On the road, weeks 2 and 3

Coxsackie virus and GPS in hand, we spend two lovely nights with old friends Ingrid, Aaron, and Aidan in Denver. In between, we popped over to hip boulder and watched one of the greatest couples of all time, Tim Foss and Dana Elkun, tie the knot barefoot after walking silently through a meditative labyrinth encircled by adoring wedding guests. In order to keep the girls quiet during the reverent ceremony (except for one ceremonial offering of a whoopie cushion by bridesmaid auntie janelle!) we sustained and distracted them by stealthily feeding them ham. They loved ham that day and we went with it. In the middle of the ceremony I wondered if everyone, including the blissed out bride and groom, could smell that ham. Not exactly the memory you want to carry forward for eternity. I comforted myself by deciding that ham smell was more romantic than two small children making loud and angry sounds due to low blood sugar. Blase sang “You and I” at a poignant moment… hopefully that made up for the ham offense?????

On the way to the reception which was an urban walk of about 8 blocks, I managed to get stung in the armpit by a small scorpion. We captured it and stared at it in disbelief. We even asked a few passers by about scorpions.. they all laughed and said “we don’t have scorpions in Colorado.” One suggested that it was an ant. Maybe she’d never seen a scorpion – or an ant – the difference is quite noticeable. Turns out there are some scorpions in Colorado and one of them cozied up in my armpit until I squished it by pulling Ossian close to me to cross a busy street. I yelped in the intersection but couldn’t stop to deal with the thing until I’d gotten my party dress clad 3 year old to the curb.

As you may or may not remember, Ossian was stung by a scorpion earlier this year. That experience taught us that the smaller and more yellow the scorpion, the more deadly it is. We also knew from that experience that if you are going to start dying from the sting, it will happen within 60 minutes. So, we began the countdown while continuing our wayward path to the reception. Ossian had to stop and watch the street musicians and the unicycle rider. Nola wanted to put a sample rock in her mouth everytime we passed a new zone of landscaping. Blase and I were hungry and curious about the species of scorpion he carried in the pocket of his dressy slacks. We knew that if I began to slur my words or froth at the mouth or convulse, that we were in trouble. We arrived at the reception 41 minutes into my hour of truth. A cocktail seemed appropriate and helped pass the time until my survival was guaranteed. Nola also helped pass the time by immediately plunging her hands into the loose front of Auntie Keely’s flowered dress. She was clearly happy to see her and thought she might as well try her equipment in case some milk might be available there.

Obviously, I did survive and enjoyed a delicious wedding feast. The next day we headed for Moose, Wyoming which, according to MAPQUEST, was supposed to be a 6 hour drive. We stopped in Laramie for lunch. Perkins seemed to be the only thing open and I thought about Mathew Shepard as we waited for our not-so-fast food. I wondered how safe it was to be out in Laramie these days.

After 14 hours, we arrived at the base of the Grand Teton, in the magical home of the Craigheads.

Shirley greeted us in the morning with toys for the kids, hot tea, and big hugs. I headed out for a run and she escorted me to the gate to do a bison check. The herd had grown over the years to around 1000 and they congregate around her house. I’d never had to plan my run around a herd of wild buffalo before. It was a little exciting.

Shirley knows every inch of most trails in both Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks. She is an inspiring naturalist and keeper of local knowledge and she of course, picked perfect hikes that would allow our motley crew of 4 toddlers, one pregnant lady, 3 seniors, and 3 out of shape parents to see the sights. I saw a wolf and moose and antelope. The rest of the group saw bear, too. We hiked all week and listened to Shirley’s stories in the evening. She and my mother in law were nuns together in Chile. They left the convent around the same time and Shirley became Blase and Colleen’s god mother.

It was a perfect vacation. Even though there was some barfing… Ossian and I were standing in the middle of a very upscale bakery in Jackson Hole. I ordered a ham and cheese croissant for her and a tea for me. As I reached for my wallet, she projectile vomited in every direction from the comfort of my arms. We excused ourselves and went to the bathroom for about a half an hour. When we emerged, all the barf was still everywhere. The staff had decided to let the other customers stand in and around it.

She barfed for another day before recovering. Poor little monkey. Then we were off to Los Angeles. We arrived just in time for me to start my barfing. Always wanting to do what the big kids are doing, Nola started barfing 48 hours later. All totalled, we barfed in 4 cities for 6 days.

Los Angeles was in a “heatwave” allegedly. The best place to be was in the Ocean. Despite the barfing, the cousin time was unmentionably cute and hilarious. There were lots of hugs between Nola and Chiara. Ossian and Blase worked together to build castles, boss their little sisters, and score Orangina. We spent every evening laughing at the kids’ antics and eating GREAT take out with Nana, Papu, Colleen, and John.