The Blues & Brews fest was awesome and I totally loved it. (I bought a cute hippy bag with Ganesh on it, and Brett got a leather outback-style hat.) I’ve even posted Telluride pictures already.

Brett and I want to go back every year. Seriously!

Instead of driving directly from Telluride back to Ron’s, we all crashed at a hotel in Montrose… and believe you me it was worth every cent: it was deliciously dry, and there was a bed, and it was heated and everything! And one didn’t need $2 in quarters to get hot water out of the shower. Ah, luxury!

Ron knocked on our door to tell us they were taking off. Brett and loitered a couple hours, long enough to bathe and eat before we left the hotel.

Later we passed Ron, Amy, and Janelle putting upward toward the summit at about 45 MPH in Amy’s VW. We waved and they waved back. Later they passed us on the way down while we were lost trying to find the exit onto Hwy 6. (I guess the VW goes about 40 uphill and 80 downhill, making a trip average of about 60 MPH. Which really isn’t that bad. *grin*)

Our last night in Colorado, we made Ron go out to sushi with us, even though he really just wanted to veg on his couch at home. He’s a sport, though, so off to Sushi Zanmai we went.

Zanmai had the weirdest music soundtrack I’ve ever encountered in a a sushi bar – Madonna was playing when we walked in, and later we heard the Clash – but the food was really great. (I got drunk on saki, of course. “I just blame it all on the altitude!”) Amy showed up and said we were all troopers for going out right after getting back from Telluride, but I explained it was our last chance for sushi!

After eating, I rode up to Ron’s with Amy (and Prana and Sugaree) in the vee-wee, and Brett rode up with Ron. When we got there, Amy gave me a bag full of product from Bear Mountain Essentials and now I’m totally addicted to this cocoa/hemp lip gloss she gave me. Argh! (Their body products aren’t on their site yet or I’d link to it for you and then you’d be in trouble too.) (I really want to buy a dress or two from them. Oh, the cuteness! The site sez some fall colors are coming soon. I’m pretty much all about that.)

When we woke up that last morning at Ron’s, it was snowing. I’d slept on the leather couch in the entryway because Brett’s back was really hurting him and he was flailing much too much for me to sleep anywhere near him. I woke up, all disoriented, to Brett pointing at the window and inquiring belligerently: “Did you see this?!” as if I was somehow responsible for the fact it was snowing. Snort!

Brett’s ruptured disc hurt him (a lot) so I did all the packing while he iced his back and played video games. He felt bad for not being able to help, but I prefered him not moving to lurching up and down the steps making pain-faces so I was kinda bitchy to him: “You! Go sit the fuck down and get out of my way!” It’s terrible to see your big strong man hobbling up and down the stairs like an ancient, it really is. The chiropractor said it will take awhile to heal and that he should take it easy, so I try to make him take it easy as much as I can ’cause he won’t do it if I don’t make him.

Packed, we loaded the dogs up and went for coffee. (Er, I had coffee. Brett had chai.) Then we drove back up the hill and over to Nederland and visited Josha for a couple of hours since we basically hadn’t seen him the whole time we were there. Later we drove down to Boulder to the job site to pick up Brett’s tools. We both hugged Ron and thanked him for his hospitality and then we got on the road.

I desperately wanted burritoes and kept looking along Hwy 6 for Mexican restaurants; eventually we stopped in Brighton for gas and right across the street was a Mexican drive-thru. Who knew life could be so awesome? I got a supreme burrito and chips & guac; Brett got some fried beef taquito things. It was a lot of food for ten bucks!

The rest of the drive was just like driving through Nebraska has always been: boring. Long. Straight. Our stormcloud friend from the mountains, Bob, was with us most of the way so it was a boring, long, straight, rainy drive.

We got home around three. Joe woke up to greet us. The dogs were stoked to be home and ran around outside for half an hour before even coming in to sniff their house. I brought most of the stuff in from the Jeep and then, still wired, took the pics of my camera and transferred them onto my thumb drive. Finally crashed around four and didn’t make it in to work until about one the next afternoon.

Home sweet home! It’s great to be back and sleep in one’s own bed again!