This is the way

Graffiti mural of Mandalorian and Grogu with text that reads "This is the way!"

Mural of the Mandalorian and Grogu in Denver’s Baker neighborhood.

Moving to Colorado

2024 and 2025 brought a lot of challenges, sorrow and loss. In 2024, I broke an arm and a leg in the same accident, and I was wheelchair-bound for about two months. My mom was diagnosed with cancer. My aunt was diagnosed with and died of cancer. In 2025, my mom died.

2025 also brought a new beginning. Some friends of ours moved to Colorado in 2020. My wife and I had visited them a couple of times and really liked Colorado. We had kicked around the idea of moving but never seriously pursued it. In early 2025, we decided that it was now or never. We embraced our midlife crises, sold our house, and moved away from the only state either of us had ever lived in.

We and two cats (ours and my Mom’s, whom we adopted after she passed) drove 1,300 miles in two days. (The cats were surprisingly great travelers. I wish I could’ve told my mom how her cat journeyed cross-country and stayed in two hotels like a seasoned traveler.) We only took a few pictures on the trip, including this one of the cats lounging like seasoned travelers when we stayed overnight in Columbia, MO.

Two cats in a hotel room. A long-haired dilute tortie cat is lying on a bed. A short-haired black and white cat is lying on an ottoman.

We should’ve stopped and taken a proper picture of the “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” sign, but after driving through Kansas, we just wanted to get to Denver as quickly as possible, and we still had a long way to go.

Wooden sign that reads "Welcome to Colorful Colorado."

We got our first view of mountains as we approached Denver.

Cars on a highway with mountains in the background.

This is my blog about discovering my new home state of Colorado.

Garden of the Gods

One of our last trips to Colorado before moving (and the one that sealed the decision) was in February of 2025. It was a scouting trip of sorts so that we could check out different neighborhoods in Denver, but we also took a trip to Garden of the Gods. It’s a magnificent public park (so it’s free to visit!) in Colorado Springs. The Geo-Trekker movie at the visitor center center isn’t free, but it’s worth the price of admission ($6 for adults and $4 for kids at the time I’m writing this).

People walking on a path near a rock formation under a blue sky. Red rock formations under a clear blue sky. Red rock formations under a clear blue sky with dry vegetation. Red rock formation with plaque and wooden fence under blue sky. Close-up of a plaque explaining that the Garden of the Gods was gifted to the city of Colorado Springs so that it would always remain free to the public. Red rock formations under a clear blue sky with snow-capped mountains in the background.

Garden of the Gods viewed from the visitor center with Pikes Peak in the background.