Greetings from the Land of Enchantment

Adventures in Friendship

I've returned from my first road trip with a new friend. I always leave on these trips with no small amount of fear and trepidation--I've lost more than one friend to a road trip and a new friend is still more tenuous. We made it back alive and still friends. Alive being the operative word; somehow I always manage to befriend adventurers. I think my personality leaves people with the impression that I'm a risk-taker. And in some ways I am, socially--I'll say anything to anyone (to a point). But, I feel a personal responsibility to God, my maker, to keep this vehicle intact and not do anything overly stupid. My friends over the years have had a different take on things. They don't feel alive until they are on the edge. I've made it out alive so far. And this weekend was no exception. But, I think I need to get a bit clearer with my companions about my interest in death-defying feats, which is little to none.

We went for a little day hike on Treasure Mountain. The sign clearly read: Please do not go beyond this point. Dangerous! But my friend was curious and I'll admit, so was I. It began by simply getting off the trail to hike up toward the frozen waterfall--which was an amazing sight--then it became a completely vertical, hand over hand snow climb. The entire time I'm thinking, How the hell are we going to get down? (It's always easier to monkey your way up something; it's an entirely different story coming down!) We weren't the first to go off-trail, so there were clear foot holds, nevertheless, at one point in the climb I had to 'fess up to my fears and shout up to my friend, This is the last turn we make, I'm scared. In reality, I was about to panic and possibly throw up, which would not have made the return trip any easier. We scuttled over to a sunny spot and sat down to rest and not think about how we were going to get down--at least for a moment. And as any good city girls will do, we found a compact and put on a little refresher eye tint and lip gloss. The better to face our imminent demise on the return trip. Ha! Long story short, we made it down and declared ourselves Queens of Treasure Mountain. And yes, it did make me feel very alive, confident, and capable. The essential ingredients for feeling sexy at 37!

Pagosa Springs is beautiful, especially if you stay at the hotel. I had the entire place to myself late into the night--just me and the stars and the river. Beautiful.

During the day it's quite a different scene--Japanese tourists; obese, middle Americans; loud, inebriated twenty-somethings; and packs and packs of children. So you take a deep breath and repeat to yourself, everyone's just here to have a good time, and you get in the pool and say Hi and make small talk. Not my forte, but nevertheless, I enjoyed my time in the soak and steam of the Hot Springs.

We returned yesterday still smiling--even through our hypoglycemic moments--and a new friendship was sealed. I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present.

posted by Sat Purkh Kaur Khalsa @ 9:56 AM