5/26/2011
Arriving in Colorado Springs
As the sun set, I finally made it into the mountains of Colorado. The sign welcoming me in actually said “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” – like it knew I had just come from Kansas (actually, it probably did lol). At first Colorado was actually more flat than Kansas and I was a little upset, but soon the mountains peeked (haha peaked – get it? Ok I’ll stop) into view. I apparently have distant relatives (all the relationships were soon explained to me) in Colorado Springs, so I was heading there for a warm bed after my longest drive yet. Despite the obvious natural time table of the sun setting, I had called my second (?) cousin Lydia, who I was staying with, and told her that I would soon arrive at around 11 p.m. or midnight. I apologized profusely for the lateness but she took it in stride. My actual arrival at 8:30, having completely disregarded the time zone change and my speeding abilities, was even better. I entered the door and was engrossed in hugs and tears. Lydia is the most adorable, welcoming distant relative I have yet met (ok, so I haven’t met any other distant relatives, but this is still a high honor). We talked for a while about everything and nothing, cooking a dinner of delicious cheese ravioli and experimenting with oil to dip the French bread into. The cake though – oh my gosh. The whole two days I was there, there was non-stop discussion of this cake: how amazing it was, what the different layers consisted of, where it came from, how she discovered it, how many pieces were in the fridge and whether more should be bought. It was delicious. Together we sat in almost silence, stirring only to express delight or add a garnish of strawberry, barely finishing just one slice. I was about to collapse on the air mattress in the living room when Lydia’s brother, Skippy, called and said he was on his way. I think he is also my second cousin, but now I’m just making things up. His deep set eyes and full beard might make him scary if you were to run into him in a dark alley, but we immediately struck up a conversation on almost everything, including Nicola Tesla who apparently had done many of his famous experiments just around the corner. As South Park droned on in the background, I began to get sleepy and as soon as Skippy stepped into the other room, I unassumingly passed out.