The Coussoules' Great Western Adventure: Day Three, Last Day in Colorado

Today did not begin well - little man woke up lethargic, complaining of a headache, sore throat, and tummy ache. Uh-oh. The early morning sightseeing plan was on hold; definitely needed to give him more time to rest before trying to get going for the day.

A sick kid was definitely not on the itinerary for the trip; of course, Justin and I both knew before we left that with two straight weeks gone from home, we were going to have to roll with the punches. This was just the first opportunity to do so.

As the ultimate in prepared parents, Justin had packed medicine for the kids - after the first plane trip with Caroline when she was about 8 months old during which she spiked a fever on a layover at Chicago Midway, it's been one of those better-safe-than-sorry things on our trips. Given the close proximity that we all find ourselves in, our secondary concern was that if Caroline came down with the same symptoms, we wouldn't have enough Tylenol or ibuprofen, so it was off to Walmart to get the backups. Say what we will about the homogenization of America, it was awfully nice to know that we would find exactly what we needed right across the street from the hotel.

After a dose of Tylenol, some orange juice, a little bit of oatmeal and several episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants, John felt like he could make a go of it. A joint effort to get all of the bags and coolers back into the van, and we headed south on I-25 for the first stop of the day: Garden of the Gods.

What can you say about the splendor of the American West? How can you truly do it justice with words?

awesome (adj.): inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear; causing or inducing awe

We spent three hours there, and Little Man hung in like a champ. Close to noon, he started wilting, so we made the call to skip the originally planned baseball game in Denver to head straight to Fort Collins. No need to sit out in the sun and make it worse for John; we'd get to the hotel, try to go to Saturday mass, and then meet up with my cousin Suzanne, flip-flopping our Sunday morning plans.

I always say, everything happens for a reason, and today was absolutely 100% an example of that maxim. While we certainly don't want John to be sick, because of our change in plans, our travel probably was infinitely easier than it would have been with the original plan. On our way up I-25, we saw severe storms all around us, and drove through a little bit of heavy rain between Colorado Springs and Denver. In Denver, the traffic was so thick, we wouldn't have made the beginning of the game even if we had been headed for it. When we arrived in Fort Collins, we made it to the hotel not ten minutes before the heavens opened up, but instead of driving in it, we were safely ensconced in our hotel room.

Despite our best efforts, it didn't work out to go to mass; when we got to the church, it was three-deep standing room only, so we opted out and will try again in the morning. We were a little early to meet my cousin, so we found a wonderful local coffee shop instead. Bonus stop - the latte was amazing, Justin's coffee was top notch, and the kids both enjoyed a hot chocolate as the rain stopped and the weather turned for the better.

The day ended with a personal thrill for me as I got to cross something off of my life list - but more to come on that tomorrow. Tonight, we're going to get to bed early and hoping that between the Tylenol, ibuprofen and TLC, John will be right as rain tomorrow.