Vacation Preview

This is not one of those posts where I recap the preceding months of silence and detail my summer saga. For my own memory's sake, I shall simply bullet notable summer occurrences and hopefully return to write a proper post on each at a later date. (Update: I'll add links as I go!)

After completing my first year of grad school...

1. I visited Florida for a week in May, gave a recital with my classmate, Mary Anna, and showed off my hometown (i.e. Wekiva Springs, Tijuana Flats, Anna Maria Island, and Disney!) (See that post here!)

2. Ty & I competed in a triathlon, which became a last-minute duathlon. Flooding, anyone? (See that post here!)

3. I ran the craziest half marathon ever, and Ty won his first 10K (flooding, anyone?). (See that post here!)

4. My Papa passed away after a long struggle with dementia, and I took two unexpected 48-hour trips to Florida. I was blessed to play his memorial service and attend the military interment. (See parts one and two.)

5. Two of my best friends visited us in Dallas, and I laughed more than I had in years. (See that post here!)

6. Glenna returned again this summer and spent a hot and festive Fourth of July with us, local-style! (see that post here!)

7. We celebrated our third wedding anniversary! (See that post here!)

8. I'm an aunt again -- my sweet niece, Annie, was born last Tuesday!

Now onto the real reason for this post!

We're going on vacation! This is not just any old vacation; it is the vacation to beat all vacations! I consider this our first official family vacation, mostly because we're not camping, returning home, or trying to scout out a new place to live. We're going to vacation.

Where are we going, you ask? Let me tell you all about it. I have already created a five-page itinerary with a quickly growing packing list: day-by-day plans, hotel addresses, gas stations in The-Middle-of-Nowhere-West-Texas, gluten-free restaurants in every city stop, trailhead locations, race day information, etc. You know, just the essentials.

Our ultimate destination is Ridgway, Colorado, but we're taking our time to get there; we have planned stops in Albuquerque and Colorado Springs.

We'll spend one night in Albuquerque, visit Ty's great aunt and uncle, do some southwestern shopping, take a hike (literally!), and catch the sunrise and sunset.

Dallas-Albuquerque: 650 miles, estimated time of 10 hours.

From there we'll drive to Colorado Springs, where the main attractions are Pike's Peak and Whit's End. (Yes, I'm talking about the Whit's End from Adventures in Odyssey.) Oh, and the gluten free bakery and raw juice bar a mile from our hotel. Thank you, Yelp.

Albuquerque to Colorado Springs: 380 miles, estimated time of 6 hours

Finally we'll make our way to Ridgway, where the original True Grit with John Wayne was filmed, and the population totals 924 people.

Colorado Springs to Ridgway: 256 miles, estimated time of 5 hours

We'll stay in a mountain B&B for five nights and divide our time between the neighboring cities of Ridgway and Ouray. Nicknamed "The Switzerland of the United States," Ouray boasts beautiful mountain ranges, hot springs, off-roading adventures, fly fishing galore, rock climbing, networked biking trails, and even an opera house. And those are just the summer highlights! But truly, I'm fine to miss out on the ice climbing, snow shoeing, freezing, etc. As of now, the mornings are in the mid-high 40s!

Some of our trip plans include hiking, a guided jeep tour, a scenic drive, the local farmer's market, fly fishing, a trip or two to the hot springs, the Railway Museum, eating at all the local hangs (again, Thank you, Yelp!), enjoying our lovely B&B, and running a couple of races. Oh, and not dying from a lack of oxygen at 7800 feet during the race. Crazy as it is, we chose the mountains of Colorado for a race-cation. Lord willing, I'll run my first marathon and Ty his first half marathon in the Switzerland of the United States.

Post-race, we plan to return to our new favorite restaurants, maybe visit the hot springs again, and take in the mountain scenery from the couch. The following day we'll drive the long way down...back to Texas.

Ridgway to Dallas: 894 miles, estimated time of 15 hours

But first, a fourth trip to Florida for me this weekend...