BREAKING AWAY

Forty years ago this week, my college pal Kathy Mac and I loaded up in my '68 VW Beetle and headed west for the mountains. None of that beach blanket bingo stuff for us. We were bound for Rocky Mountain National Park--my first of many adventures there.

At that time, Estes Park, the gateway to RMNP, was deadsville and not the destination mecca that it is now. We easily found lodging and barely found a place to eat downtown, the beloved Bob and Tony's Pizza. There was no snow at Estes, but drive about fifteen miles up into the Rockies to Bear Lake and it was another world. We walked across the frozen lake, stomped butt-deep into the snow, and, literally, chilled out.

I've lost count of the number of return trips I've made, but that first visit was the only time I got to walk on water. --So, I was happy to see this picture yesterday of my nephew's wife and kids doing their own Bear Lake gig for Spring Break. This is their second Break there and I suspect, like me, they will be going back to RMNP many times in the future just to suck in the scenery and to hit up Bob and Tony's Pizza, of course.

Yep. Not in Kansas anymore. Give the mountains my fondest regards.