Colorado Trip Day Two

This morning I felt terrible. I think feeling sick the day before and then not sleeping well did not bode well with my body. The upside to all this was Chris and his family absolutely pampered me. Chris gave me a massage while Mama W. rubbed Deep Blue in my kinked neck. Everyone in the family is always nice, but their kind doting on me helped me so much! Full recovery by that evening :) I’m very grateful to them and their example to me to being loving.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of the breakfast served at this hotel. It was fantastic! My favorite part was an omelet bar where you could tell the chef what items you wanted your omelet made of, and he would make it right in front of you! They even had chocolate milk! (one of my guilty pleasures) Papa W. and Ben had a contest going to see how many of the different bars they could hit before exploding (hot breakfast, omelet, cereal, baked goods, fruit, yogurt, etc) They hit every single one, but I think the omelet bar stood in their way of complete domination of that challenge.

We travelled farther south found the house of Elder and Sister T.– an amazing couple who had loved Nate as a missionary and who I ended up teaching at the MTC. They are still on their mission, so we didn’t get to see them, so we decided to creepily take a picture in front of their house. 

Elder and Sister T.'s home

We made our exodus east, parallel to the New Mexico border, then made our way up north again to Colorado Springs. On the way we met up with some members Nate knew who were bee keepers. Although their bees hadn’t survived the harsh weather conditions this year, they did have a little bee house where they kept the hives and showed us how they worked. Bees are so interesting! Then they kindly gave us a jar of honey.

Lunch at Big Burger World-a place the missionaries frequented. It had a TON of selection!

Today we travelled from Colorado to Springs to the south. Nate’s first area was in Roton, a city just across the New Mexico border. We weren’t able to go that far south, but we did make it to Alamosa. The drive down was so different than the drive to Colorado Springs. Instead of massive canyons and green pines with snow, it was more flat and deserty. Except for the River Gorge of course.

At one point we even travelled through what looked like an interstellar dust storm! This leg of the journey was the first time that Nate was in the car with us, which made it a completely different experience. Instead of just driving through a beautiful state, it made everything more meaningful. This is where he and his companion got stranded on the side of the road...this exact house is where he lived for 7 1/2 months of his mission...this library is where he would send his weekly emails...It gave everything more depth and purpose.

We made it to the hotel around 7pm, and Ben, Chris and I decided to stay there while the rest of the company travelled farther south to see some people Nate had taught. We were going to do our laundry while they were gone, but the local laundromat ended up being closed.  So we had no other choice than to lounge ;)

Chris the Hobo showing me how to lounge properly

They contacted us when they were on their way back, and we decided to meet them for dinner so that we didn’t fall asleep. We went to Sonic, which apparently Papa W. has a history with. Every time he has gone to Sonic, they have gotten his order incorrect. So this time, he was meticulously studying the menu and writing down a gamut of different foods to test if they would live up to their notorious reputation. Amazingly, they pulled through! A perfect order. I’m not sure if it was complete redemption from so many past failures though – we’ll have to see what this means for Sonic in future family road trips.

It was this night as we sat scattered in our hotel room, eating our perfect order of Sonic, that I learned to fear the Wrath of Mama W. Mama W. is probably the most loving person I have ever met, and I still stand by that claim. However, I learned that you NEVER mess with her kids, or she will TAKE. YOU. DOWN! The topic of a former girlfriend of one of her boys came up, and apparently she had treated her son less than favorably. It was amazing as these past feelings rose to the surface- Let’s just say she is not one to mince words. I was thoroughly entertained, my favorite part being when she pounded a fist into her hand and said, “I will take her out!” And in that moment, any onlookers has no choice but to believe her. It was an awesome power to behold! My only regret is that there was not a video tape rolling so I could give girls fair warning before they date her boys. :)