colorado, my home sweet home

After a mostly lovely and interesting week in Colorado, I'm back in Flag again. We spent the last five days at a resort place in Pagosa Springs with my grandparents and uncle from BOulder, my aunt and uncle from Georgia, and my parents and sister. We went horseback riding (you are all allowed to laught at the image of me on a horse; it was fun but painful the next day), on a "scenic" (read long and slow) train ride, and rafting on a very mild stretch of the San Juan. I loved the rafting, as mostly tame as it was, and it made me really want to go on an actual legitimate more-than-two-hours-long trip someday. We also ate lunch in the town I was born in, Cortez, CO. I was born overlooking Highway 666, how ominous ius that?
The bad, or at least upsetting, parts of the trip were mostly family related. My uncle from Boulder had basically a temper tantrum on the night we all arrived, and we didn't actually see him come out of his room until Thursday. My grandfather has Alzheimer's, and it is terrible to see him so much worse off every year when we come to visit. I know that so much has been written or filmed about this, but it's so much worse to actually see someone you love begin to lose themselves. The last day I saw him, he made some totally random statement to me and then said "Don't pay any attention to me, no one else does." I felt like crying, it's so hard to see him knowing what's happening to him and having to just do what he still can anyway.
Anyway, I'm in Flag until next Friday, when I'm leaving for Tucson and then the road trip! I'll have a little internet while I'm gone but not much, so I probably won't be writing too often. But we'll see.