In 1958 my parents loaded up their 1957 Buick station wagon and pulled a 14–ft. Aljo travel trailer on the first of many road trip adventures with our family. The destination was the great Northwest. My dad, who was born in Bellingham, Washington, was like a salmon who had to migrate to the place of his birth. I was nine years old and I had never seen the ocean. I will never forget our first experience at some state park in Oregon, where I was introduced to tidal pools. They teamed with starfish, crabs, little fish and about anything else you could see in an aquarium. I was hooked. The smell of the air, the sand under my feet and the sounds of waves as they swept in to shore still fills my memories.
This past week, we welcomed our daughter Stephanie and her two kids to our home. They come each February for a Colorado winter experience. Their home is a 1000 yards up a plateau from the Pacific. The ocean has been part of their lives as far back as they can remember. The kids have seen snow before but they have never been in “snow”. Well, this past week they got their first ever— live—stick your tongue out and let the flakes fall on it, experience. They got to see the magic of a snow flake and they got to go sledding on our local park hill.
On Monday we went to Nederland for our standard experience at the Carrousel of Happiness. I have written about it before. Suffice to say, it is not a trip to our place if it does not include a day in the mountains, with the main event being listening the carrousel Wurlitzer pump out “Ring of Fire”, complete with Umpa Umpa and cymbals. On this trip we were in a full—on blizzard. The kids loved every minute of it.
I tried very hard to give my own kids and grandkids experiences over things. I have lived long enough to have my own wonderful son, Mateo, tell me that the “forced” road trip I drug him on to Alaska is now something that he would love to duplicate sometime with his own family.
The night before the kids left for home, I was explaining to Sofia that the snow she played in came from the ocean that she sees everyday, and that the very water goes back to the ocean. She gave me one of those looks which is to say “Park, (her name for me) tell me something I don’t know”.
This year we got to take Zoe and Matias skiing for the third year in a row. I delight in hearing their stories of adventures at Wolf Creek. Thirty some years ago, I heard Bill McCartney (CU football coach) tell me, “The only two things you have in life are experiences and relationships”. He was right.
The day after Sofia got back home to California, she greeted Stephanie in the morning with “I miss Colorado”. Well, Sofia, the human mind is blessed with a memory bank that allows us to play over and over again those memories that shape our lives.
Onward and Upward,
Mark
Lyfting Me Up 