Happy Trails to You Until We Meet Again!

 Our vacation itinerary included bike rides in various states.  Some trails we have ridden numerous times, others we have discovered along the way.  Colorado is an excellent state to live in if you love to bike ride.  The trails vary in length, elevation, topography and degree of difficulty.  We usually opt for the scenic trail and path with rolling hills or level ground.  Riding a road up a mountain road is definitely not our forte.😅

Our first rides were in Parker, Colorado.  The first ride was absolutely wonderful!  Cool breezes and the smell of fields of wild grass were exhilarating! 

We did proceed with caution even though no ice was found on the path. It looked odd to see that on a trail in summer, but Colorado weather can be fickle.  You never know when a summer storm will bring huge hail and a drop in temperature.

The trail in Longmont was new to us, and we would definitely go back on this one again.  Here's a photo of  Don going over the St. Vrain River on one of the numerous bridges.

We ended up by Golden Pond on this ride, discovering many other access points along the way.  Apropos for a couple in their "golden" years with silver and grey hair.

On our return I had to stop and get a pic of this cute frog statue.😊😊 with my little Canon camera. By now, Don is used to me asking him to stop at various places along the way.  Most of my pics are taken while I ride.  Amazing isn't it?  Usually I have a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time!

Another day in Longmont took us on the St. Vrain Greenway with the path leading us between a huge ladybug and dragonfly.

The bridge below was one of the long ones

and as we looked from the bridge we had a nice view of the winding St. Vrain River.

On the return ride Don stopped to check out the huge sprinklers running in the cornfields.

Our next ride was in Windsor, not far from our son and daughter-in-law's home.  The morning was cool, misty and overcast as we rode around Windsor Lake.  We met very few people on the trail but there were a lot of pelicans and cormorants resting on the logs in the lake.  This necessitated me yelling at Don to actually stop riding so I could take a photo.

As we did our second loop around, we met up with Kim and their new puppy Phin.(short for Phineas. He wound up with this name since their cat is named Ferb after the cartoon).  Other rides in Windsor took us farther west and east of their house.

On Saturday we drove over to Boyd Lake and rode with our friends, Ron and Patty Schorr.  Once again, the path was very familiar, but who cares as long as we are out, breathing fresh air, getting exercise and visiting all at the same time.  Patty led the way as we went under U.S.34 and then along the canal.

We ended up at the Chilson Recreation Center in Loveland where we stopped for a few minutes to rest.  Of course, this was an opportune time to take some pictures.  I just happened to have my camera with me.😅 I think the load of kids in the wagon was a bit too much for the boy once Patty sat down!

Don talked me into sitting with Ron and Patty so I could be in the picture.  I'm much more comfortable being at the other end of it.

Right across from the bench we were sitting on was a beautiful sculpture of herons surrounded by orange Tiger Lillies.  Another photo opportunity for me.👌😃

This time we rewarded ourselves with a meal at the Breakfast Club after our ride.  All 4 of us wound up ordering the same dish: biscuits and gravy and an egg. 🍳 Mmm, mmm.

Maybe it wasn't the healthiest choice on the menu, but it sure was tasty!

The Wedding!

 Love was in the air in Loveland!  The beautiful outdoor wedding took place on Friday, July 16th at Ellis Ranch.  Our son Bret and his wife Kim had guests from Canada, Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Maybe other states too since the groom has family living all over the U.S.

The ceremony was presided over by Jonah's father, who is a pastor at a Lutheran church in Florida.  Both his grandfathers and Tatum's other grandfather are all retired Lutheran pastors. If one couldn't do the marriage ceremony, there were numerous backups.  Lots of people from the Wisconsin assured us there would be plenty of "You betcha's" and "Oh Jeez" to go around!

View looking towards the seating area.

There were a few tears shed along the way.  Bret kept saying he just had leaky eyes.  Maybe it was allergies...

The allergies even bothered him during the first dance.  Good thing Kim was there to hold Bret up.

One happy bride and groom!  And below are us, Tatum and Jonah, and Kim's parents Roy and Char Beyer.  We are richly blessed.

Our side of the family included our nephew Greg, his wife Lori and daughter Cassidy, our daughter Lisa, daughter Heidi and husband Glen and our granddaughter Hailey with her boyfriend Jonathan.  We were missing our one granddaughter Kyla who had to stay home to work at her summer job. College tuition is mighty expensive!

No wedding is complete without some silly pictures!

It was a perfect day for a wedding.  No wind or rain and plenty of memories to go around.

Farm and Family

 Our travel plans this summer were determined in advance by the announcement of an upcoming wedding.  Our granddaughter, Tatum and her fiancé Jonah, decided they would be married July 16th in Colorado.  That immediately sent us looking for a place to stay not far from Loveland.  Found a VRBO in the small town Berthoud that would accommodate 6 people, enough for us and our daughter's family.

Let's just say it was a bit quirky!  Originally built in1930, you could tell the house had been added onto at least twice.  Walking on the carpet or hardwood floors revealed the floor underneath was not quite level.  After gaining access to the lockbox we discovered there was a side door not locked at all (the lock was broken)! We were greeted with a moo by a friendly cow once we got out of the truck.  Hello country living!

Nice kitchen area, but it didn't have a complete set of silverware for 6 people.  Not enough plates for more than one meal either.  We ran the dishwasher after each meal to avoid buying paper plates.  Don and Glen had no problem cooking breakfast one morning.  The host had provided bacon, eggs and Italian sausage.

I've never seen such huge pieces of bacon before!  It may have come from one of the pigs raised by the caretaker who lived on the property in a converted garage.

However, on the plus side it was super quiet and we never heard any of the various animals that were behind the house and on both sides of it!  There was quite a variety of animals: mother cows with their calves, laying hens, hens for meat, turkeys, lots of goats, hogs and a new set of piglets.  Fun to watch, but I sure wouldn't want to take care of all those animals.

The Jersey cow was quite friendly and she was the one who greeted us the first day.

Polka dotted pigs!

The caretaker told us that these types of hens will reach 4-5 lbs within 8 weeks on the organic diet he feeds to them.  One large chest freezer on the house was full of processed chickens.  They were plump!

This is a view from the second story bedroom showing the deck area with a pond behind it   The cows sure enjoyed this spot on the property, and then we saw the calves lying so near the pond that it seemed they were half in the water.

Below is the picture of the back of the property which snuggled right up to the Little Thompson River.

With all it's oddities, this still was a nice place to spend a week with family.