When talking offline on here last week with the "tour guide", I told him that I had never been to Colorado or New Orleans and he has never been to El Paso. Before I go on......"tour guide?" I know what Mark is thinking, but discretion isn't necessary. The people on this site knows by now what is going on here. I am sure Mark's inbox was as full as mine this morning.

I left with a better experience from Friday night's dinner than "bottled water." An excellent filet mignon, lobster and this strange appetizer called "Rocky Mountain Oysters." I did not know what these were until after I ate them. They are actually "bull testicles." I know it sounds disgusting, but they taste like breaded venison heart.

The two best meals I had this weekend were both days of breakfast I had. Saturday morning, Mark made me a homemade breakfast of pan fried rainbow trout, eggs benedict and spicy creamy grits. I will never doubt that Mark wasn't a chef at one time. Sunday's breakfast I will tell you about later.

We did do a lot of driving throughout the state. We visited Aspen, which by the way, still has snow on the ground. Most people I know like to go away to somewhere tropical. But I think its a true luxury to see snow and even the cold. If you don't expose yourself to the winterlike weather, you forget how to enjoy the respite of the Texas desert. Climatic variation spices up your life and energizes your soul.

We visited an old mining town called Leadville and then headed back towards Denver where I got to visit my first synagogue service. This was different than the church services that I go to. What we call sermons, they call "dvars." The rabbi preaches his message and then the congregants can actually raise their hand and ask questions after the dvar - actually challenging the rabbi.

My best experience came Sunday morning. We both decided that I should visit a synagogue and Mark should visit a church. He said he had a very special place picked out and that I would enjoy it. I think Mark hit the jackpot.

We drove down to Monument to a place called the Flying W Ranch. This place is mainly a working dude ranch, but it also has a church on the property and during the summertime it is used as a summer camp. They had a Mother's Day Meeting at this place. This was the one time I actually broke down and cried because I wish I could have shared this with my mom.

They had an outside Western style breakfast buffet that was cooked or barbecued outside underneath a very blue sky that day. There were mountains of pancakes, piles of "ranch eggs" (scrambled eggs with cheese and ham inside), a lot of "sausage pie" (sausage, egg, cheese and green onion covered in a Bisquick like shell), too much "Flying W" breakfast casserole - eggs, sausage, green onion, mustard and worcestershire sauce.) Plus a lot of homemade apple dumplings. I have lost the calorie count by now.

Afterwards, they had a Mother's Day Service at the church on their property. The musical entertainment was defintely not my taste in music - old western music that was designed for a much older crowd but it fit the atmosphere of this Christian dude ranch.

This ranch has a website - http://www.coloradowranglers.com/. There aren't many pictures on there, but it gives a small sampling of the place.

The ranch has actual cattle drives and free horseback riding on the many acres of this ranch. You can see the blue majestic mountains to the west or the rising red rocks to the east. I think I have done enough horseback riding to last me for the rest of the year. They have a lot of roaming livestock that are used to seeing visitors. I think Mark picked this place because a lot of lambs are wandering around. Lambs are my favorite critters.

This is my first trip to Colorado and I saw something that Mark thought was ordinary. There was this large field of columbine flowers and in the middle were two fawns grazing. Mark said that this simple thing was a highlight moment because he said he loved my wide-eyed expression. I had never seen anything like before.

Maybe someday, I can show Mark some of the wonderful places near El Paso. Nothing would make me happier than to see his wide-eyed expression.