Dear Maia and Isaac,

Camping season may be over, but I am not ready to give up traveling and doing fun stuff.  So, late September brought a trip to the Mountain Goat Lodge in Salida, CO.  Salida is that town halfway between Montrose and Colorado Springs.  My good friend in Colorado Springs and I decided to meet there.

We haven’t seen each other for several years.  We were some of the first women to practice at the Montrose Hospitals.  She was one of the doctors that helped me get nurse-midwifery started in Montrose.  We went through a lot together – and we will always be friends because of that, I think.  We both lived to be older than our moms ever were this year . . . that means our moms died younger than we are now.

The bed and breakfast where we stayed had a goat farm.  So, we got to take a goat cheese making class the first day.  It was very interesting.  We also made goat yogurt.  We got to bring some home – and some goat milk.  That took most of the day, other than a short walk and dinner.   The mountains there are very pretty.  I brought my goofy dogs!

The next day, we toured to goat farm.  We saw goats being milked – they actually liked it because they got their breakfast while they were being milked.  There were baby goats, too.  It looked like a lot of work to cook for everyone, take care of goats, and make cheese.  Here are my favorite goat photos.

 

 

Then we headed home over the mountain.  I know it seems like a long drive for you and your mom says you don’t like to come to see me very often because of that.  I love to drive to see new places – but I don’t like the snowy roads.  Especially over the mountains.  My map will be shrinking when the snow comes.  But, this trip had good roads and lots of nice colors.

 

I want to keep going places close to home for hikes when the weather is good enough.  I call those hikes “Savor Saturdays” – do you know what savor means?  What do you like to savor?  In winter, I am glad I live someplace where I can still hike a little.  I also want to blog about my spring road trip this year – because I got you guys lots of goodies that I bought for our get-together this last spring that your mom canceled.  If I can’t see you, at least I can share my adventures with you this way.  That is fun, too – and you don’t have to drive.  Hope you choose to come along for the drive someday.  Because you are always with me in my heart. (I am backdating this to your mom’s birthday.  I miss her.  It is really 10/20 today.

Love, Grandma Hartt