Spirit of Adventure

I wrote this back in January, and meant to post it on Facebook then...but it seemingly got lost in cyberspace. Just ran across it again, and figured it might still be worth posting somewhere. So, many months later, here it is:

This past weekend I attended a church retreat at a camp outside of Buena Vista, CO. I rode in my best friend Meg's car, and we left Friday afternoon. Now the most obvious route to Buena Vista from Denver is Hampden, which turns into to highway 285 and goes right through the town of Buena Vista. We did not take that route. Instead, we took I-25 south to Colorado Springs, then Highway 24...based on the Google directions from where she lives in Castle Rock. It was a pleasant drive and we arrived 45 minutes sooner than the Google estimate. However, in doing so, we completely bypassed the town of Buena Vista.

On Sunday afternoon, it was time to leave the campground. We hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we planned to stop in Buena Vista to eat. We also planned to take 285 back to Denver, comparing that travel time to our alternative route. Well, suffice it to say that the best laid plans of mice, men, Melissa, and Meg, gang oft aglay...

In Buena Vista, we drove down a couple streets, but didn't see any restaurants that looked particularly appetizing. Not being particularly hungry (and having a few snacks in the car), we continued down the road and said that we would find something at the next town.

Meg drove and the conversation flowed. About 30 miles later, Meg saw a highway sign that indicated we were on Highway 24. About the same time, I saw signs that indicated we were getting close to Leadville. What?? We thought we were on 285! I looked at the Google map I had printed...Leadville is NOT on 285. We had taken Highway 24 north out of Buena Vista, and were about halfway to I-70!! I started laughing at our mistake. Both of us are usually pretty good about paying attention to our surroundings, but obviously not this time! We didn't notice the highway signs, or the direction we were traveling. Ha ha ha!!

Both Meg and I are pretty easy-going, so we weren't too fazed by our situation. We figured to make the best of it, and find a place for lunch. The last time we were in Leadville together was over 3 years ago. There is a restaurant that serves yummy and cheaply priced steak dinners...Sunday is filet mignon day. What do you know? It just so happened to be a Sunday! We got really excited and pulled up in front of the restaurant. Sadly, the sign in the front window indicated they were not open for lunch. Alas. So, we settled on a Chinese restaurant down the street, where Meg could practice her Mandarin language skills. We ordered our meals and ate them with chopsticks (of course). When we got the bill, there were two fortune cookies on the tray. I reached for one, and cracked it open. The words printed on the slip of paper caused me to laugh hysterically:

"LET THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE SET THE TONE."

I couldn't have said it better myself.