FD in CO

I'm sure it won't come as a surprise to you... but yesterday I went on another ride-along! This one was extra special, though, because I was in Colorado and so I got to do it with the Department in Woodland Park, which is a definite change of scenery. This was my third ride-along, and I stayed from 8am - 3pm. The morning portion was slow... and so in the down time I watched two movies with one of the firefighters, and we talked a bit. For lunch we had some kind of delicious sausage pasta that one of the firefighter's step-dad had brought by, and as I was about to head over to the dessert (some kind of fluffy, chocolately heavenly dish), we got a call. A little boy had fainted at the museum in town, and when we got there he looked okay but not great. After going through and discarding the list of reasons why he might have fainted, they checked his blood sugar and it was pretty high, and so they sent him to the hospital, saying that he probably has diabetes. Poor kid - not the news you want to hear when you're on a vacation with your family.

As we left that call we got another one while still in the truck. A male had crashed his ATV somewhere up in the forest, and it was reported that he had a possible break. Since we were already headed in that direction, we set out real fast...but finding the place where he was at was a whole other story. It was a total maze up in the forest, with all these different dirt roads, and after turning back, then turning back around, then turning back, we finally saw a Sheriff coming up the road and he pointed us in the right direction. We had made just one wrong turn - so we were close! In our turn around, the ambulance got ahead of us, but we both arrived on the scene at the same time. The guy had crashed into a tree and been flung off his bike. No blood, but when they checked his leg it had a bulge and they said he had definitely broken his femur. Ouch. Strange enough, the kid was more concerned about getting poked with the needle for an IV than he was about his wrecked leg. A helicopter came in and transported him to the hospital. That was my first time seeing a helicopter land and take off so close-by. It was pretty cool!

And that was pretty much it. By the time we got back to the station it was almost 2:30, and my dad was picking me up at 3:00, so I just hung out and then said my farewell's when it was time to leave. Hopefully we'll come back to Colorado again next year. I'll definitely go on another ride-along with them if we do! Oh, and I did get to eat some of the chocolatey heavenish dish...if you were wondering. I got it "to-go" and shared it with my family and cousins. Delicious!

Sadly, this also concludes our stay in Colorado. Yesterday was our last day. My alarm was set for 6am this morning, and we headed out by 7am...Now we've stopped for the night in some town in New Mexico. Las Cruces, I think. Anyway, what a trip! It's really been a blast, and yesterday was a great way to end it, I think. Plus our hotel room is great, and we ate at the best pizza place for dinner tonight. It was called "Zeffiro: New York Pizzeria," and it was amazing!

Countdown to Africa: 6 days!

Outside Temp: 92 degrees! (Getting close to AZ!)

Verse of the day:

"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!"

Luke 12:4-5