welcome to woodland park

the next morning, the hub and i got up and started packing while the bean and teddy snuggled on her bed and slept in.

by the time we were done, she was finally up and ready to check out of there and head to our next destination.  bye, cheyenne mountain resort!

the moment we all got in the truck teddy made a beeline for his favorite spot...in the hub's lap.

meanwhile, cocoa relaxed in the backseat with the bean and enjoyed the feel of the wind in her face again.

every time we passed this place across the street from the resort, i could hear joey from "friends" saying "do you take vasa, or moostercard?" "friends" references really are everywhere.

it wasn't a very long drive to the cabin we'd booked for the rest of our colorado trip.  about 45 minutes later, we were pulling into mountain river lodge.

the hub had gone big and booked a family cabin for us, which was pretty awesome because we got this whole place to ourselves:

and we were pleasantly surprised when we stepped inside and took a tour of our new digs.  there was lots of room - way more spacious than what we'd had in colorado springs - with two bedrooms, a full sized bathroom plus a living room and kitchenette.  and there were all sorts of thoughtful amenities everywhere.

 the dogs were chomping at the bit to be set free so they could explore.

 meanwhile, the bean made herself nice and cozy on the top bunk in her room.

cocoa loved running in there too, because the window was low enough for her to be able to stretch up and look outside.

we decided to set up their pen outside the front door so that we could unload all of our gear from the truck and leave the door open without worrying about them darting out and running away.

and then just as i was reading this:

one of the ladies from the front office came to the door bearing this basket filled with goodies for us to have for breakfast the next morning.

we headed out for a quick drive around to see what there was around us, ending up on a dirt road with pretty views and coming across a deer or two.

teddy was, of course, in his favorite spot for the ride.

a little later, we headed back into nearby woodland park to see if we could find something for dinner. i took a mental note of the marquee i saw outside one establishment that read "welcome to woodland park, where all lives matter."  we pulled into the parking lot for a restaurant we'd seen recommended on yelp, right next to "antler alley."

and while the hub went to park the car i got out and went in to see if we could be seated in the patio.  the moment i walked in i felt all eyes on me - and not in a friendly way.  it felt hostile and uncomfortable as hell, but i couldn't decide whether it was because i was the only non-white person there or due to the fact that i was literally the only person within my line of vision who was wearing a mask.  probably both.

in any case, we didn't stay.  instead, we ended up in the small plaza near the grocery store and had italian food for dinner.  and then when we got back to the cabin, we heard a knock at the door again and found another lady from the front office bearing gifts...freshly baked sugar cookies.  yay!

it was quite the interesting day, to say the least.

the biggest yay!/boo. EVER.

one of my most favorite places to shop for non-workout clothes is an online shop called ruche.  they have the cutest things - dresses and tops and skirts and shorts and things that are a little vintage-y, and all at super reasonable prices.  and because i've placed an order or twelve over the last couple of years, i'm on their email list for promo codes and sales and fun stuff like that.  even better?  they're somewhat local to me, which means that i'm able to take advantage of the warehouse pickup option if i want something fairly quickly.

the old lady and i hopped into the car a few days ago while the bean was at summer school to do just that.  and when we got there, i noticed that they'd done a little decorating since my last visit.  like this sign at the driveway:

and two spots saved right at the door for folks like me:

with the door clearly marked.

of course, i couldn't resist taking this in front of the pretty pastel-painted wall:

and inside, a cute little waiting area.

they've also started a punch card program:

as usual, i was super pleased with my purchases.  more on those later.

because we were hungry and had a little time left before we needed to pick up the bean, we decided to stop for some lunch.  we pulled into a nice-looking shopping plaza and drove through the parking lot in search of something that sounded delicious.  as we were driving along, we encountered one of those roundabouts and followed it around till we found the area we wanted to stop in.  while we were in the middle of that circle, we noticed a car that had pulled up to the roundabout and was apparently trying to enter it.  not thinking anything of it since they had a stop and we had the right-of-way, we continued on, exited, and parked the car.  that car parked in the handicapped spot next to us, and out of the corner of my eye i noticed the passenger kept staring at us.

now, the old lady does not take kindly to this sort of thing.  he'd caught our attention, and as he continued to stare rather hostile-like at us, she rolled down her window and asked him politely if there was a problem.  he got out of the car, shut the door, and as he started to walk away snarled "yeah, there's a problem.  you're an idiot who can't drive.  actually, the problem is that you've got those slanted eyes you can't see out of."

and then he scurried away, just like the coward he'd shown himself to be.

what?  i mean, WHAT??  the two of us just kind of looked at each other in a rather dumbfounded way, and i managed to call out something about him being supremely ignorant, but it didn't matter - he was long gone.  my heart was pounding, my head was reeling, and i was literally shaking with rage.  i was so incredibly angry that not only did this happen, but it happened with MY KID.  don't get me wrong, i'm fully aware that racism is very much alive and well even in 2015.  but i couldn't recall ever having directly experienced it myself, and once we'd calmed down enough to talk, she said that she hadn't either.  and we both agreed that had there been a guy with us, that shithead wouldn't have had the balls to say a word to us.

we had discussed picking up the bean and taking her with us at first, so i was really grateful that we'd decided to let her play with her friends a little longer instead.  because i'd been caught so off-guard, i didn't really formulate any sort of proper response at the time, but i would have hated for her to have been around to witness that.  and it saddens me to think that she will inevitably face some form of racism at some point in her life.  that's just reality, and it sucks.

i did stop to take this and proceeded to blast it on facebook, instagram and twitter with the caption  "hey north OC friends - if you see this car, know that it's being driven by a racist asshole who doesn't understand basic rules of the road."  it sure didn't make me feel any better about it, but it's all i had.

okay, so technically i guess it was that "u.s. air force mom" who doesn't know how to handle driving into a roundabout, but whatever.  she had run away just as fast as he had, and so in my eyes that makes her just as bad as her jerkface passenger.

shame on them both.  ignorance ain't pretty, people.