A Quick Trip to Colorado

I was overdue for a visit to see my mom. I can’t believe it had already been nearly a year since my last visit. Time flies. After I returned from my world travels last spring, I flew over to see her…and now it had been a year since I returned the US and that I found even harder to believe.   Over the last year, I’d done some domestic traveling to New England and Los Angeles and spent the summer in Chicago.   But it was a far cry from my recent globetrotting.  I got caught up in some ‘stuff’ back home that made me more stationary than I thought it would.

So I jetted out west to go from one place covered in snow (New Jersey) where it seems most people complain about the weather to another place knee-deep with snow drifts, where the people relish the powder and just go about their day as usual. But since it was snowing up here at these high altitudes, what it did mean for me was that my mom was not able to drive over the mountain pass in order to pick me up and bring me back to Silverton. So, I had a brief reminder/encounter with that independent traveler-girl I once knew just a year ago.  I called from the airport and booked myself into a hotel in downtown Durango and took the hotel’s free shuttle into town.

It was nice to be alone again…not answering to anyone, not needing anyone’s help (or people thinking they need to help me) and just making my own decisions, right or wrong, with only myself to reconcile with.  I settled in to what I thought would be a boring Best Western. To my surprise, my room key let me into a bright room complete with a big, cushy, king size bed, a couch/sitting area, fridge, microwave, and a lovely private balcony overlooking trees and snowdrifts. Plus the middle of the hotel had a wood-beamed atrium with a heated pool and hot tub. Nice. Too bad I didn’t even think of bringing my swim suit in February.

I set out to have a wander and breathe in some of the fresh mountain air. I needed this after the four-hour flight from New Jersey plus the three hour layover in Denver.  It was never easy getting here…and proving even harder since I wasn’t actually at my destination yet.  It was often easier for me to fly abroad than to get to my mom’s little hamlet in the mountains of Colorado.

I walked up and down the charming and lively streets of Durango full of open shops, pubs, and cafes. It’s ski season so the town is alive with folks on vacation enjoying a lot of outdoor winter activities. It has a nice main street lined with old brick buildings with that old west charm.

I settled on a sushi bar and was greeted by the loud “Irashai Mase” from the chefs behind the counter. Perfect for the solo diner. I chowed on some seaweed and noodle soup, sashimi, and a ‘samurai’ roll. Pretty tasty for being in the landlocked Rocky Mountains.

Common symptoms after long flights and unfamiliar beds can include a crick in the neck. An online search will quickly bring results in terms of finding a chiropractor to soothe those tightened muscles, providing some much-needed relief and allowing travelers to begin exploring without discomfort. More common injuries for travelers include sore muscles due to carrying heavy luggage or sitting in cramped airplane seats; luckily there are health and wellness services to help alleviate travel pains. I often treat myself to a massage when traveling.

Hopefully tomorrow the roads will be clear and I will actually be able to get to see my mom. It is disconcerting to come all this way and just be an hour away, but possibly not be able to cross that final stretch.