Rocky Mountain High

Golda has been in a post-mission depression since she got home and discovered that life is meaningless when you're not spreading the joy of the gospel in Hong Kong. Really, re-entry is rough. It's hard. Looking back, my advice to families who have a missionary come home, is MAKE TIME FOR THEM! Just put thing son hold. They're disoriented and sad. They just need your presence. Golda got home December 1, and we were BUSY! It was Christmastime, which involves an amped-up schedule already, but we also had Golda's homecoming, Ptolemy's baptism, Ruby's mission call, dozens of Nutcracker performances, a busy music store and countless parties and events to host and attend. I pictured Golda just jumping into the fray, but she was unable. She felt lost and superfluous. From the outside looking in, she felt like we didn't need her. I was constantly asking her to do things like drive kids to ballet, which I thought was helpful to "keep her busy" and help her integrate into life again. And, I'm sad to admit it, I was a bit impatient with her sincere sorrow. I told her it was normal, and she needed time to get over it, which was true, but what I didn't do was take the time to just BE with her. None of us did. We were all so happy to have her back, we didn't want to notice that she was drowning in the life that we had so eagerly anticipated her being a part of again.

It wasn't all bad. There was a lot of fun to be had, and slowly Golda oriented herself, but she needed to do something big, to get her heart pumping again. She booked a trip to Europe. She used every penny she had, which is the Dopp way, to arrange this trip. She worked for me on weekends at the store, and took any odd job she could find. She starved and saved food money. She took public transportation instead of driving. She needed this.

The flight she booked was out of Denver, because it was a steal of a deal. Nonstop to Paris for like $450 over spring break. Scott and I were more than happy to drive her to Denver so we could spend time with her. It was a super fun trip. We woke up early and drove without incident to Fort Collins, where we had lunch at a trendy little burger place. We dropped off Golda at the airport where she commented, "I hope this trip fixes me." If anything can fix a person, it's a couple weeks in Paris and London with old friends.

We interrupt this blog post to imform you that Araceli got her drivers license. Is that how you spell it, really? Blogger is being weird with pictures, and it's hard to upload them, so I'm leaving these here. Celi having her license has been great. It saves me SO much driving! She's working hard to be responsible and not do anything spontaneous like driving to San Francisco instead of going to seminary. She probably would if she could afford the gas.

Anyway, these pictures are in random order, but after dropping excited little Golda off, Scott and I drove back to Fort Collins. We used our free Marriott night to book the best, most darling hotel. It's called The Elizabeth, and you have to stay there. I haven't been to Fort Collins for 25 years. Long ago, I spent a week there, staying with a violin varnish guru, Geary Baese, learning his varnish secrets and riding in his Model T Ford over to Estes Park for a party. Eccentric guy, and now I see why he chose Fort Collins as his home. It's full of characters who would drive a Model T over the Rockies for a party. As a weekend getaway, Fort Collins is incredible. Scott and I discovered far too many cool places to enjoy in just one night. We had an amazing time. We'll definitely go back to try some of the restaurants we didn't get to sample and stroll the downtown area further. It was so vibrant on a Thursday afternoon, so full of people, most of them older like us, just enjoying life. We loved it.

The next day, we set out early so we could be home to work. Unfortunately, I-80 was closed due to wind and snow. What could have been a 6-hour drive turned into a 12-hour journey over the Rocky Mountains. As soon as we got everything at home squared away, we enjoyed the drive. It was touch and go over the pass outside Vail, because it was snowing and we were afraid we would be turned back without four wheel drive. Everything was fine, though, and the weather wasn't too bad. We stopped in Vail for some ramen and made a new friend, the chef. He was from California. We had a nice chat. 

In just two days, we experienced a super fun getaway in a place that's close by, yet a world away. Travel doesn't have to be exotic of expensive to feed your soul.

