"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." Psalm 19
Since this is the case, for sure, in the skies and the mountains of Colorado, I was able to take a graduate course in God knowledge this summer. We visited friends who have recently built a fabulous mountain home nestled among the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Forests of rising Ponderosa pines, red topped mountains, buttes jetting into the sky, geological dikes forming natural walls, yellow and purple wildflowers all surrounded me in this glorious natural setting. At night the skies were even more amazing with twinkling stars and planets that felt so close I could touch them. The quiet, yet majestic beauty of La Veta, Colorado, is one that cannot be duplicated anywhere I have traveled. The climate too is amazing, no humidity and no bugs. This means that it can be 90 degrees and very bearable, especially in the shade of a massive Douglas Fir tree. With God's creative genius surrounding me, the question still remains: Would I be able to give up city life and all its conveniences for life in the Rockies, meeting the creator daily face to face?
Amidst these wonders, life is different for the mountain folk. Though my Colorado friends grew up in Chicago city life, they have readily adapted to the mountain life. They have been living in Colorado for the past twenty years. My husband and I often refer to them as Mr. and Mrs. Outdoorsy because they do it all: horse back ride, ski, mountain bike, kayak, hike, build, landscape and paint (not just walls, but large still life oil paintings). They are very talented and take to mountain life like suburban dwellers take to the shopping malls.
However, there is a caveat here: for all this beauty one must sacrifice convenience. It takes approximately 30 minutes to travel from the nearest town, LaVeta, up a winding gravel road to get to their mountain home. LaVeta, itself, is only about two city blocks long. Main Street has a small, mom and pop grocery store, a couple of art galleries, a bakery, quilting shop, several inns and guest houses, several RV parks, a coffee shop, massage therapy office, used book store, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal and Catholic churches, the Francisco Fort Museum, several real estate offices and an Excursion Train that runs between LaVeta and Alamosa, taking passengers along the San Isabel National Forest. It also has a post office and bank. That's about it. Places for lunch or dinner are limited to the bakery on Thursdays and the inn everyday. Oh, there's also a pizza place, but it isn't open daily. The one time we decided for pizza, we had to go to the neighboring town of Cuchara. Wal-mart is the next town over and so is the closet hospital, which is located in Walsenburg. Garbage removal is inconvenient to say the least. First, they have to separate garbage into throw-away stuff, recycling glass and cans (no plastic) and compost, which they have to bury. They have to carry down their garbage and recycling themselves and deposit it in town. Burying compost can be tricky when bears are on the property and find no problem digging for their dinner. My friend also tells a story of leaving a bowl of fruit on her counter overnight with a two inch open window. A neighborhood bear was hungry and broke through the screen, lifted the window and helped himself to the fruit. Dealing with wild animals also comes with mountain living. The downstairs windows at their home are now always closed.
Most of the people in the town are older and retired or hippies who never left. Apparently, this area was once the home to nine or ten hippie communes in the sixties. The long braided hair on several male residents was grey as opposed to golden. These mountain folk are friendly and always smiling and willing to engage in conversation or help when needed. We had a flat tire on a mountain road, with no cell phone signals, and were helped by a traveling older couple and a young rancher. But, many others were willing to stop and help.
Mountain winters are rough. My friends told us about someone from town skidding off La Veta Pass in the winter and climbing out of his snow-trapped car with two broken ankles and finally after two days getting rescued. It sounds like when it snows everyone stays put. In fact my friends will be purchasing some snowshoes for the upcoming winter.
Now as far as becoming a Colorado mountain mouse, I think I would love it for the summer, but for the winter I think I'd rather join the snowbirds down in Florida or Arizona.
If your interested in visiting LaVeta, Colorado here is a link:
No comments:
Post a Comment