Editor's note: This is part two of a three-part series in which Gloria writes about a recent trip with her daughter, Julia.
Our trip was coming to an end. So close that it was hard to stop thinking about it. I was freeing myself from the daily grind and cherishing some mother-daughter time with 12-year-old Julia.
The final, and perhaps best, part of the journey was ahead of us on the horizon over the mountains.
The trailer was loaded with camping gear and we were on our way back to the remote mountain area.
Mandy suggested Julia and I sit near the front where we could get a good view. I never imagined what my eyes were looking at. Everywhere we turned there was pure beauty created by the great God. The little town of Creed caught my attention. It is nestled in the mountains and has a real beauty. The fire station is carved into the mountain. Going around there makes you feel like you are back in the 1800s, but it is actually used in modern times. There was not enough flat land to build a fire station, so they dug a tunnel into the mountain and stored all the equipment and tools inside. Not only is it cool in the summer, but it doesn't need heating in the winter.
As I drove further in and the road wound through the mountains, I took a deep breath of fresh air wafting in through the open window. This is what was happening to me… mountains on all sides, the Rio Grande River running over a cliff to my left, and towering mountains just below the cliff to my right. Oh, what a God we serve! I took another deep breath. This was the pure Colorado mountain air that Mandy had spoken of so fondly.
The four or five hour drive ended at a campground where we unloaded our tents, bedding, food, and chairs. It was clear that Mandy and her brother Eli had been camping many times before, everything was practical and organized, and lo and behold, on this trip I was not in charge! Oh, it felt so good to have someone else in charge. After everything was set up, I leaned back in my camp chair and slept soundly and wrote in my journal, something I had rarely had time to do in the past few weeks. I just relaxed, took a deep breath, and did that over and over, savoring the reality that nothing was required of me right now. There was no phone coverage, but I trusted that all of my kids were OK.
Afterwards, Julia and I gathered branches to start a fire for dinner – using Eli's axe as there weren't enough readily available – and worked up an appetite. Alas, we were inexperienced, but we had fun.
Mandy and Liana had prepared a delicious dinner for us: sandwiches, bacon-wrapped peppers stuffed with cream cheese, hash browns, granola bars, and fresh fruit. As we sat there with our plates of steaming food freshly cooked over the campfire, I thought about my kids. “They're already eating dinner,” I breathed. (They were two hours ahead of us.)
There were no dishes to wash, just food to put away so the bears wouldn't come in the middle of the night. We kept the fire stoked and chatted under the bright stars. Mandy isn't actually related to us, but she is the aunt of two cousins from our church, so it felt like we were.
At 10,000 feet the stars seemed brighter and more numerous than they were at home. Mandy spotted a shooting star, leaving her usual bright flame. We ate our last pepper popper long after it was dark. I think anything like freezing and reliving that moment around a fire after dark would sell for a high price. Nothing beats that.
It felt good to crawl into my sleeping bag while the cool mountain air filtered into the tent. Imagine that. The next morning, I woke up to find Mandy had lit a fire in the wood stove in the tent, keeping us nice and warm. I had never seen a tent built to safely use a stove. I wasn't too excited about leaving camp that day, but I was intrigued when I woke up and found Eli's wok. I never imagined an old iron disc could be transformed into a frying pan, but that was the story. Eli welded the hole in the center shut and sanded it so the surface was smooth. A homemade wooden box was made to store the frying pan along with gloves and other items needed to prepare the scrambles in the fryer. Mandy told me he's a pro at using the tool the old-fashioned way to fry Rocky Mountain scrambles.
And next week I'll wrap up the story of our trip back east, which had me staring all the way home.
material
1/2 pound bacon
1 pound sausage
1 onion, finely chopped
2 bell peppers, sliced
4 potatoes (sliced)
8 eggs
8 ounces shredded cheese of your choice
Instructions
Sauté the meat until almost cooked and add your favorite vegetables.
Sauté until tender and season with salt, black pepper and your favorite seasonings.
When done, push it out onto the side of the wok or frying pan.
Some bacon fat may remain in the center. Pour the eggs into the center “pool.”
Continue stirring and fry until the eggs are done.
Then sprinkle shredded cheese onto the egg pond in the center of the veggie ring. Delicious.
We had it with toast, or you can also spoon it into a tortilla wrap.
Gloria Yoder, an Amish wife and mother of six children, lives in Flat Rock, Illinois.
