Happy New Year!

As the sun kisses the snow-capped mountain tops, may 2016 bring unexpected blessings of civility, justice and peace!

We're all "safe thus far."

Ellen and I have arrived safely in Alpine and John and Cynthia have arrived safely in Westminster. They had the worst of it - freezing rain much of the way up Route 5 from Springfield to Putney. They stayed in a motel last night and came home today.

We had good roads, good weather, all the way from Denver to Alpine. We stayed in a motel in Rawlins, WY  last night, then drove to Alpine today.

Katie picked up her new skis, boots and poles today and loves them:

       The new skis .....

            .... and the skier

They made it!

John and Cynthia arrived in Hartford at about 2 a.m., and went to a motel. Cynthia sent an email at about 3 a.m. from the motel and I read it at about 4:30a.m. their time (2:30 a.m. ours) when I got up to pee. Much relieved (in every sense).

Still Waiting??

Here it is, 11:04pm Tuesday night, almost 5  hours after John and Cynthia's flight was scheduled to depart from the Denver airport, and we don't know if their plane has actually departed. I have gone to the Southwest Airline website repeatedly and it says that the flight is estimated to leave at 8:40pm and is delayed, but of course 8:40pm was over 2 hours ago. So SWA has not updated the information on that flight for over 2 hours, which seems odd. I called Cynthia's cell phone to see if they are in fact in the terminal, but her voice mail answered and said it was full and could not receive any messages. So we don't really know what is happening there. I hope Southwest Airlines is taking care of them, but I'm afraid it may be a mess.

We dropped John and Cynthia off at the Denver Airport after we all said our goodbyes to Betsey, Rob and Katie. It will be hard for Betsey because she has had first her wonderful two-week road trip and then the Christmas holidays to look forward to for months, and now that is all behind her and her family has left. But she and Rob and Katie and Gertie are a tight unit and I know they will deal with it. But there will be some letdown for sure.

After dropping off John and Cynthia, Ellen and I headed to Wyoming. We are now in Rawlins, in the First Choice Motel. Our trip was largely uneventful, weather-wise, though toward the end it began to be blowing snow conditions. It is also very cold - about 5 degrees or so. We are not used to that!

We will drive to Alpine tomorrow, arriving sometime after 3pm. We sure hope John and Cynthia will get home ok and not too exhausted. There is a big storm going on back east, and when they talked with a neighbor earlier this afternoon, they learned that there had been a lot of icing in their area. So they may find they have an impassable driveway. Godspeed John and Cynthia!

Approaching the Denver International Airport

Quite a sight, against the late afternoon sky

As we approached Rawlins, we went past this otherworldly sight in Sinclair, WY

This "otherworldly sight" is of course an oil refinery going day and night. But after seeing Star Wars, it looked to us like something on another planet. 

Waiting

We just got an alert from Southwest Airlines that John & Cynthia's flight has been delayed by 55 minutes to 7:10pm. So we have some extra time. We imagine that the delay is due to weather in the Midwest or East where there have been many flight delays which could have a ripple effect on Denver. The weather here is fine.

              The travelers are checking forecasts

                        Here we sit like birds in the wilderness

Our last day

This afternoon we will take John and Cynthia to the Denver airport for their flight back to Hartford. The weather does not look good for them back home: snow, sleet, freezing rain, etc. They get in at 11:30pm - pretty late. It will probably be raining in Hartford by then after an earlier storm of mixed precipitation, but farther north it could still be mixed precip. So they might have to hang in a 24-hour diner, or go into a motel. Or the main roads may be ok but their own driveway could be a total mess. So they will have to play it by ear. 

Yesterday we finally got a chance to take a nice walk, in midday, then after that we went to a 2:30pm showing of the new Star Wars movie in Boulder. It was assigned seating - Rob had made reservations fairly late - and Ellen and I were in the second row! What an experience! Katie and Betsey are pretty informed Stars Wars buffs, John less so, but everyone far more so than I. Ellen has actually seen most of the previous films with Max, who is a huge Star Wars fan, has all the books, etc., and actually we will probably see the movie again with him later this week! But we went out to eat at an Indian Restaurant, Sherpa's, in Boulder after the film, and the talk was all about the film, the new characters, theories about what the genealogical history of the new characters might be - are they related to Luke Skywalker, or Princess Leia, or Hans Solo, or even Darth Vedar or Obi Wan Kenobi (sp?). Katie was looking at stuff online - various theories being spun by others. It was an animated conversation. I am mostly fascinated by the mythological features of the Star Wars story, and the many parallels it has with classical myths, including the whole biblical story. It is in many ways a religious myth, and the various interpretations are already spawning what might be called denominations. Everyone agreed that there will undoubtedly be more Star Wars films. It has already grossed well over 1 billion dollars in just a few days.

When we came home, several of us tackled the jig-saw puzzle in earnest. I think Rob and Katie continued to work on it after the rest of us went to bed - it may be finished.

Ellen and I will probably head out for Wyoming after we drop John and Cynthia off. There is some weather going on up in Wyoming too, but nothing like back East. Hopefully, we will have good roads.

One of the features of our stay was a full moon over Boulder:

Full moon over Boulder - from our bedroom window

Post-Christmas shopping!

Katie and I went to Boulder Ski Deals today. It was really busy! But we got a salesclerk, Patrick, pretty quickly and Katie found what she wanted. She got the boots first - she tried on one pair and they were ok, but the second pair she really liked. Very comfortable. Nordica. They warmed them up and she wore them for fifteen minutes so the foam would be molded to her feet.

Then she looked at skis. It helped in making a decision knowing she could bring them back if they weren't just right. Patrick assessed her skiing level and chose a good all-round ski. Then she got bindings and poles. The full package! She was happy. 

We contacted Ellen, John and Cynthia and met them at The Leaf  cafe - a vegetarian/vegan restaurant with gluten-free options. Very good food. Meanwhile J&C had gone to a kitchen store, Peppercorns, to redeem a gift certificate. They found some very nice bowls. A satisfying shopping expedition. 

    Katie waiting to try on ski boots

      Warming up the Nordicas

       Form fitting!

      The new skis!

Coming home, we worked on the jig-saw  puzzle, had a simple supper of rice, beans and corn bread, and watched Love Actually, another Christmas movie, a romantic comedy. Then to bed. 

       The jig-saw puzzle