3 years ago this week

Three years ago this week I drove west over the mountains to meet Ben for the first time. I drove to Gunnison where I stayed with Davi and Eleni who drove me the rest of the way to Delta. To clarify for those of you outside of CO, it's a 5 hour drive door to door from Colorado Springs to Delta, the highest mountain pass is Monarch Pass at 11,312ft and often in winter one cannot cross the mountains at all. It was nothing short of a surreal experience the first time for me.


This year I drove east over the mountains to visit Eleni who now lives in the tiny town of Colorado City (1-1/2hours south of Colorado Springs). Along the way I stopped to photograph a few of the sights that so impressed me on that first drive. Unfortunately, I can't capture landscapes in their glory, but here is a taste of the western slope. It's so different from the front range. I remember before I left that first time Fr Anthony told me "it's a different kind of beauty over there, a sort of barren one". It really is beautiful to me every time I drive it.

Blue Mesa Reservoir

Below is South Park on an earlier trip, a long desolate drive between mountain passes. My route does go through mountains, but it's harder to get pictures when you're actually on the passes.

ok, and a trip of nostalgia, this is Eleni and me ice skating on the Gunnison river on one of my early trips to Delta.

and x-country skiing a month later, I was single, we were both childless and she was married only 2 months.