We’ve experienced four Memorial Day Weekends in Colorado Springs. Every one of them have been chilly, if not downright cold, and it rained at least part of every weekend. This weekend is no different. Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, but by 10 a.m. the clouds had moved in and haven’t left since. There hasn’t been much wind, but there’s been a lot of very heavy rain showers. We’re hoping that the back side of Pikes Peak has different weather than we’re having here!

Tomorrow morning is the annual Ward Memorial Day Breakfast. We’ll finish packing the trailer and head for Mueller State Park right after that event. I’m looking forward to a couple of days of peace and quiet. Nina and I got the trailer out of the storage lot last night and it’s sitting in front of the house. Since we’re only going to be gone for a couple of days, we don’t need to put much in the trailer. It’ll be a nice dry run for July when we’re going to be out east for two and a half weeks.

Jared came up this morning from Denver and will go up the park with us tomorrow. He has to work on Tuesday and will come back up to the park after he’s finished with his work. We’re looking forward to vegetating with Jared for a couple of days! I sure hope to use up a whole bunch of film while we’re up there.

What we now call Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day. That’s how I grew up remembering the holiday. It was always on May 30th — no matter what day of the week that day fell on. Lyndon Johnson changed the name and the date of the holiday in 1971. The change was intended to provide federal workers with a three-day weekend; I’ve always believed the change was made so that the Indianapolis 500 could be run on Sunday, the middle day of a three-day weekend. The day is intended as a remembrance of those soldiers who gave everything they had in defense of our country and our freedom. Thank you all.