Old friends, my sister, and a moose

30 years ago, when I was fresh out of college and my sister had just graduated high school, we embarked on a month long, 11 country tour of Europe, with a group of about 40 other young explorers. It seems cliche to say that it was the trip of a lifetime- but it truly was! From London, Paris, Italy, Greece and points in between, there was so much to see, learn, and absorb. As magical as the trip was, it was the people that we met and bonded with on that tour that have remained a part of my life 30 years later!

Last week, six of us (including my sister, Bonnie) reunited at a cabin in Grand Lake, Colorado that belonged to one of the tour members. Some of us had not seen each other in over 30 years! We brought our old albums and photos and memories, and relived days long gone by. It was a lot easier remembering old times with five other people helping to fill in the blanks!

When we weren’t reminiscing, we were seeing some of the beauty that is Colorado. I haven’t been to Colorado in 22 years when the girl (she’s still a girl in my mind) whose home we were staying had got married. We experienced hiking to a waterfall, a boat ride around the lake dotted with homes from the 1920’s, a trip to the quaint downtown, and a ride to a state park to see the elks bugling….a pretty big deal in CO! You would think that would have been enough for one day but I jokingly said that I had never seen a moose before (I hadn’t). Our hostess made it her mission to find us a moose. 20 minutes later, we were cruising through a lakeside neighborhood when lo and behold, munching on somebody’s beautifully maintained flower garden, was a momma moose and her two teenagers! We were safe inside the Suburban and managed to get some great photos.

The weekend was truly a gift of sights, sounds, friendship and the added bonus of seeing my sister who lives 3000 miles away. The moose was just the icing on the cake!