Dear Journal: What happens in Colorado....Stays in Colorado!

Dear Journal:

You know how they say that the best times are always the one’s you don’t plan? well, do I have an un planned story for you! two weekends ago, I had the pleasure of visiting Colorado.  First and foremost I have to tell you that the very first time I flew over Colorado about 6 years or so ago on my way to Las Vegas, I knew in that moment when I saw those mountain tops, that, that was definitely a state I absolutely must visit.  A few years later a good friend of mine moved there, and I would constantly tell her that I had to go visit her, but then she had to move back to NY and I never had the chance to.

A few months ago, I decided that I was going to finally go for my bday to visit Colorado, specifically, a town called Ft. Collins, the reason for wanting to go there was because I had met someone on line who would always rave about it and he got me curious about what this town could be like.  One day I talked to him and I told him that I would be visiting Colorado and that if he liked we could try to meet up, for reasons that I am not sure about, he decided not to meet me.  Although I was very disappointed about it, I realized that I can only control my own actions and that whatever his reasons behind not meeting me were, I had to respect them and accept them, I wasn’t about to go all psycho crazy on someone I never even seen.  Yet I cannot deny that I was bummed about him not hanging out with me, because now I had to go there and sort of do all the things I could of done with him, by myself.  Non the less, because I had been planning this trip for so many years, I decided that I was going to go there and have a blast as I usually do when I go to any foreign city.  I usually travel alone anyway so this wasn’t some new scary adventure to me, as I don’t think I fear the un known as much as I sometimes think that I should.

On Friday evening I arrived there and picked up my $27.00 dollar car rental, yes 27 dollars for three days! I KNOW! Even the girl at the counter who gave me the car keys couldn’t believe it! she was like girl you got a great deal! already my little weekend getaway was getting off to a good start! the people at the airport were very pleasant and the girl at the counter was beautiful and very nice.  I was really happy!  Anyway, I picked up the car and headed to the hotel and immediately while driving in the 75 mile per hour highway… I KNOW 75 WOOO HOOO!!! I decided that I was already in love with this beautiful state! I got to the hotel and the people were lovely and accommodating and then I proceeded to my room to knock out cold, because I was just exhausted.

After every semester I like to go away to my little get away because during the school term I am completely exhausted and stressed out.  Managing my time is crucial in order to do all the things that I have to do for my classes my kids and my work, so, I got there and slept like a baby.  The next morning I set out on my hiking adventure and everything went as smooth as could be.  Well initially as I was driving toward Rocky Mountain National Park, my IPhone had no reception and I couldn’t get the instructions, so I stop off at a place that looked like a rest stop and I see this guy with a dog, so I call out to him and say excuse me and when he turns around I had to control my saliva from dripping down the side of my mouth! I thought to myself OMG! control yourself Jazzy CONTROL! so I very pleasantly asked him which way was the hiking trails and he said to me that where we were standing was actually the beginning of one of many and that that particular one, was about a 3 mile hike, then proceeds with this smile that just made my knees shake and in my head I had to keep telling myself to calm down and act normal as if every day I was faced with a fine dude with a body to die for a killer tan a million dollar smile and the cutest dog I had ever seen that would not get off of me.  He kept telling the dog to calm down and I kept telling him, oh no problem I love dogs! So I tell him my IPhone sob story and we both laugh and he asks me what exactly it was that I wanted to do, so I told him I wanted to go to the park.  He gave me directions and I walked away wanting to smack myself for being so dumb and not having just hiked up with him and his dog, but I just sort of wanted to spend time by myself and do some thinking.  I wanted the weekend to be about my mind, body and soul!

I finally get to the park and everything there is so organized and the people are so pleasant, it just felt safe to go on a hike in a completely strange city.  I went on a 6 mile hike, and I saw snow, animals and got rained on, IT WAS AWESOME!

Sunday is when my adventure became really interesting! I decided that I had to go swimming before I went home, so I had asked the guy that I met if he knew any places where I could go swimming, he told me about a specific place where I could go so I googled it and decided that I would go there.  I get there and everything looked so official that I kept thinking to myself, holy shit! this place is private GREAT! just my luck! So I am standing by the rental car looking around thinking of what to do next, and I see this random guy walking toward me, so I stop him and ask him if the place is safe to swim and that is how I met Daniel.  He looks at me and tells me he is new to the city and that he doesn’t really know, all he wants is to find a place to fish so we start talking about fishing and the city and one conversation leads to the next and next thing I know, I am hanging out with him.  I tell him that I cant' leave that area until I go swimming, so he says that he can't swim with me but that he will wait for me, turns out the place is public and there are a bunch of people swimming, so I take off my shorts and tee and go into the reservoir.  OH! I was wearing a bathing suit! the thing about this part of my story is that for the first time in my life I felt absolutely completely comfortable taking off my shorts and tee and standing in front of a complete stranger in a bathing suit.  Maybe it was the fact that he was just really cute and nice and sort of made me feel like I had known him for a long time, or maybe it was the fact that just because he and I were now hanging out, I wasn't going to let that ruin my plans of swimming, regardless, it just felt ok to sort of take off my cloths and end up in a swim suit in front of this guy.  He sat in the sand and waited for me to swim, I swam up to this like platform they had and climbed on it, waved at Daniel and dove back into the water to go back to him.  Being around him felt so natural, it was pretty cool and strange and nice.


I finally come out put on my cloths and we decide that he will accompany me to the last place I want to visit before my flight, which at this point was about 5 hours away, so we head out to another city which is nearby and he shows me around.  By this time, we are laughing drinking beer smoking cigarettes and just finding out about all these crazy things we have both done in our respective lives.  IT WAS AWESOME! I had to leave a few hours later, so we exchanged numbers and said we would stay in touch, I have to say that I was really happy that I met him, the reason being was that I really sincerely wanted to just be by myself, but the fact that he and I hit it off almost in an automatic way, sort of meant to me that it was a sign that I needed to just let loose and hang out with him.  I felt really comfortable talking to him and he was just the absolute complete awesome gentleman. 

I have to say that I had a great weekend, full of a ton of surprises! I am a strong believer, that life can be really good, if you just allow things to happen without going too crazy when making your plans.  Live the moments, accept them and always no matter how bad the circumstance, ALWAYS MAKE THE BEST OF IT!


Oh and by the way, something else happened but I don't know, sometimes I think my journal gets read, so I rather just keep certain things for my book! besides, you know what they say, WHAT HAPPENS IN COLORADO, STAYS IN COLORADO!