It was a warm May day that we left Grand Junction on. I quietly cried for a good portion of the drive through Rifle. I had quit my job, pulled Darcy out of gymnastics and left my friends. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself.
We got to Rocky Mountain National Park in the evening. We drove through Moraine Park and up the road to our house, it was chilly and damp. I don't remember much about unpacking but I do remember going down the hill behind our house to the road below to look around and the first thing I saw was a very large coyote (or it seemed to me) on the road below us. It scared me, something that I got over quickly because of the sheer volume of coyotes I saw in the park this summer.
The next day Dan had to go to work. We woke up to the house sitting at 54 degrees and 2 small space heaters were not going to change that much. I drove Dan to work, then came home and attempted to keep the kids busy. It was the tail-end of winter in RMNP and it snowed all day, wet, end of cold season snow.
The kids ventured outside in the afternoon and started exploring their yard (ever mindful of the coyote they saw the day before). We had 10 long hours to fill as Dan was working as a Volunteer coordinator with the National Park Service for 4 ten hour days a week. And believe me when I tell you that 10 hours is a long time to fill given that we had no television or computer. The adjustment was a long and painful one those first few weeks.