Cáceres

Once again, Juan wowed us by taking us to an incredible city with a rich history. This time it was Caceres, an hour o so away from Badajoz. It might have been our favorite city. besides the others. Ha ha. I'm channeling Nana. By the way, DeBrys, I became the official favorite the other day. She said, "You're my favorite," and then she looked like she was going to say the next part, but she couldn't remember what it was, and I hurried and left! Ha ha ha! If you escape the "besides the others" part, are you the actual favorite? 

Anyway, we walked around the old city of Caceres, where much of the architecture has been preserved. Maybe it was too far out of the way for some of the border fighting to destroy it.

Everything was so lovely and pictureseque, especially Ruby. We fell in love with every cobblestoned street.

Before we went to Caceres, Juan prepared a wonderful meal for us at his apartment. Gema came over and everyone laughed about old pictures and videos of Victor and Sofia. You can't have Gema around without having hilarious laughter.  I forgot to tell you, before we met in the square, she had come to Sonia's house in the morning the day before and walked into the bedroom to wake me up. Scott was in the shower.  She is so funny! Bleary-eyed, stumbling out of bed was not how I envisioned seeing my friend after 20 years! But, as Gema described it, "I knock...I don't hear any sex....so I go in! ja ja ja ja ja!"  She is THE funniest.

And backing up again, this is from the museum of contemporary art in Badajoz.

Ptolemy gave Scott a bundle of worry dolls to take on the trip. He needed them! Scott handles all the worrying in our family. This trip was nice in that we didn't have to worry about how to get from Point A to Point B, or even what Point A and Point B were. Our wonderful hosts took care of all that.

More laughter, reminiscing about running from the cops in Bloomington and how our roommate, the only one who wasn't participating in the revelry, got caught.  And about how we drove around Portugal lost and 5 of us had to sleep all night on the sidewalk next to the car. In the morning, we had baguettes and canned tuna on the hood of the car for breakfast. Adventures definitely don't have to be perfect, or anywhere close, to be memorable. That is one of my favorite memories.

We went in a museum in Caceres to see the ancient things. This was where the population stored their water.

Fortunately, we were there in time for the city's passion play. As you can see, it depicted Christ on the cross. There was cello music and the priests took Christ down from the cross, lowered him into a casket, and carried the casket through the town. In spite of the corpse looking like a crash test dummy, it was a solemn and reverent occasion. We ended up being trapped in the old city because every alley we took led us to the procession. It was fine with me. I wanted to stay there forever!

I loved this guy. There is such beauty in daily work.

Next time maybe we'll stay in the Caceres Medeival Tourist Apartments. :) My computer doesn't do accents, so I can't spell Spanish words right unless I'm on my phone. Annoying.

We stopped in a tchotchke shop for non-alcoholic beverages and souvenirs. This city has a long history with Knights of the Templar just like Jerez de los Caballeros.

Or maybe we'll stay at Hotel Don Carlos. This picture, which I sent to Freestone, led us to a long text discussion about our dog's pretend secret life. I said, "I can't believe Don Carlos has been operating a hotel in Spain this whole time and we didn't even know." Freestone took it and ran with it. He is so funny.

We were wandering around, enjoying the scenery, when suddenly we were at the trendiest, hippest restaurant in town. Juan has been orchestrating the whole walk to lead us here. See what I mean about not having to worry about the planning? Juan did all the worrying and planning for us! Scott and Juan have the same personality. They like the same things. Scott looked up all the restaurants we went to, and they were all rated super high. They were all the exact places Scott would have chosen. This one was so fun.

Desserts. The cheesecake was SO cheesy. It was made from cheese that most Americans would not touch. It took some getting used to, but I ended up eating the whole thing and loving it.

The restaurant was called Perhaps.

Gema and I had to say goodbye. This time, she didn't barge into our bedroom, but it was pretty early in the morning. This woman works hard! She does one TV show in the morning and another one in the afternoon. I was sad to leave her. I hope she can come visit soon.

Last Spanish breakfast, which Juan kindly brought to us. Every morning, everyone in Spain has fresh-squeezed orange juice. Oranges are so cheap, and so delicious. We lamented many times at how affordable and accessible fresh food is in Spain compared to the U.S.

Driving to Portugal in two cars, and on to the next adventure.