Roots

In 1937, a young man left his farm near Bethany, Missouri and came to a small town in northeastern Colorado. Shortly after arriving in Windsor, my grandfather purchased a service station on the edge of town and began to build a new life. In March of the following year, his wife and 7 children joined him in Colorado.

Grandpa R was an interesting guy. In his forties, he enlisted in the Army during WWII, and served with the Persian Gulf Command in what is present day Iran. As I mentioned previously, in the February 8, 2007 edition of Suburban Rogue , I remember him telling me about seeing the Queen Mary while in that part of the world. Upon his discharge from the Army, Grandpa R returned to Windsor and opened Roy’s Market, a grocery store near the east end of Main Street.

In April of 1958, a few weeks before I was born, Grandpa R was elected Mayor of Windsor. Highway 392, which leads from I-25 down the hill into Windsor, exists largely because of his efforts while Mayor. Grandpa R also was the Fire Chief for awhile, and later in life he drove a school bus. He was also very active in his Army alumni group, frequently traveling to conventions throughout the U.S.

My brother, who has built a very successful electrical contacting business, and his family live in Windsor. Last Sunday, my niece graduated from Windsor High School, the latest in a long string of “R’s” to do so. My relatives have been graduating from that school for about seven decades.

I’m glad to report that my brother and his family are safe and uninjured after today’s terrible events. Their home, which is located about 1 mile from the worst of the devastation, suffered some minor damage, as did their cars.

The beautiful, tranquil cemetery where my grandparents are buried is located in the heart of the most affected area. Many of the large trees in the cemetery were uprooted by the tornado.

I’m sure many you have seen pictures or video of the devastation caused by the tornado today. The people of Windsor are in for some difficult times in the coming weeks.

They’re gonna to be ok though, there’s a legacy of strength to draw upon…

Daiquiri de Naranja

At the completion of my 50th trip around the sun, having traveled over 29 billion miles,* give or take a few million, I found myself on a beach, looking at the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. A beach seemed like a good place to rest after such a long journey…

Our trip started with a 2:00 am wake-up. I don’t recommend heading out on vacation with just three hours of sleep. Mrs. R and I arrived at a deserted airport at about 4:30 am, easily found parking, checked-in to our flight, and were assigned seats 1A and 1B. They give that kind of treatment to rock stars and old farts celebrating their birthday. If you’re an old fart - rock star celebrating your birthday, you receive, in addition to preferential seating, a full can of soda on your flight…

We arrived at the Cancun airport early Wednesday afternoon. It was overcast, and there was a very light rain falling. By the time we had made it through customs and negotiated the gauntlet of timeshare salesmen and taxi drivers, the rain had stopped. We found our pre-arranged transportation to the resort,

Iberostar Paraiso Maya

and were standing in sunny paradise about 45 minutes later.

The Iberostar Paraiso is located about 30 or 40 minutes south of Cancun, on the Yucatan Peninsula. The Yucatan Peninsula was home to the Mayan empire, and there are several spectacular ruins in this part of the world, including the UNESCO World Heritage site

Chichen Itza

Many of the people that live and work on the Yucatan Peninsula are direct descendants of the Mayans. These are beautiful people, friendly, warm, and with smiles that could light up the darkest of rooms.

As we were checking in, we were served a delicious tropical drink, with pineapple and orange juice and I don’t what else. The young lady at the check-in desk then offered to upgrade our room, from the “Lindo” to the “Maya” at no additional cost. The Maya rooms are suites, and the building we were assigned to had its own private pool. Heck, even I could do that math…

After we got the luggage up to our room, we went to the lunch buffet, were enjoyed a 6000 calorie lunch, and then wandered around the resort, trying to figure out where everything was. We strolled along the beach were I enjoyed the, ahem, “scenery,” while Mrs. R enjoyed the water and the sand and the sun.

On Thursday morning we headed out to the beach. Mrs. R worked on her tan while enjoying a tropical beverage and I went snorkeling. The swim beach was roped off, to keep motorized craft such as jet skis away from the swimmers. I snorkeled out to the rope, and then along the boundary for awhile, and then turned and headed back toward the beach. Mrs. R apparently lost track of me while I was in the water, but soon located me when hundreds of people ran screaming from the beach as a large, pear-shaped, alabaster-white creature carrying snorkeling gear emerged from the sea…

By the time Mrs. R reached me, I was watching the chef’s prepare a large pot of paella over an open fire on the beach, while simultaneously observing (in the name of science) the gals preparing for the bikini contest. I told her I was just trying to take in the whole beach experience, but Mrs. R is not one to be fooled easily, and this day was no exception…

We spent Thursday afternoon at the pool,

and discovered the swim-up bar and the delicious Daiquiri De Naranja. Mrs. R also took this photo where my right arm appears to have become detached from the rest of me. Musta been those Daiquiris….

