We woke up geared for our last moments at our Broadmoor Cottage, we
ordered conservatively - a tiny room service breakfast to save on our
funds... although I wanted that fancy french toast, I used my will power
to order a small peach yogurt his grandmother a strawberry, I splurged for
Luke who insisted on an omelette and his daddy had cereal. A small but
still lovely breakfast before we headed out to the Cheyenne Zoo and
then making the drive home.
Luke I think detected that we were leaving. Not tickled he was a
bit of a handful to convince putting his luggage into the car. I can't
blame him, I'm fully grown and I wasn't really loving the idea of
packing up and leaving this wonderful weekend behind
either. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. Lots of
guests were checking out the same time we were, many having personal
driver's and their names labeled on vehicles who were patiently waiting
on them curbside. The hotel allowed us to
keep our vehicle with us on property with remote entry, which was so
nice especially given never knowing when we would need to come and go
quickly with Noah. I was so appreciative of their thoughtfulness to
what would make us comfortable.
Once we had packed up and loaded the vehicle we sad our goodbyes to
the staff who had coordinated such a peaceful and lovely time for us.
Feeling as if I've known them years and not just a few days. People
that I hope that I'll be able to remain in touch
with throughout our journey as a special needs family. Their care and
tenderness certainly extended beyond just doing their jobs. And I
appreciated their genuine love and sincerity.
The drive to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was short. It's very close to the
Broadmoor. I had been once before in my life as a child, but it either
wasn't that impressive to me at the time, or I was too young to
remember it. Perhaps a combination of the two.
Noah adores the zoo, so I fully expected him to love the Cheyenne Zoo,
but upon arrival he started to pout and cry growing more agitated with a
zoo gift shop worker who wouldn't stop talking to him and delaying him
from seeing animals. His crying grew louder
until his daddy had to carry him around the zoo for a while, hard to do
in hot temperatures with such high elevations on the mountainside.
Noah finally calmed down enough for us to put him back in his wheelchair
but not before realizing he needed to be changed.
Personal details I know, but it continues to frustrate me that there
are no good spaces to change children like Noah in any bathrooms. We
have to either lay him on the floor, try to hold him while one person
changes him upright or slouch him down in his wheelchair
and pray he doesn't fall out of it while we try to maneuver changing
him. I'd like to believe that someday the law will require changing
tables big enough for all disabled adults that must rely on caregiver
assistance for incontinence care.
Noah never really fully regained his happiness. He tolerated the
giraffes who were overly curious about him. He seemed to find their
tongue exploration obnoxious. The smells from the zoo were
overwhelming, which was hard on Noah's sensory gag reflex.
And everything is uphill, and uphill and uphill. In fact just when you
think you're done... yep you guessed it, another hill. When pushing a
wheelchair you can certainly feel the burn in your legs. Who needs to
go the gym when you can find a really elevated
zoo and push a wheelchair? Nope not us.
Luke was rather board, it's hard to see many of the animals without
stairs or an elevator. It wasn't the most accessible friendly zoo,
certainly it felt more crowded than our local zoo, it was smaller. It
does have incredible views on a walkway that makes
it feel like you are floating on top of the entire city below you.
People whipping out those selfie-sticks to make it look like they are
sitting on a cliff with the foothills and houses in the distance.
We decided there wasn't a real good option to eat at the zoo and made
the decision to stop off and eat somewhere on the way home instead. I
don't think Noah was overly impressed with the Cheyenne Zoo. Perhaps he
was sad we left the Broadmoor (and let's
be honest who wouldn't be?) and I know he probably was let down that it wasn't Santa's Workshop again... because well, Christmas rules.
We had a quick bite to eat, where Noah also had a meltdown because I
couldn't order him a Frosty fast enough from Wendy's... and we headed
home carrying with us sweet memories of our time together.
Love,
Noah's Miracle by
Stacy Warden is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
