Well, I made it back from Colorado in one piece.  That might be a happy thing for some folks — a disappointment for others.  ;)~  I really had a blast while I was up there.  The drive up took me through the Texas panhandle region, through the northeastern edge of New Mexico, and then on up the Interstate to Colorado Springs.  It was really great seeing particular parts of the United States that I haven’t seen since 2007 on the drive up.  Most of it seemed to be mostly the same — except maybe a little dry in some spots than I remember.

I visited some familiar spots – Garden of the Gods, the USAF Academy, Pikes Peak, and the same cabin from 2007.  It was all really great and I enjoyed being able to spend some time in locations that really make that connection with me.  Especially up at the cabin in Divide, Colorado.  There were many more Aspen trees than I recall from my previous time – but it was still the peaceful, quiet location amongst the trees.  I enjoyed being able to unwind from life in general — and enjoy some time on my own.  I took quite a bit of time to write in my journal and rework some of the OBOD lessons I had difficulty working with previously.  The time away really did the trick – and I really added quite a lot of work to both my personal journal, as well as my OBOD journal.

One new place I decided to visit was Falcon Circle at the USAF Academy.  I coordinated my visit with Stephen “Pete” Peterson, Public Relations Director with the USAFA Chapel.  While our original starting time to head up to Falcon Circle encountered a small blip with scheduling around a few tour buses – everything went absolutely flawless.  Pete was not only helpful, but very informative with all of my questions.  To top of the visit, he even spent time in the main Chapel with me discussing some of the challenges that Pagans face in the Air Force, and how the Chapel works with them.  It was certainly a much more helpful and assisting environment than I remember back in the early 1990s at Ramstein Air Base.  The Chapel Services have certainly learned a lot about how to help out fledgling groups, with memberships that can fluctuate wildly based on duty assignments and tour lengths.  I’ll write up a bit more on that in the coming days.

Garden of the Gods, while still an awesome sight to behold, has morphed into a major tourist trap.  The entire area is much better viewed from car rather than by foot – which was the way I had experienced it in 2007.  Its still one of those major “must-see” items when you’re in Colorado Springs though.  Pikes Peak, on the other hand, is still one of the most knuckle-gripping drives I’ve managed.  This was my second trip to the top, and there are a handful of drop-offs that are basic white-knuckle grips as a driver.  At one stop, about 1000 feet below the summit, a big-horn sheep crossed the road behind us…the only sign of life, outside of birds and tourists that I saw up there.  On the summit, it started to snow just before the trip back down…so I was thankful to see snow in August.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip – and just what I needed to wind down from the entire past four months.  I’ll have a lot more on various aspects in some later blog posts in the coming week, as well as on the podcast.  But I am glad to be back home…even if it is back into 100+ degree heat…