Are you glad to hear this is my final post about my vacation?
The day finally came to break camp and head home.
We said goodbye to Chippie...
...and his little buddy, who so bravely skittered over the Prince's feet one morning.
And we said goodbye to Bambi, ...
...whose family had spent a couple of mornings in the little clearing next to our tent.
We took off our hiking boots...
...traded them in for tennies, and drove in to Estes Park to get coffee and fill up the gas tanks.
We had to drive through the Safeway parking lot to get to our coffee spot.
The Estes Park Sateway does an unbelievable amount of business, and we'd been astounded at the crowds of customers in the store on the two or three occasions we'd been in for groceries.
But, on the morning of our departure, we were surprised to find that even the elk...
...get their food from Safeway.
They don't make the checkout lines any longer, but they sure do snarl up the traffic.
Especially when the old folks keep eating, and the kids wander over to the drug store to meet up with friends.
Eventually, they all moved out of our path and we started home.
But, vacation's not over until you pull into your own driveway.
And since we'd been so sorry to drive straight through Colorado Springs and Boulder on the way to camp, we vowed we'd make time to stop and see some things on the way home.
Seester's Colorado Guide Book had some 'points of interest' listed for Boulder...we decided on two of them.
We toured the Celestial Seasonings Tea plant.
I learned a lot, but not as much as I could have.
They made us wear hair nets...and they even made Prince Charming wear a beard net.
We looked very ridiculous, and I laughed and was very distracted by that.
I will say this: If you have any sinus difficulties, you should tour their plant, stay a few minutes in the "mint room" (they segregrate the mint leaves), and your sinuses - even sinuses you didn't know you had - will open up like a baby bird for a fresh worm.
Seester found this coffee mug (strange, for a tea plant) in their gift shop...
... and said it would be just the thing for Gwendolyn Peacock.
The words "How pretty!" were barely out of my mouth before the Prince was having it rung up.
(I must be careful around that man.)
Now, the other 'must see' we all agreed on was...wait for it...McGuckin's Hardware Store.
Since it was listed in the guide book, and since I love hardware stores (they're right up there with office supply stores),visiting McGuckin's was a no-brainer decision.
Ohhhh.
Ahhhh.
I could have spent an hour just standing in front of the balsa wood display.
And I don't even use balsa wood.
Vacation is just about the only time I allow myself to shop just for fun...with no real aim in mind.
And, boy, McGuckin's is a great place to do that.
I bought a very kewl birthday gift (which I can't show you, because the giftee might see it here) in their very kewl toy aisle, and they had an office/art supply section that made me want to cry.
When the salesman asked if he could help me with anything, I told him I wanted to move in.
He was very accommodating...he said I could be their Oklahoma refugee.
It was tempting.
They have several aisles of kitchen ware, kitchen tools...cookie cutters!
I bought a moose, Scottie dog, and bumble bee.
And then I found a scissors-shaped cookie cutter.
Be still, my beating heart.
Know what else I got for absolutely free at McGuckins?
Some great additions to one of my strange collections.
I collect the little pieces of pen-testing paper from the art supply aisles (yes, with permission...mostly).
It fascinates me to see what people write on those things!
They almost always have a name written on them.
But, in Boulder, well, people are different.
I never expected to see a line like this one.
(Wonder if it was a formal affair.)
Golly gee, sargeant, if you ever go to Boulder, go to McGuckins.
Whole aisles of calendars, lava lamps, balsa wood, and toys.
And they even have hardware.
See it.
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Now, Beeg Seester and Bro have a little 'project' they are working on which caused us to choose a route through the panhandle for our return trip.
The panhandle of Oklahoma is the very definition of wide open space.
It seems to go on forever with no change in the scenery.
But just when I decided there was no need to keep my eyes open (since I wasn't driving), lo and behold...
Well, poke my eyes out, 'cuz now I've seen everything.
Back to Seester's project: she and Bro have decided to visit all the small towns in Oklahoma (and there are plenty of them).
At each small town, they take a photograph of the water tower or the sign at the city limit (if there is no visible water tower).
(Isn't that a cool idea?)
A very nice thing happened to me because of their project.
I got to drive through a town I'd wanted to see ever since I saw it's name on the map.
Yep.
I've been to Slapout, Oklahoma.
I have lived.
And I have made it home to tell you about it.