“Blue car!”
The Red Rocks Trading Post Trail was less than a mile and a half and would take us an hour and maybe some change, given that Payton would be super into everything.
Since I had the backpack, Crew offered to carry the cooler. It was one of those ones you could carry like a bag with a strap over your shoulder, so he did that and then took my hand while Payton bounced ahead with Mr. Raven.
“What do we say about the rattlers?” I called after him.
“Listen carefully and don’t go off the path!” he called back.
An elderly couple was coming toward us from the other direction, and they heard the interaction.
The lady smiled and the old guy chuckled.
“That’s solid advice,” he said, tilting his head at us as they passed.
Neither of them reacted to Crew and I holding hands, clearly being out as a family, and something inside me unclenched a little.
“You okay?” Crew asked quietly once they were gone.
“Yeah. It’s… the town I grew up in wasn’t….” I grimaced.
“Ah.” He lifted our hands and kissed the back of mine.
“Crew?” Payton asked and ran back.
“Yeah, little man?”
“Remember you’re not allowed to climb on the rocks!”
Stifling his laughter, Crew called back, “I promise not to climb!”
Payton waited for us in a certain spot like I’d thought.
“Crew, can you help me throw a rock there?” he asked, pointing at one of the boulders nearby.
“You need to find a rock first,” I reminded my son, who had had this plan since we’d watched a video on YouTube showing the custom.
Finding a rock was harder than you’d think, because people had picked the surroundings clean. After a couple of minutes, he exclaimed and ran to Crew with a pebble the size of my thumb in hand.
“Okay, what do we do?” Crew asked, handing me the cooler.
Smartly, Payton gave me Mr. Raven for safekeeping, too.
“See those big rocks with the little rocks on them?” Payton asked and let Crew pick him up.
With the seriousness of a four-year-old, he explained the process, and I took some photos of them while they concentratedon their task. It took them only one try to throw the pebble onto the boulder that was closest to the path.
They cheered, and Crew twirled Payton around while I tried not to cry.
“Did you see what we did, Daddy?” Payton ran to me as soon as Crew set him down.
“I did, bud. Well done!” I gave him his toy back.
“Okay, onwards!” Payton exclaimed and dashed off again.
Crew took the cooler and then grabbed my hand. He tugged me closer and gave me a kiss. I smiled into it and felt his lips curl, too.
There weren’t that many people on the trail, which was nice. Coming early on a weekday clearly worked in our favor. We had a little picnic on the way when we found a spot that worked, then continued on.
