Family Traditions

My daughter took her inlaws to my parent's condo in Red River, NM this week. They are having such a great time, and her husband's aunt said to her, "Do you know how lucky you are to have gotten to come here all of your life!?"

I was reading an article in

backpacker that said we are now in the 2nd generation of "nature-deprived" people. It got me to thinking. We DO have a lot of kids/people who haven't experienced the joys of the out-of-doors, kids raised watching TV, playing video games, playing on ball teams but not camping, hiking, rafting, even just skipping rocks .

I have such wonderful memories of Red River. My parents both went to Red River as children and loved it. My dad talks about when he and my mom were first married, my mom worked at a bank, and each month, she took $5 out of their bank account, and $5 out of their best friends account, and every summer, they would go to Red River, stay in a small cabin on a lake, and have a blast! Can you imagine an entire week of vacation on $60? But they fished, and hiked, and cooked over the campfire, and...well there are a lot of stories of adventure, too!

As a kid, I loved Red River, too. I felt like Daniel Boone as I hiked through the forest alone behind our cabin. The cabin with the most memories was an old cabin up in the woods, with a true "icebox" (one where you have to have a block of ice to keep things cold) and only a wood-burning stove, and OUTHOUSE, for Pete's sake, and a swinging bed hung from the ceiling. One summer, my dad even talked the people in town into renting us a horse and they let us keep it for the entire week! WE fished, we hiked, we jeeped (in the same jeep that we still use today, a 1942 Willys jeep), and in general we had a wonderful adventure.

My kids, they love Red River, too. My son was even married there, in a beautiful outdoor ceremony, next to a creek with a mountain backdrop. We have made many backpacking trips, had rain inside the tent, been hailed on, been lost, been cold and wet--sounds like a lot of fun, doesn't it? But at least my kids will never say they have been "nature-deprived".

And now, a 4th generation is enjoying Red River. My mom learned to skate at the skating rink there, and so did I, and so did Lyndsey. Apparently, little ER tried out the skating rink and had a lot of fun, too, on that old wooden floor. And they jeeped to Goose Lake (one of Mimi's favorite trips) and saw big horn sheep. I looked at my daughter's itinerary, and it was very similar to one my mom would have put together for HER family...the same jeep trips, fishing trips, same places to eat...a true family tradition, these jaunts to Red River, New Mexico...a place where I can always go and feel that I am home. I am close to my mom there, her memory is still fresh and I can feel how much she loved that place.

Here are two of the grandkids in that old Willys jeep in Red River and a sleeping angel...he isn't in RR this time, but still worth posting because he WILL BE!

Bagged my first 14er!

The alarm rang a 3:15 AM--the alarm being Mr. Lynn, who set HIS alarm, so that he could call me and make sure that I was up. Since I am not the type to pack the night before, I had to hustle, as my friends, Mike and Jeanne, were picking me up at 4 AM. We wanted to be at the trailhead by 5:30. What does one take up to 14, 200 feet? Lots of water, I thought, some summer sausage and cheese, trailmix, raincoat, rain pants, ten essentials (this is 11 for me, because I have to have chapstick--did I need my wool sweather?) Throw it all in the backpack, take the camelback and the fanny pack--no need to decide right this minute which one to take.

Mike and Jeanne pulled up right on time, I hopped in the car (after a trip back to the house for my cap) and we were on the road, headed down I-70 just as the rain started. Jeanne was nervous, but I was filled with both excitment (my first 14er) and dread (I've seen those peaks, and I am pretty sure this will not be my favorite hike--I really hate stepping over boulders and rocks--give me lakes and streams and waterfalls any day!)


We met Andy, Mike and Jeanne's son, at the trailhead, and were out of the car, packed up (I opted for the fanny pack and the camelback--that way, if I got really tired I could leave one on the trail and still have water)and on the trailhead at 5:45 AM--not bad, but believe it or not, the upper parking lot was already full, and there were about 30 people starting about the time we did. Andy and Mike were off and running before I ever crossed the bridge, so if you want to know about their trip, you will have to get a report from them--we never saw Andy again, and Mike was waiting for us at the bottom.

Jeanne and I started up; I am a slow hiker, and Jeanne adjusted her pace to fit mine, I think; but we were pretty well matched. The first two miles rolled through a beautiful valley, but we started at 11,200 feet, so just at treeline. The valley was covered with scrubbrush--scrubbrush that I prayed for for hours after we left it--once you leave the scrubbrush on this trail, there is no bush for privacy for miles/hours.

We met some people coming down just as we started up--they had left the trailhead around 1:30 AM in order to catch the sunrise up on the peak--it was a full moon hike for them, although the moon was somewhat obscured by the clouds. Leaving in the middle of the night would NEVER have occured to me, but they seemed happy--probably because they were through with this hike...

