I'm pretty excited about this coming week. I'm taking my niece on a road-trip vacation. She's 13, nearly 14, and I've been begging my sister and her husband to let me take her on a trip like this since she was 11. Finally, it's happening!
My niece and I have been talking about our plans for a bit and we have a few definite plans and a few ideas that we'll figure out as we go. For sure, we'll go rafting on the Arkansas River, visit the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Mesa Verde National Park (I scored a very cheap room at the Far View Lodge right inside the park). We'll also find a stable for a horseback ride for her--and me, I miss being around horses.
The germ of the trip comes from my own childhood. It stems from my great aunt, Muiree (pronounced like "Marie"), who flew each of the kids in my family to visit her in San Francisco when we were 12 years old. She took great pains to make lots of plans for things that we wanted to do and she was unfailingly patient and energetic as she shuttled us around town. I remember my own trip: Giants game in the owner's box, Sea World, all the top restaurants, how could I forget? In a way, this trip is a memorial to her (she died about five years ago). Even when my parents' divorce strained family loyalties, she never was anything but loving and accepting of us kids. I can only hope to be an uncle like that.
CDs listened to today:
- Rufus Wainwright: Want One
- Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise
- Charles Wuorinen: Two-Part Symphony
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