A Cranky Morning of Breakdowns and Dew

If I remember correctly there were quite a few of my family members who were cranky that morning. My dad and I (but mainly myself) had convinced, maybe even guilted, the rest of the family to get out of bed early in the morning. We were staying in the beautiful, but much under-visited, paradise of Pagosa Springs, CO. My parents had decided to come out here and listen to one of those time share sales pitches for a free weeks' stay.

Now typically on family vacations, I like to try and get up early in the mornings whenever I can. The sun is coming up and the animals are out early before it gets too warm. I love catching the beautiful landscape before anyone else is up. When I expressed my desire to get up early and check out a waterfall just outside of Pagosa Springs, there were some that wanted to go, but others who were more than happy to stay curled up in their comfortable beds and catch up on their sleep.

After a little discussion and some clashing opnions, everyone decided to go along on the outing so as to not miss out on anything, desiring to be all together. So before the sun rose, we clammered into the 15 passenger van, headed out from our time share, and spoke very little. As the path ahead of us turned from well-paved highway to poorly maintained back country road and finally to dirt road, the van began to utter noises and, much to our dismay, started smoking vigorously. As we pulled over on the deserted road, miles away from town, out of cell phone service, we all reacted in our own special way. Thankfully, all reactions at least carried a trace of humor.

While waiting for the eventual arrival of the tow truck, which was graciously summoned by our soft-spoken cowboy friend, we wandered down the road to see what laid around the next bend. (Don't worry, the story of cowboy John will most assuredly appear in a later post.) Outside of more bends, there was not much else on the road. But it was cool, the sun was rising and there was a luscious, green landscape laying ahead of us.

I noticed this scene below as we were walking through the countryside. The side of the road was lined with a muddy ditch that gave me a good opportunity to get eye level with the dew-glistened blades of grass. As a few of us continued down the road, our wanderings overextended themselves and in a short while, we were greeted by the rest of the family crammed into the cab of the tow truck. We were carted back into town to get a $10 piece of plastic replaced so our van could take us to attempt the drive again the next morning.

Nikkor VR 70-200mm, f/2.8, Pagosa Springs, CO