Vacation Time

Funny how I seem filled with mixed emotions as I prepare for a long anticipated vacation. Going back to where I had so many joys and memories growing up as a child. Only one sibling remains of the family I loved so much and I look forward to embracing him one more time, you see we are both nearing the end of the trail and miles and bodies showing signs of wear  have kept us apart.
 I'm sure everyone who had a loving family to grow up with would like to retrace their childhood footsteps and  tell stories to the younger folks of the way things used to be. I can drive down the street and recognize
the frame of the house on Lewis street as the place of my teen age years but only in my memory is the old wood burning kitchen stove, the cellar out back that now hold lots of our youth beneath the ground. the chicken coup where I stole my Dads best laying hen, the old tree in the corner of the front lawn where my Mother would spend her evenings admiring the beauty surrounding the little town of Pagosa Springs.
 I can walk down town and see buildings that have been given many a face lift  but friendly shop keeper that would great each passerby with a smile and hello as they swept the sidewalks in summer and shoveled snow in the winter just don't seem to appear.
 The old Pool Hall where I learned how to handle a cue stick, rack the balls, clean the tables and worked as a cashier,: only the stairs remain recognizable, yes the old billiards hall has become luxury hotel suite.
 A new metropolis has risen in Archuleta country, the place I knew as Stevens Ranch so long ago where herds of beef and fields of hay grew, has given in to folks who came from near and far with  bank rolls that my parents generation or mine could only imagine.  A great subdivision has risen, taking away with it the home to wildlife, erecting man made lakes with farm raised fish to attract more outside financial influence.
 Yes as I venture on my last trip down memory lane, I will recall how things were to a young boy 60 years ago, wear a smile and spend my money like any tourist and enjoy the beauty of the mountains,streams and any wild life I may see. All beautification  that has taken place over the years has truly attracted millions of visitors with money to spend. Pagosa is still a beautiful little city and can be compared to any in southern California.