I went home for the first half of spring break, which meant a plane ride. In exchange for shaving ten hours off my journey I was frisked, scanned, herded, luggage searched, and packed into a metal tube. They also stole my toothpaste that had EXPLOSIVE plaque-fighting capabilities. Then I was on a plane next to a business major looking kid and his mom. I had my scientific papers to read through, but the mom mentioned how her son and I hadn't spoken once we were almost to Dallas. Her son must tell her he's the star of the school, which is why I would know him out of 45,000 meat drones high-fiving and talking about how laid they were last weekend. He said he's a business major because he didn't know what else to do; I said I knew.
And then I got home and prepared for the family trip that was planned months in advance though the family forgot to tell me. It was sort of our last family vacation (like the RV trips), and after sharing a bed with a family member throughout it, I understood why; us kids are getting too big. It was an enjoyable trip to Waco to see a community of amish-like people, and an expensive trip at that. I also got to see Merle and Rosie, and Dandelion briefly to give her the Smashing Pumpkins mix.
After getting back to Fort Collins, I got some busy work done and picked up Jeska the next day. Her flight was late because wind blows one direction, then the next (I'm joking). We finished preparing some lamb to be cooked on the mountain, and the next day we were there! She did surprisingly well for arriving in a much higher elevation at night and the next morning walking around a couple thousand feet higher than that.
We got firewood together and set up our sleeping area in the car, complete with books and battery candles. Once it started getting darker Jeska started the fire and we made mashed potatoes, lamb, and vegetable chili. Unfortunately, the chili was way spicier than it should have been, due to my fault. We slept and woke with the sun.
The next morning we ate chicken sausage and acid. It gave me a stomach ache, which I think was an amplification of the negative feedback my body had for the sausage. In any case, it wasn't visionary and it felt strongly within my body like I was on the verge of a great journey but couldn't cross the threshold. I assume this was because the acid happened to be in sugar cubes and wasn't able to be held in the mouth very long. After a few hours of this feeling, and the sound of gunshots from all our new neighbors at the campsite, we decided to push out. The shadows were interesting as well as the landscape. I felt very tranquil about the drive, but wished it was on a straight highway with no other cars on it.
A lot of cooking was done: Jeska made hushpuppies for the first time, we made broccoli pesto, fried chicken, quiche, breakfasts. She's a fast learner in the kitchen. I took her to Beau Jo's pizza, which was an adventure in itself, and she took me to get gelato. I was able to see a lot of old town by walking around with her; it's much bigger than I thought. We also took a tour of New Belgium. Over the course of a little over an hour, we consumed five free beers: two in the intro (Abbey, their first beer, and a wheat beer I didn't catch the name of), Caocao Mole in the employee lounge (which was an unexpected find for me, almost like a fiery cinnamon hot chocolate), a Fat Tire an hour off the production line, and La Jolie (a three-year-old sour fruity beer they make for fun). New Belgium turned out to be a pretty energy efficient operation and people seemed happy working there.
Jeska and I had Andrew over for a dinner party, just the three of us. We had the quiche with salad, Andrew's fruit salad, and pesto pasta, and a five cheese or so cheese plate. Andrew broke out the Spice and it was good. Jeska said it made her feel like being high for the first time, which could be good or bad. A week later, Andrew had us over for a dinner picnic with some of his friends and his grandpa. He must have had ten pounds of ground beef with hot dogs and with lamb, not to mention the potato and fruit salads. I tried to make a red wine reduction for the lamb and it smelled like wild berries, but I put in too much sugar and it caramelized onto the nonstick. The second go-around it was kept more watery and the lamb was further cooked in it rather than have the reduction as a jelly-like glaze. Still, it was all good and we went on a walk behind his grandpa's house, which leads to a jogging trail.
The ten days having Jeska here seemed so long and so short. I think it confirmed many doubts we may have had and brought us much closer. I really can't wait to live with her in August at a slower pace of life.
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