Colorado treated us to a spring snowstorm – nothing much by Rocky Mountain standards but enough to make driving a challenge. Our rented Toyota minivan doesn’t have winter tires or all wheel drive either. Oh, how I missed our old Subaru as we slithered from Buena Vista to Westcliffe. Some of our best friends have deserted the Front Range area for more remote and scenic environs. To complicate matters the temperature plummeted – minus eleven by morning.
Connie and Marie go back to their days at the phone company. She and John invited us to their 80+ acre estancia in Westcliffe, a bit off the “digitized GPS” map. We have been there before, of course, but everything looks different under a blanket of white. We got there without mishap but it required a few U-turns and a desperate call from a borrowed cell phone. They designed the energy efficient, all-concrete house themselves and have installed both solar hot water and photovoltaic systems; very green.
Westcliffe is a small town where impromptu dinner parties constitute a major part of the social activities. I think Marie combined an obligatory dinner for some friends with a chance to show us off. Under the heading of “Small World,” one of the couples is also a friend of Jim and Cathy. In fact, Lynn, who didn’t attend, recently hiked around Mount Blanc with Cathy and Mark once commented on this very journal. There must be some truth to this “six degrees of separation” thing.