Friday we spent the entire day at the pool where Mrs. R sipped Margarita’s and I took an impromptu Spanish lesson. I had some trouble at first pronouncing “Naranja.” Fortunately our poolside waitress, who was a very sweet young lady, took some time to teach me the correct pronunciation. She also made sure that our drinks were kept fresh throughout the day.

When our waitress went on her lunch break, the swim-up bar took on an added importance. Here is Mrs. R leaving the swim-up bar, heroically rescuing a couple of drinks from drowning…

Saturday we once again headed to breakfast buffet. As we entered the restaurant, we were handed mimosas, as was every other adult. It was very thoughtful of the resort to give everybody a mimosa on my 50th birthday… I ate a celebratory breakfast which included, among other things, a large bowl of Kellogg’s Froot Loops. Hey, just because I’m 50 and a card carrying member of AARP doesn’t mean I have to give in to the whole “Senior Citizen Thing.” Besides, I took all of my medicine before breakfast and was wearing my orthopedic shoes, so I thought it would be ok…

We decided to head back to the beach after breakfast; I really wanted to try snorkeling again. Unfortunately, I forgot to check with Mother Nature about my plans. The red flags were flying at the beach, which means no swimming. It was very windy and 3 and 4 foot high waves were rolling in. A couple of the lifeguards tried swimming in the roiling water, but even they turned back after a short distance. To a novice snorkeler, the water looked very intimidating. We hung out at the beach for awhile, were I continued my “monokini” observations and Mrs. R worked on her tan.

We left the beach, and then did a couple of laps on the lazy river. Let’s just say the lazy river is appropriately named…

There is some interesting wildlife at the resort. The

Coati

hung out along the boardwalk from the pool to the beach. They seemed like friendly little guys, as long as you had some food to give them.

The

Yucatan Jay

spent their time in the tropical forest between the beach and the pool.

Speaking of wildlife, Mrs. R experienced an unfortunate Speedo incident at the pool bar one afternoon. It seems a rather large gentleman, who was clearly old enough to know better, thought he looked good in a tiny black Speedo. I’m guessing he was the only person who thought this. Anyway, while Mrs. R was at the pool bar one sunny afternoon, this guy came up next to her and ordered a drink. However, instead of sitting on the stool, he put one leg up on the stool, apparently to show off his, ahem, “asset.” Mrs. R broke into hysterical laughter, spilling her and several other people’s drinks, and causing a minor commotion at the pool bar.

Sunday came all too quickly, and we headed to the airport. It was an entertaining ride, since we had the pleasure of riding with Stanley and Sally Sanctimonious who passed judgment on most everything.

As we passed the resort conference center, I remarked that it looked like a great place to hold some meetings. Sally informed me that they “had been in the conference center last night and it was very modern. Very modern.” Golly-wollickers Sally, you mean they got E-leck-tricity, and runnin’ water, and all them newfangled thangs?

As we got closer to the airport, we had to make a couple of stops at some other resorts to pick up more travelers. To get to one of them we had to drive on a dirt road, past dozens of acres of dead forest. Sally wondered why all the trees were dead. I suggested that it was caused by

Hurrican Wilma

which struck the Yucatan in 2005. Sally wasn’t buying it, because she had never seen anything like it before, so therefore it couldn’t possibly be…

We reached the resort, and Stanley hopped out to have a look around. He came back to the van and pronounced “our hotel is much nicer than this one.” To which Sally responded in hushed tones “I think it’s because this place is for Spanish people…”

Yikes. Apparently you don’t have to look too far to find ugly Americans...

We had a great time in Mexico. The beach and the pool and the people and the Daiquir de Naranja's were all very therapeutic and I left feeling a lot younger than my 50 years.

Can't wait to get back down there...

* For those of you interested in checking my math, first of all, get a life; here’s my logic:

The circumference of the earth at 40 degrees north latitude is approximately 19,000 miles, so living near Denver you travel a 19,000 mile circle in one day. One trip around the sun is an additional approximately 584,000,000 miles. To account for leap year, use 365.25 days per year. Combining both the rotational and translational distances:

[584,000,000 + (365.25 x 19,000)] x 50 ≈ 29.5 billion