balcony with
the most amazing view over the mountain tops until late, had the greatest time
in the pool, a wonderful dinner on the mountain top, the best picnic ever and – most excitingly – we witnessed a rodeo
event with mouths open, wow!
@ Mae: a
big thank you to your parents for letting us stay in their 5-star-apartment –
it was wonderful!
At lost
lake we got lost in memories together, camping at the shores of this
wonderfully secluded lake at 3.000m altitude. Marc’s parents joined us and we
had car loads of food, so we wouldn’t have to starve during these three days…We
had so much fun, except of the dead tree we put our tent underneath the first
night that was very stormy and we sacrificed a whole night of sleep, dreaming
of headlines like “stupid German family got killed by storm sleeping under a
dead tree”…..However other than that it was wonderful to be with you all and
the time together went by way too fast! We hope to see you soon! Noah will be
so happy to see his girlfriend againđ
Together
with Karen and Jesse we drove further south towards Mesa Verde National Park. The old Indian ruins were amazing! And the two
Junior Rangers were very eager to fill out their books….
Despite his
knee operation 6 weeks ago, Jesse and Karen camped out with us in Grand Canyon National Park. Thank you so much for
this joint experience! The Junior Rangers and us are very thankful to have had
this time and to see and discover so many things together! One of the many highlights was an elk family going for a walk through our campground. However, we were relieved
that we only saw a mountain lion on the sign….
Back to the
place where Marc spent his childhood, we arrived in the Valley and stayed with his
brother Ron and his family. The boys loved it there: three boy cousins to play
with, two dogs, a pool at Meme and G-Dad’s, heat, ice cream and pop tarts –
what more could two little boys wish for? Thank you so much, Ron and Julie, for
your hospitality and the time with you.
We
celebrated Julian’s birthday all together. Julian wished to go bowling and
afterwards we had cake and a birthday party at Ron’s house. Thank you, Robyn
and Nick and your families to come all the way from Vegas and Northern
Arizona. It was so good to see you all! And Julian was in heaven!
Further
down memory lane, we went to San Diego
to spend four days at the beach. On our way there through the desert, passing
by the Beautiful Ocotillos and the even more amazing Saguaros, the thermometer of our rent a car crawled up
to 110 degrees. So when we got out in San
Diego, we were very surprised that the heat didn’t cut
our breath and you could walk around in the evening ocean breeze without having
beads of sweat on our foreheads. It was wonderful to sit on the beach and watch
the sunset while the boys are chasing huge bubbles, to swim with seals out in
the ocean and watch them come closer and closer to us. It almost seemed that
they wanted to play with us. And the burritos were yummy!
Our
farewell from the sea wasn’t easy, but on our way back into the desert heat, we
passed by Lake Havasu, where wild burros begged for
apples in our car! Although the water of that huge lake
- that looks like a oasis in the middle of dry red rock formations - was
warm like in a bathtub it cooled us down. The only other alternative was the
bluest ice cream we have ever seen.
On the hunt
for snakes and lizards we saw the nicest Jack Rabbits in Joshua Tree National
Park. The junior rangers (and their Mom) were amazed. Marc used to chase these
animals with their amazingly long ears when he was a boy. The evening light and
the bizarre rock formations in the middle of this forest of these wonderful
Joshua Trees are unforgettable. We felt like 18 years ago, when we first came
here together. Just older and like tired parents who are ready to find a cheap
motel to share a bed with an even more tired monkey.
On the Route 66 we went further through the petrified forest towards Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was new to all of us. We really liked it there. The
adobe building style of the houses, the colourful arts and crafts and the food
made us feeling as if we were in Mexico. It was very nice. A band
playing the Greatful Deads in the city park made it a perfect experience.
We thought
a real hippie experience would fit the area when we spent the night in a
trailer in the middle of nowhere not far from Taos and its earthships. It was fun to cook
in there, have a meal outside with a somewhat mountainous view……until we
couldn’t sleep at all, because it was sooo uncomfortableđ
The next
and unfortunately last highlight was awaiting us back in Colorado where we stayed with Marc’s friends
that he knows from his days in the AmeriCorps, Charlie and Lora and their
family. It was sooo nice to see you guys again and to chat with you until late
at night! And it was a lot of fun to go to a baseball game with you that the
boys watched with their eyes and mouths wide open. The fireworks at the end of the game was
a perfect way to end our wonderful trip in the USA. Thank you, Charlie and Lora
for everything!
We had a
wonderful time with all of you and an unforgettable trip that we will long talk
about. We felt so at home with all of you and hope very much to see you all
again not too long from now!
