Adopted Pack

Chapter 2: Valle Grande

Having stuffed our faces while we continued on I watch as Daniel starts to doze. Happy belly I giggle to myself. I have to poke him as we reach Los Alamos for his ID. After promising the guards we aren't up to no good we continue up into the caldera. At this point Daniel is completely roused and stares intently out the window and the vastly changing landscape. Cliffs dive in endless depths off the roadside as we wind our way up through hairpin turns and blind curves. Once we reach the meadows at the top I begin to slow. Elk look up lazily as we pass through groves of aspens and pines. 

"Reminds me of driving into Estes Park" Daniel says to no one in particular. I guess he is right a little I smile to myself thinking of Estes Lake and the drive into the city of Estes. In Colorado Estes is known for its elk. The graze almost anywhere and are always on display. As we turn a curve I think of the Stanley Hotel (Inspiration for the Shining) being off to our right but instead the vast valley of Valle Grande flows out in front of us. "Wow." its all he says but it is enough to capture first seeing this place.

The valley is lush with growth from the spring. All shades of green pour out around us in a cascade of trees and grasses. We continue on and pass by the turn for the visitors center. We will be coming back here tonight to take photos. We head on to Banco Bonito where all my old coworkers will be staying while they work.

We pull up to the private gate and put in the code on the gate lock. Only staff and people working in the caldera have access to the code. Daniel pushes the gate open and I jump back in the car. He shuts and locks the gate behind me before retaking his seat in the passenger seat.

"Why didn't you just give me the code?"he ponders. "It isn't like I could find my way back here on my own."

"Its not that," I counter quickly "There are several locks on the gate and two look the same. One we use, one the staff uses. I just wanted to get the right lock seeing as they are watching us." I point ahead of us at the group of people staring intently at my car. I know from experience any car pulls up to the gate we would watch when I was here last summer. People I hadn't seen in months sit perched on the tables under a canopy. Oh how I had missed them.

"I'm back!" I cheerfully shout jumping out of my car. Some people called hello while others heckled playfully. I approached the table seeing many new faces and the veterans of the caldera sitting stoically. "I hope you brought food we are starving." Espy grumbles. Of the people we worked with Espy was like the mom of the crews. She was my crew chief and now a dear friend. "No I thought you should all starve." I jest "Of course I brought food. Ian and I still have a competition to resolve." I smirk at one of the other crew chiefs who I foolishly challenged to a cooking contest the previous summer. He by far is the better cook but I usually bring more exotic dishes. 

"Tonight we will be having a crowd favorite! Delicious chicken curry and a chilled New York style cheese cake for desert." I busied myself around the camping stoves to warm up the food I had brought with me and set aside the versions for those with allergies, we were an all inclusive group. "Guys I want you to meet my good friend Daniel who I dragged kicking and screaming to the caldera all the way from Fort Collins Colorado. Maybe you guys can put him to work." Everyone laughed as they hungrily dug into their food while Daniel glared daggers at me. Only a few more hours until it would be dark enough to go back to Valle Grande to photograph.