“There’s no place like home…”

It’s not like we didn’t go into our week-long adventure in the Rockies with the best intentions. We did. We really, really did. My wife and I hadn’t had a couples vacation in a very long time. Honestly, I don’t know the last time. Maybe when our oldest was one and we spent two days up in South Haven, MI in a suite at the Lake Bluff Motel. Or maybe an overnight stay in Kalamazoo back in early 2018. It’s been a long time, and a whole week away? Maybe never. But you can only plan for so many things; stomach bugs, flight delays, lost luggage, wrecks on the interstate, torrential downpours aren’t really covered under the preparedness programs.

We’ve decided that the next extended vacation either needs to be back in Brown County, IN in a nice secluded cabin where we have room to breathe, and are only a half hour away from a nice-sized city for afternoon getaways. Or, it needs to be one of those all-inclusive deals where it’s all planned out for you and all you need to do is show up at a specific time for exploration, dinner, entertainment, etc. My wife and I aren’t much for the improvisational exploration in towns we don’t know. Denver especially is a hard town to crack. One block seems filled with interesting shops and eateries, then the next block seems sort of abandoned except for the souls holding up signs for money. Or the folks having conversations with themselves as they hold random shelves and a plastic Home Depot bag filled with all they own or have retrieved throughout their ‘Walking Dead’ shuffle through the city.

Another thing about Denver are the city streets, which when in the downtown area near Union Station or the Ball Arena the streets zig zag in all sorts of directions and manner. It’s like MC Escher was the city planner at one point. I’ve been in some pretty busy and bustling downtowns, but Denver was by far the most confusing. For a couple newbies it felt like a trial by fire.

There were some nice moments. Our Wednesday jaunt to the record shops, book shops, and finding a Target to buy a backpack we could take on the flight home was a reprieve from the unknowns and tiny disasters. My wife hooked up with her cousins on Thursday afternoon and was able to catch up with them for a couple hours(they live in Aurora, a suburb of Denver and where the infamous ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ theater shooting took place.) And the reason we were in Denver in the first place, the Dr. Dog show at Red Rocks, was amazing. The band sounded incredible and it honestly felt like truly special show. Was that whole week of calamities worth the one special concert and all the money we dropped to get there? Ask me in six months. Maybe I’ll have a clearer head and distance from all the bad will make a difference in my opinion. Until then, I’ll hold onto that feeling of the show under the Colorado skies.

If anything last week proved to me what a homebody I really am. I missed the quiet of my living room, the general ease of my neighborhood, and the comfort of my own bed. I also really missed my old pooch, Otto. He was so happy to see us Friday night when we finally got home that it took him 45 minutes to stop panting and galloping in his old man doggo way to the kitchen for the treats I hadn’t given him all week. My anxiety mind was worried about him all week, figuring he’d pick the week we were thousands of miles away to have some sort of health crisis. That’s just where my brain goes. Thankfully he was fine. It was just added fuel to the panic fire we fought all last week.

One of the few good things to happen last week was that while I was gone they had an all-employee meeting at work on Wednesday morning. They announced that they wouldn’t be closing the plant for the foreseeable future. Apparently they’ve discovered over the last three years that we in fact DO know what we’re doing, and that our manufacturing plant is a valuable component to their billion dollar organization. There will be some cutbacks in certain areas(most likely not shipping/receiving where I am), but overall we’re staying open and no plans to close the plant.

What that means for the company that actually bought the building from my employer I don’t know. I’m sure they had an idea this was going to happen as by now they were supposed to have the whole building to themselves. But right now they still only have the one chunk of the manufacturing floor to themselves. Honestly, I don’t care. All I know is that I’ve got a few more years to build up our savings and pay off our house which hopefully will be in just another two or three years.

So there you have it. Colorado chewed us up and spit us out, and did it with style and a hell of a view. Glad to be back in flat northeast Indiana where there’s a church every mile and a half, and a Culver’s every couple miles. Seems I can live with the politics and the heavy religious overtones of my hometown. I just ignore and keep to myself. For the time being, I’m good with that.