A meaningful trip….to CO

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Sometimes we travel to experience places we have never been or maybe we go somewhere that we really enjoyed in the past. Traveling and taking a trip is a way to have fun with people you love and to get away from our regular daily lives and routines. My family and I took a very meaningful trip to Colorado in the fall of 2014. You see it was a chance for us to fulfill my sister’s (Tricia) wish to go to a place she always wanted to go and that was Colorado. Her timetable was limited as she was battling breast cancer and was finally feeling up to a few day road trip. So we left at 9pm on a Thursday night and hit the road from Wisconsin to Iowa, Nebraska and then hitting Denver in the morning. It was me and my sister in the front seats and my wife (Dawn) and our two young boys, Tallen  (8) and Tyler (6) in the back.  Our whole goal was to see the incredible landscape of the Rocky Mountains, stop a few places and explore. We stopped in Denver and had lunch at little local restaurant and then headed south towards Colorado Springs, noticing the sign for Pikes Peak, we ended up making our way up to the top of Pikes Peak (14,110ft), I was driving and noticed a burning smell from the brakes of the cars that were coming back down from the top.  My mind began to wonder if this was a good idea, but I kept driving.  At one point my 6 yr old asked me, “Dad are we going to make it” as I looked over the cliff, hands sweaty on the steering wheel I simply replied, “Yes, of course we are”.  

What a sight

We made it to the top and it was really windy, cold with some snow and we stepped out of the car and just looked below.  What a sight! I was feeling this sense of living and saw the smile on my sister’s face as she couldn’t believe she was up that high, just a little moment where she wasn’t thinking about her sickness. It was a new perspective for us as we never traveled as kids, while being part of a dairy farm family during our childhood.

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South to Great Sand Dunes National Park

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We headed south after Pikes Peak and made it to the Great Sand Dunes National Park after dark. We stayed at the local lodge for a couple of nights. I woke up early to see the sunrise while the rest of the family got some rest.  Beautiful Landscapes as the sun came up.  We couldn’t believe the size of these sand dunes, we had a blast as we climbed them, kicked the soccer ball around and sank in them. I highly recommend visiting this National Park as it’s a cool place to see and experience.

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Onward North to Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park

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We headed north to Boulder, we always heard Boulder was a neat place. We arrived and we hit the shopping district on Pearl Street. My sister loved it, shopping for a winter jacket at Pagoda, she just loved the stores and had a fantastic time shopping with Dawn, while the boys and I ran and got some pizza to eat. She was all set after getting her new jacket, we had a couple more hours of daylight so we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. We went to many lookout points and enjoyed the wildlife and the beautiful views!

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Grateful

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As we headed home, we were tired, but so happy to have shared that experience together.  My sister always put others first and it was my turn to really give her something that she would never forget. Grateful we had the opportunity to make that trip happen. Be the light in someone else’s life. Each day is a gift, we all have the opportunity to be a gift to others while building a lasting legacy!