Three years ago if I was in bed before midnight, chances were good I was sick. We had weekly card parties that usually ran until two am. On Wednesdays. With a whole lot of wine. Needless to say, I wasn’t much of a morning person.
These days I’ve got a job that wants me at a certain place at a certain time, and I’ve discovered I like having a reasonable amount of puttering time before hand. So I’m usually up around six.
Getting up at four is still a bit of a stretch. But in order to get a shipment of cats up to Denver Dumb Friends League, it seemed reasonable. Mostly.
After we struggled through showers, clothing and coffee, we headed over to where the cats had spent the night. At first they seemed happy to see us, perhaps thinking we were there to free them from the adoption playpens to run about. They were less happy when we popped them into carriers and loaded them into the van.
It snowed the day before, and even through the sky was clear now, there was enough slush on the road to kick up and hit the bottom of the van, providing the percussion line to the chorus of meows. They were not happy cats, even with repeated assurances that they were all going off to find nice homes.
I-25 towards Springer is not the most beautiful part of Northern New Mexico. But then we had predawn light, and the sun started to raise mist from the snow, and it was breathtaking.
In Pueblo we met the very nice family who would take our passengers the rest of the way. I’d always thought of Pueblo as a place to stop and get gas, and then get back on the road. But we needed to stretch, and it wasn’t quite time for lunch yet.
We’ve been looking for a stand for the TV for a while now, so found a district that seemed to have a number of thrift/antique shops. Nothing quite for us, although there was a fabulous pink metal and crystal chandelier that nearly came home as an early unbirthday present for a friend.
And then we found the River walk. Did you know Pueblo had a river walk? Beautifully maintained, fun to explore, statues and random art bits, with shops and restaurants moving into the area? We walked down and around it, found the boats (sadly tied up for the season), watched the ducks, met a lovely puppy who’s going to be a very, very big girl one day, and generally had a pretty fantastic time.
We’re talking about going back for a weekend escape to explore more. Maybe taking up the bikes and seeing what their paths are like. Hopefully that’s not just the sleep deprivation talking.
