A guys' trip to Colorado

 

Jordan and I just returned from a week-long roadtrip to Colorado, driving with my Dad to a secluded cabin not too far from Woodland Park. My brother and my nephew flew in to join us for the second half of the vacation — it was great seeing both of them for an extended, guys-only retreat. We all had a lake completely to ourselves, which meant a lot of quiet, reflective time sitting and thinking, talking, walking, preparing meals, sketching, casting a few lures, tending to the fireplace, and puttering around without an agenda. The other four guys stayed in the main cabin, and I retreated to the smaller cabin just uphill.

Jordan and Austin both caught brown trouts with spinning reels (what Gus Orviston called angling) while Dad and Mark practiced their overhead fly casting; I found a flat boulder and fished a bit one morning before commandeering the canoe: one thing I'm a purist about is quiet canoeing. Oars should not bang against canoes; and water splooshes should be avoided.

We also enjoyed a day in Colorado Springs, walking around the Red Rocks open space, driving through Garden of the Gods, and revisiting a flood of good, 20-year-old memories at Glen Eyrie and the Flying W Ranch. I'm posting these illustrations of the main cabin (a front and back view), the tool shed, and the dam bridge. I had originally intended to watercolor these, but I think I'm going to leave them as pen and ink.

I know I'll look back on this trip with great memories; the trip managed to capture a moment in time where my son was old enough to be considered one of the grown-ups, where Dad was young enough to participate in everything, where my nephew was old enough to run around without too much supervision, and where Mark and I were freed up from work distractions long enough to really relax and take it easy for a few days. I'm hoping we'll get in a few more guys' trips like these before Jordan goes off to college. I'll probably post some pictures soon.

Illustrations © paul soupiset. do not reproduce.

Comments

[David G Rupert]

Hey..that's out my backyard! Beautiful illustrations and a wonderful time it sounds like. My boys are grown, but we still have scheduled an adventure week, every year, that us 'boys' get together. Hopefully, when they have sons, they'll do the same.

It's something we males need to do, to pass on tradition. To pass on smiles. To pass on advice. To pass on faith
David
http://www.redletterbelievers.com