Anyway, my biggest fears were confirmed about the 2.5 mile marker--a big boulder field. After a mile of that, the last mile was pure rockslide--the guidebook called it a talis, but it was just because that sounds slightly better than "ROCKS EVERYWHERE--and nothing else!" Also, the peaks (Grays and Torreys) loomed in front of us and were massive and pretty daunting. This was at about 13,000 feet. Jeanne and I were slow, but doing pretty good. No one past this point looked all that happy--except for the people going DOWN! Anyway, Jeanne and I saw two different groups of mountain goats (I was wishing to be a mountain goat on the way down...).

We arrived at the top (YEAH! I would have turned around at the rockslide, but Jeanne kept encouraging me, and we MADE IT!). We signed the logbook, took some pictures, ate some summer sausage and cheese, made some new friends. The view was SPECTACULAR!! It really is like you are standing at the top of the world!!



















The trip down was much more difficult, and you could really get a sense of how good you did--it was rocky, slick, and very steep. Plus, I really wanted to get to that scrubbrush...

It was 8 hours round trip...We made it though! I never have to do that again, thank goodness! Sunday, I am going to the farmers market and watching Wimbledon on TV--and not much else!!

More from Flat Matthew...

Dear Matthew,

I am having such a good time at Miss Terri’s! On Saturday, we did this great hike! We saw the ruins of an old castle. This guy, Mr. Walker, built a castle on these grounds back in the early 1900s. He also intended to build a summer White House for the US Presidents, which he started in 1911. Unfortunately for Mr. Walker, his castle was struck by lightening and burned down. All that was left were these ruins. He also lost his fortune, and so the Summer White House has only the foundation, but it was cool. We also had this spectacular view of the mountains and of Red Rocks amphitheater, which is this natural outdoor place for having summer concerts. We went to Red Rocks with Ben and Brooke and Eli, but now I got to see it from up above! It was cool! We also saw this ridge that is called Dinosaur Ridge—I could see why from up above it!

Anyway, Miss Terri also had me take a picture of her, usually she takes pictures of me! Having a great time, you should come here! On Friday, we are going to see the Rockies play!

Missing you but having fun,

Flat Matthew

Flat Matthew at the Nuggets game

Terri and Flat Matthew go to the Nuggets game! Thanks, Big Dave, for the tickets (and Mr. Lynn for asking him!)

Rocky put flat Matt in his mouth! It was scary, but fun! The Nuggets ROCK!

Flat Matthew comes to visit...

Dear Matthew,

I arrived in Colorado in the middle of last week. Man, is this place beautiful. From my inn, I can see the mountains, they still have a lot of snow!! We had snow the day I got here--4 inches--but it was warm and slushy and melted by the next day!

Miss Terri thought I looked very very handsome in my Rockies uniform! She says we will go to a game soon. We couldn't go to the home opener, though, because Miss Terri had to work. I got to go to work with her on Friday. She had to do something called a workshop, I think she had to earn our dinner, because we started at 5 PM on Friday night, and we played some tag games, and met some cool new people. We left as soon as that workshop was over and headed to the Texas panhandle. Miss Terri says that it is in Texas, but is really known as the badlands of Oklahoma. All I know is, it is 5 hours away, and we were in 3 states that day--we started in Colorado, crossed over into Oklahoma for 40 miles, and then crossed into what Miss Terri calls "the great state of Texas".

Miss Terri's daughter, Lyndsey, and her kids were there too, at some place called Papa ERs. It was funny, because the boy's name was ER, too, so I got confused by that. Miss Terri said just to call them BiggER and LittlER. LittlER is cute, but he did NOT want anything to do with Miss Terri. Macy, the little girl, is much more fun--she LOVES Miss Terri.

Anyway, we went horseback riding and we saw goats and baby goats, which Miss Terri called "kids". We made mexican food for dinner. Also, LittlER got a John Deere bicycle. He can't ride it, but Miss Terri pushed him all around the neighborhood! I saw all of this from Miss Terri's purse, but she forgot to take a picture. So, we stopped on the way back from the Texas panhandle and took this picture of me...can you see how windy it is? Luckily, Miss Terri had a good hold on me!!

I am soooo excited--Miss Terri says that tomorrow we are going to a Nuggets game! She is making me some new clothes to wear--she says she wants me to look like the Birdman--I don't know who that is, but I have to get some tatoos and a sweatband, so I am thinking I will look pretty cool.

And guess what else??? On Thursday, Miss Terri says we are going to fly on a plane to some place ELSE in Texas called San Antonio. She says we will visit some people called Benny boy, Brookie, and Eli Blevins. She says maybe I can ride the mini horses while I am there and work in the garden. THEN we are going to Austin for a conference. Miss Terri says that is the capital of Texas. So, we are going from the capital of Colorado to the capital of Texas and back!

I am having fun, but I miss you! Talk to you soon,

Flat Matthew.

Baby Eli is 4 months old!!

14 lbs. 2 oz

24 3/4 inches long!

And so very handsome...

Can I Help you with your Golf Game?

Or, would you buy a used car from this guy?

You can pay me in cookies!