While I can still remember it, wanted to drop a recap of last week, when we took some time off to drop Riley off at college. Memory was never great, but it definitely ain't what it used to be... Let's rewind.
In high school, Riley fell in love with theater, both performing on stage and doing tech work behind the scenes, so scientifically, that meant using the following search terms in Google:
- good theater college near WA
Super complex, right? So that meant, over the past year and change we took Riley to visit Southern Oregon University in Ashland, OR; Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA; Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA; and, of all places, Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, CO.
Rather than going through all the schools, let's cut to the chase. Riley ended up choosing CMU after he and I visited there this past April. Back then, we flew from Seattle to Denver (broncos country, let's ride [so dumb, thanks russ]), then drove 4 hours west to Grand Junction.
Having never been to Colorado, it was pretty cool, though I could've done without a 4 hour drive. Unfortunately, though there is a little regional airport in GJ, there are no direct flights from Seattle to GJ. Instead, one must fly from SEA to PHX to GJT, or to Denver, as we did. However, now that we've done the drive, we told Rye that if/when he wants to come home, he/we're gonna have to split the cost and pay the extra $$ to fly.
But, as usual, I digress.
Last week, Marci and Rye flew out first, then Haley and I followed on Wednesday. Originally I was going to drive to CA with Haley again, but due to her choosing not to return to Concordia, we ended up crashing Riley's goodbye party in GJ. Luckily, we had booked an Airbnb for them that had enough room for the 4 of us, so that worked out well.
After Hay and I arrived, we got situated at the Airbnb and went to (checks pictures 'cause I can't remember), ah yes, dinner, at a local pizza place called Pablo's Pizza. The girls got their gluten free on and Riley was pleased to learn they offer student discounted special for CMU kids.
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| Airbnb room for the kids |
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| Wide angle pix are weird |
I got to take a run the next morning. Having been to GJ in April, I remembered the layout a bit. We stayed just north of their downtown area. Think of Old Bellevue, only bigger. The main street, called Main Street, runs east-west and many of their shops and restaurants are right there. Just south of there is the Colorado River and then beyond that, who knows; we never ventured that far. But on my run, I got to the river and ran down it for a bit before heading back for our big day of college shopping.
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| First thing I saw was a tipped over car |
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| Cool Little Free Library |
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| Unsure why this Land Cruiser is parked up there, but it is |
The rest of the day, we spent going back and from the school to stores to prep Riley's dorm. His room is on the 5th floor of his dorm (top floor!), and is in a suite format. Main door opens to a small shared hallway, off of which are two separate dorm rooms. At one end of the hall is a bathroom counter/sink/mirror, and off the side of that is the shower/toilet. Four students get to share that with two students per room.
We loaded up our rental car with what Marci and Riley had picked up already and got moving to his dorm. The school had a bunch of other kids there helping with the move in. We all grabbed stuff and then got on the world's slowest elevator up to the 5th floor. Evidently this building's elevator is notorious for being slow and has a bad reputation because of it. Because I'm a dad, I timed a trip down and it took 3.5 minutes. The kids said sometimes it stops at every floor even if no one presses the buttons. Maybe it's haunted.
Sometime on one of these days, we met Riley's roommate Justin. We had heard he was from Namibia but moved to the US a few years ago. He was a strapping young lad, blond haired, blue eyed and super polite and friendly. I'm excited for Riley to get to know this guy and vice versa. They appear to be a good fit.
While we were in GJ, despite having an Airbnb with a kitchen and the ability to buy food to prepare there, we ate out SO MUCH. In fact, the whole time we were there, I think we ate in the house one time. The rest of the meals were out and about. Part of me was horrified (there goes my budget), but part of me was thankful that we were able to just enjoy and not worry too much about it. As I get older, I am starting to justify spending $$ instead of having it just to have it. I attempt to remain judicious with important stuff, but I'm trying to balance more around experiences and events. After all, if we have more $$ and choose not to utilize it to enrich our lives and experiences, then why have it?
The rest of our time in GJ was spent just hanging around and making sure we set Riley up as much as possible to be on his own. We ended up getting him a bike and took him out to brunch on Saturday for his 18th birthday. Haley spent a lot of time with Riley meeting his new friends, it was pretty cool. Marci and I took some time to walk around GJ and did what empty nesters do: visit antique shops. We also, without Riley, got to drive through the Colorado National Monument. That was wicked and cool and confirmed that I still hate heights.
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| Test riding a used bike |
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| After purchasing said used bike |
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| Haley was too close to the edge for my comfort |
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| Instagram's version of BeReal |
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| Pins found at an antique shop, did not buy |
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| Figurines found at antique shop, did not buy |
Now, a week later, we haven't really caught up to Riley yet. At least Marci and I haven't. Hay talks to him on daily basis. I've been texting pictures of Kody and about the Mariners games (he finally is understanding and enjoying baseball: thank you J-Rod!). He's been super busy with first week stuff and meeting people and going to classes and auditioning for things. He's also not the best conversationalist with Marci and I, but we'll force some words out of him.
For now, it's dinner time and we'll call him later to see what's up.
Go Mavs!
