I made my trip out west with my dad.
He was the one crazy enough to follow me across the country for an eclipse and spend several days in a car and on the trail. Today happens to be his birthday, just a week after I finished recounting our trip in this series. So, this post is a happy birthday post. The phrase “Go West, young man,” could arguably be turned into “Go West, old man” for this one, but I digress.
*insert bad laugh track*
From the outset of the trip, he was game for whatever it, and I, wanted to throw at him. From a trip to In-n-Out in Denver, which he had never heard of, to the snow at 11,000 feet on I-70, he was enjoying it just as much as me.
An early morning rise led to this selfie just after we had seen some mountain goats on the side of the road in the Colorado National Monument.
Later that same day, he managed the nearly 4-mile round trip hike up to Delicate Arch. While there, we saw another young woman dragging her dad around and had to laugh a little.
He even carried around one of my older cameras to get some shots of his own.
Our disastrous night in Farmington would have made plenty of people give up and head home, but not us. We were determined to catch this eclipse, even if it meant sleeping in the car. Fortunately, it didn’t, but we may have been better off in retrospect.
The Continental Divide, at nearly 11,000 feet, is hardly an easy place for a hike, but we did take a short one and had to get a photo with the Wolf Creek Pass sign.
The Sand Dunes proved a very challenging hike, but despite the elevation and difficult hiking conditions (one step forward, two steps back in soft sand), my dad kept on trucking, enjoying the sights.
Luckily, we even ran into his cousin the next day near Pikes Peak, or a statue of him at any rate.
When we finally found ourselves heading back home, he sprung for first-class ticket upgrades making the trip even that much more enjoyable.
So…. thanks. Thanks for following me on a long trip. Thanks for helping keep the feed for the website going when I was trying to do a million things. Thanks for not freaking out when riding in a car at 95 MPH with me.
And most of all thanks for being a great dad, showing me how to never quit or give up even when things get tough. I doubt I would have made it to this point in life without you or the lessons, including those I’m now passing down to my kids.
Happy Birthday, Dad, and here’s to more adventures in the years to come.
