Westbound and down

Hallet's Peak and Flattop Mountain, as seen from Estes Park.

It's getting close.

In just a month or so we will pack up the car, and head west. Just for a week, mind you, but this vacation is a sacred ritual on a par with Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at the Vatican, or the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is eight days reserved for all of our family traditions and quirks to manifest themselves, to rule and then quickly drop out of sight for another year.

The destination is, of course, is Colorado. Estes Park. A cool, pleasant little tourist town nestled in the lush mountain valley first settled by Joel Estes in 1859. The summer weather is clear and warm during the day, usually tempered by a cooling afternoon thundershower. Evenings are often chilly enough for a sweatshirt or jacket. And overnight it gets just plain cold. The cold greets you in the mornings, finally losing its grip to the nine o'clock sun. That's what we go for: the cooler, dryer mountain air. It's like the whole town is air-conditioned in the middle of summer, a break from the hot, humid flatlands here in western Missouri.

We are like football coaches with their pregame rituals. There are simply things we must do. We stop at the same motel in Hays on the first day out. We go to the Wal-Mart next to it to buy the items we inevitably forget. We go even if we remembered everything, just because. Ask a coach.

The first night in Estes Park is always pizza night. It goes back 30 years to our first voyages to Woodland Park. Always arriving tired after a 55-mph journey from Kansas City we would order a pizza instead of cooking our own food. President Reagan got the speed restriction repealed out from under the big-government crowd which shortened the trip, but the pizza tradition stuck.

Everyone likes a trip to Bear Lake

Once there we have some non-negotiable things that are on the books each year: Saturday afternoon mass at the beautiful stone and timber church; a trip to Bear Lake, of which faithful readers already know; breakfast out at the 'Egg and I' restaurant (and maybe another at the Big Horn, at the other end of town; the girls' shopping trip to Longmont, Loveland or anywhere a Ross Family Store has rooted; mini-golf at Tiny Town; a root beer float with real ice cream at the A & W; and lunch on the last day at Penelope's, the best burgers in Larimer County.



Another end-of-the-trip routine is the annual Tiny Town Invitational, a family mini-golf contest with a traveling trophy. Last year, I beat out Brett and Katie by one stroke with an all-time personal best of 38. The trophy, a child's pennant emblazoned with "Estes Park" sits proudly on my desk, waiting to be handed off to the next winner in July.

The torch is passed at the '08 TTI.

Also on the last day or two there is shopping to be done. A few presents to tote home to friends; fudge, T-shirts, ear-rings, jelly, the usual suspects. Katie always needs a T-shirt, sweatshirt and a polo to get her through the next few months.

In between arriving and leaving there is much swimming, sunning, walking by the Big Thompson River, and enjoying the magnificent scenery. Every morning is a flawless gem. The afternoons are pleasantly warm, but the breeze whispers through the tall pine trees suggesting a gathering storm. It's possible to enjoy some quiet time reading or napping. And you have to practice for the TTI.

All too soon it's over. We have to pack up the car, get up before sunrise and head east. Back down into the heat, and featureless flatlands. Back to the daily grind of work, and waiting for the weekend. But for a few days it is great to escape the unforgiving prairie summer and enjoy being together in a friendly setting. There is still one more tradition to go--lunch on the way home at the truck stop in Colby. I know, lunch at a truck stop doesn't hold much for most people, but these are the vacations of the insignificant.