Today, our last in Crested Butte, started lazy (more reading, more card games) and developed later into a mid-morning hike. We agreed to return to the patch of aspen trees not far from the Peters' home. A beautiful morning, and a great way to wake up.
During the hike Emery looked up and pointed out a cloud that looked to her to be both a dragon and a seahorse. I took a picture of it because Emery has been doing a lot of this "visual association" lately, and it intrigues me.After our hike we headed back into CB with no particular agenda, other than I wanted to find a Crested Butte Music Festival poster (which I did!) and we wanted to return to the Trailhead center (see below). As we pulled into town we were pleasantly surprised to find a street fair. Part farmers market, part artist exhibition, Elk Ave. was lined with tents.
It was fun to browse, and there were dogs - it seemed - tracing my life experiences. First I ran into a Dachshund that looked just like "Schnitzel." Then a Welsh Corgi that looked just like "Corgi" ... except both her ears were up. Then a beautiful Golden Retriever that looked just like "Bruckner."Our afternoon consisted - mostly - of Brayer occupying Miles' and Emery's time at a local park while Kristen helped re-organize our clothes/luggage ... and clean the Peters' home.
We all agree that this week has been nothing short of amazing. We have really had a great time as a family, relaxing, exploring, and generally gallivanting around Crested Butte. None of this would have been possible if it had not been for the tremendous generosity of Stacy and Walter Peters. Their extremely kind invitation to use their home this week has been appreciated more than our words can express to them.We spent some time this evening reflecting about the week. Before we left for the trip Kristen and I created a notebook that had games/questions/maps, etc. for the long car rides. Each day in the car the kids had things to be looking for, and fun (?) questions to answer.
There were no specific pages for our five days in Crested Butte, except for one that asked everyone to name their "top five" favorite activities or moments from our week here.
In thinking about what we might give the Peters as a 'thank you' gift, we were struck with an idea that all four of us became excited about: a "founding donor" contribution - in the Peters' name - to the new Crested Butte "Trailhead Discovery Museum & Arts Center. Their motto, "Explore, Create, Play, Learn" is exactly what we did this week, and with Stacy's lifelong devotion to early-childhood education, this seemed like a fun idea.In exploring our notion, we found out that founding donors have the opportunity to create a tile to be used as a part of a larger mosaic that will be displayed in the lobby of their new building when it opens in the Fall of 2010. With Kristen as our artistic leader, we all contributed to the design: a dragonfly (a favorite of Stacy). We each painted a single finger on our hand, and placed our fingers on the tile to create the four wings.
So, Stacy & Walter - if you're reading - thanks from the bottom of our hearts. And look for your tile in the lobby of the Trailhead in about a year. In the meantime, here's a sneak-peek.
