Dear Maia, Isaac, and Virtual Wanderers,

It’s June, and the weather is warming up. So, I packed the dogs and headed to the Grand Mesa. With Colorado State Parks, you have to make reservations a bit ahead of time to ensure a space – so I didn’t know it would be so windy. I hoped for the best, that it would let up. But, the winds were pretty consistently 30-50 MPH a good portion of the trip.

It’s hard to know what to do in the wind in a small tent. If we sat inside, the flapping noise and swaying got annoying. Outside, my hair was in one deadlock in my face. I did get down on the ground on a blanket with the dogs a couple of times and that was about the most relaxing – but the wind takes it out of me.

The one time the wind settled for a few hours happened to be when we planned to hike the Vega Lake Trail the first morning. It was gorgeous and I was hoping for wild columbines. And, there they were along with a lot of other gorgeous wildflowers. It’s such a fun walk through the aspen forest. You feel like you are a million miles away from civilization, but it is a relatively short hike. Koko is still at a 1-mile walking limit post-op, so we went slow. One MPH. An excellent way to enjoy nature and the flowers.

We walked back on the road and headed into Colbran, CO for some lunch. I hitched the dogs to a bench and went in to order. I noticed a couple of aggressive large dogs hitched to a bench in the park. At first, I didn’t pay much attention. The girls enjoyed a taste of my cheeseburger. I decided to go back for ice cream – and that is when my feet miscalculated the little step on the sidewalk coming down the ramp from the restaurant. The next thing I knew, I was staring at the sidewalk. I was determined not to let it ruin my day. I picked up the ice cream, scrapped off the dirt, and the dogs and I enjoyed what was left. I didn’t realize until I looked in the mirror how much I had skinned my face and eye. OMG – I can’t believe I sat out and ate in public looking like that. LOL. I blame the wind for throwing off my senses.

Once I saw myself, I cleaned up with baby wipes and went to load the dogs. That was when the aggressive dogs started pulling the entire bench towards my dogs. So, I have to tell the owner to do something so I can load my dogs – and I look like Frankenstein. My pride was hurt and my confidence was shaken. I decided to head back to camp and rest. But the wind kicked up and my head hurt – and nothing seemed to work as far as getting comfortable. I didn’t have ice for my eye but used cool baby wipes.

I didn’t sleep well. I think head knocks do that. I was dreading putting the tent up in the wind, but when I awoke after dawn, the wind had settled. I got up early and loaded up the car and dogs. We took a super short walk that morning – but my eye looked like it was getting infected and I wanted to get to the urgent care back home. The wind started kicking up, again, and I was glad to leave. I didn’t stop for lunch at Grand Mesa Lodge like I usually do. I just wanted to get home and wash my face. I got antibiotics and healed up just fine.

Love Ya’all, Cathy Hartt (Grandma Hartt)