Going back to the ranch, Ignacio, Colorado

Today was a special day for me, as it involved going back to the parts of Colorado where I spent a lot of time as a child. We began the day going to the small town of Ignacio, Colorado, which was the biggest town near the ranch where my dad used to live and work. Here's a picture I snapped of the main street of this bustling little town (in the rain):

My dad and I used to go into town to a coffee shop we called the "7Up Cafe," where we'd eat greasy food and visit with a wonderful waitress, whose name I remembered as Maricella, but I wasn't quite sure. I used to love this waitress, and she was always incredibly kind to me. I even remember visiting her in her trailer, where she lived, near the coffee shop. Well, going into Ignacio I had hoped to find the 7Up Cafe, but there was no sign of it and I couldn't recognize which building it might have once been. We asked around, but no one we talked to could remember it by that name. One guy gave us a tip that we might find our answers down the street at the old El Amigo restaurant. El Amigo was closed, but I spotted a sign for a store next to the restaurant called, "Marcella's Gifts and More."

What are the chances?! Could it be the same waitress I remember from my childhood?!!! Unfortunately the store was closed, and although Andrew and I waited for a while we eventually decided to move on. Before leaving, however, I called the store number and left a message for Marcella, the store owner, telling her who I was and asking her if she was the person I remembered from my childhood. Well, the amazingly cool thing is that she called me back later that day and said "yes," it's her! So it's a bummer I missed getting to see her, but I'm planning to send her a note and some photos, and hopefully we'll be able to get back in touch after all these years.

After leaving Ignacio, Andrew and I traveled out of town on County Road 334 to see the cattle ranch where my dad used to work (and where he lived for a while, too). The ranch is under different ownership now, so I could only snap this photo from the road:

I have lots of memories of living with my dad on the ranch, or hanging out there while my dad worked, such as playing in the Spring Creek ditch. For those of you that knew Princess, this ranch is where Princess is from, and this ditch is where Princess had her first experiences being thrown into the water by a little girl that liked to watch puppies swim.

We also traveled a bit farther down the road to where my dad had his own plot of land for several years. Although his house burned down, I think it used to be in the general vicinity of where this barn is now:

And it's right around the bend from this cattle guard where I once fell out of the truck on the way to catch the school bus:

It was so amazing to see all these places again, as I haven't seen them since I was about 14 years old. One of my biggest highlights, though, was stopping off to visit the home of our old neighbors, Juanita and Teed Russel (sp?). Teed passed away a few years ago, but Juanita is still alive and healthy, and happened to be at home visiting with her daughters, grand daughter, and great grand children. I introduced myself and we had a lovely visit, talking about my dad and the old days on Strat's ranch. It was a very special day.