the great american road trip take 4: brush, colorado to breckenridge

In typical Rico fashion, August 5, 2012 was a day of adventure. It was exactly what he hoped his 60th birthday would be.

We woke up in Brush, Colorado, and headed toward Centennial. We passed through Aurora, and unintentionally past the local movie theater. The whole car was quiet, because there were no words.

Thankfully the mood changed when we hit Centennial and met up with Frank, Sharon, Eric and Stephanie at the Speed Raceway.  Rico and his posse spend half an hour chasing each other around a high speed indoor raceway. No surprise that my daredevil husband took 3rd in the first race and 1st in the second.

From there we loaded up the cars and headed to Loveland Pass, along the continental divide. The view at the top is spectacular - the ride up, not so much. Even Rico conceded that one wrong swerve would send us tumbling down the completely unguarded face of the mountain and to our certain deaths. Punk and I spent the entire ride up leaning away from the shoulder and sobbing audibly. This is the second time in recent history that Rico has dragged us up here. Punk and I agree - there won't be a third. It's gorgeous at the top, but the near stroke we both suffer on the ride up, just doesn't warrant another trip.

Our rented home in Breckenridge, The Lonehand Lodge Is even more beautiful than any of us had imagined, and the perfect place to ring in Rico's next decade. After a quick stroll downtown, we loaded up with Pizza's from "Eric's Downstairs", soda, wine, and tres lecher' cake. We ate, and talked until we couldn't anymore. Rico said it was exactly the birthday he'd been hoping for.