"Quite a Trip"

It hardly seems possible that our annual trip to Colorado Springs to visit family is over for another year. We left on Saturday, July 18th, and got back home on Friday, July 24th. A little shorter than usual, but then so were our funds. We really wanted to make this trip without adding to our credit card debt, and I'm happy to report that we did just that.

We rented a car for the trip, at the insistence of Kt, who accompanied us. Glad we listened, as the Toyota Corolla we ended up with was air conditioned and had comfy seats. She kicked in for the price of the car out of her tax refund. The car did well, got between 31 & 35 mpg, had a smallish gas tank so we didn't break the bank each time we filled it up.

We drove straight through, mostly to save money for motel for one night. While we made the trip okay with no mishaps, we wished we had stopped for the night--we were beat!!! Sunday night we slept for at least 10 hours to make up for it.

We rented a motel room while in Colorado Springs. We used to stay with my folks, but their house is so hot and we are getting to old to deal with discomfort. A couple of years ago, when my brother went with us, he suggested getting a motel, and we are all happier for doing this. My folks are getting older, and when you're used to two people kicking around the house, suddenly adding a few extras can be a hardship. We arrived at their house every morning anywhere between 9:30 & 11, depending on if we did any shopping or other activities first. We'd leave to go back to the motel anywhere from 7 to 8 p.m., enjoying a couple of hours of channel surfing (no matter how many channels there are on cable, doesn't seem to be anything worth watching), air conditioning, and comfy beds. I went to bed earlier on this trip than I have in years, and for the most part, slept pretty good.

Our touristy trips included a mini-hike through the Garden of the Gods and shopping in Manitou Springs for souvenirs to take home. We've made this trip so many times that I was all "souvenired out," but did buy a little something for Hi-D (who took care of our house and pets) as well as my buddy in Sweet Adelines chourus. Kt bought a few things for her dh. We both bought post cards and stamps, then forgot to mail them out.

The trip home was another straight-through drive, but we had a better night's sleep the night before, so it wasn't so hard. We did stop for a couple of hours at a rest stop and slept before continuing on.

Hard to believe it's over for another year, and that we're making plans already for the next trip.