On this cold, rainy day in January, I am inspired to tell the story of another rainy day that nearly ruined an incredible trip to Colorado one summer. My whole family had driven up to Denver and then to Crested Butte to visit with loooooooooongtime friends (and clients). To give you a clear picture, there were SIXTEEN of us total…staying in the same house. 7 adults and EIGHT children and one ADORABLE baby. Oh, wait: this doesn’t include the two doggos :-). The adults were definitely outnumbered, but somehow, we managed to spend the first several days enjoying the cooler temps, hiking through the mountains (ALL 16 of us!!!), swimming in mountaintop lakes, exploring the charming town that is Crested Butte, and feasting…there was a LOT of feasting…and a lot of great laughs. I cannot even begin to describe how many memories were made on that trip. My eldest son christened the two other dads in the house with us were the “cool dads,” while his own father was just “dad.” It truly was something spectacular that we all managed to share that space together and have such a lovely time, working together as a team to manage meals and clean up (sister wives aren’t such a bad idea).
We had plans for all of us to drive up to this one particular spot way up in the mountains to do family photos. While it was indeed a bit of a drive from our home base, I had heard so many wonderful things about that place, I couldn’t wait to see it with my own eyes. Spoiler alert…the images above are NOT from this specific place. “Why?” you ask? Well, we had ALL piled into three cars (my mini van, included) and began our trip up the winding roads. It was cloudy, but not terrible as we started out. Rain was predicted to start later that evening, but we thought we could squeeze in the sessions before it got bad. Everyone was already dressed and made up (a Herculean effort in itself!)…there was no turning back now.
I honestly don’t know how long the trip took us, but it felt like forever, especially when we got to the part where we tried to get my van up through the mud-covered roads. The van briefly got stuck in the mud and at that point, we decided it wouldn’t make it any further. My family would make the rest of the trip on foot while I hitched a ride to the top with the others. I should mention that by then, I was very, very car sick and growing very concerned about the storm clouds that were rolling in. “This better be worth it,” I thought.
We *finally* made it to this mystical meadow between the mountains and my word, yes, it was every bit as breathtaking as they told me it would be. I could see the storm clouds building up and I knew we wouldn’t have much time, but I thought if we hurried, maybe we could make something happen. I think I was able to get like 5 photos taken and then it started raining. And raining. And raining. And it just wouldn’t let up. I kept refreshing the radar and it kept telling us that it was going to clear, so TWELVE humans and the TWO doggos all piled into ONE vehicle to wait out the storm (I’m SO glad we attempted THIS us-ie).
We waited. And we waited. And the rain just wouldn’t stop. And now, there was virtually no daylight left and everyone was tired, and cranky, and hangry and defeated. I don’t know about you other photographers out there, but I have this recurring nightmare where I’m in a BEAUTIFUL place with BEAUTIFUL subjects and I’m so overwhelmed, I am physically not able to take any photos. I’m frozen in my dream as I watch the sunlight disappear and I’ve missed out on the perfect opportunity. *This* was my nightmare actually coming true :-(. Through tears, we called it a night and decided to go on with our dinner plans and figure out another day/place for family photos.
At dinner (and I was *still* crying), we worked out a new game plan which would involve us getting up *very* early to catch sunrise the next morning. This was not an easy sell as we were all exhausted from our travels and the rain that evening, but it was our only shot. We were “do or die.”
After a few hours of sleep that night, these guys somehow rallied and managed to look just as beautiful and put together as the day before! We stumbled upon this gorgeous little flowered meadow practically in our backyard and we. made. magic. HAPPEN! I was so thankful for the sunshine that peeked out through the mountains! I was so AMAZED that the kiddos were able to give us their all in spite of the rough evening and very little sleep! I’m so grateful that we were able to let go of our previous vision for the session and embrace this new one. I’m so glad we persevered in spite of it all!
Most of all, I absolutely treasure the memories we made through our struggles the night before. The photos we took had so much more meaning because of that experience. And oh, how we laugh and laugh re-telling the story! Very, very grateful for all of it…the good and even the not-so-fun parts.
