July 19 - Friends are worth traveling for!

The girls!  So glad to be together again. What a fun weekend!   Thank You!

When last I left you, a week or more ago, we had just left Durango on our way to Westcliffe, Colorado.  Why Westcliffe?  This tiny town is located, reportedly, in one of Colorado's poorest counties.  I'd never heard of it before!  It is a cute small town with high hopes of someday being a tourist destination.  It has many many beautiful features, jeep trails, hiking trails and outdoor fun options.  But why were we going there?   Because we were meeting our FRIENDS there! and friends are worth traveling for.

When Hurricanes Irma and Maria ravished our little island paradise in Sept of 2017, it perpetuated a significant exit of longtime residents from the island.  If you've never gone through a hurricane, let alone two back to back category 5 hurricanes, you can't understand, but hurricanes have a way of forcing you to take a hard look at your life and are often a catalyst for change.  Three of my 'friends that are family' who were affected by "IrMaria" in this way were Fred H., Teddi M. , and Fran G.   Fred and Teddi moved to Colorado  in early 2018 and Fran relocated to Austin, TX.  Bold moves.  Big changes.  All three could not be happier with their decisions and are loving life stateside!   But, we do miss them.  They have all been part of my island family for more than a decade and I was not going to pass by an opportunity to meet up with them on this trip.

We didn't plan it.  Fred was aware of our travels (thanks Facebook) and when he realized we were going to be in Colorado he let us know that Fran would be up visiting them and that they had plans to visit friends in Westcliffe for an annual rodeo that they've long enjoyed there!   We looked it up and charted it out on the map.  Yep!  We could do it!   It was not on our planned path but we quickly re-arranged our travel plans and headed east.  We landed in Westcliffe on Friday the 19th.  A weekend of good times followed!  Woot Woot.