Steamboat Springs

Longtime friends, Rob and Gay Kohl invited us to come up and stay with them at their timeshare in Steamboat Springs and we are sure glad we took them up on their offer!  We packed a lot in between our arrival on Friday at noon and our departure the next day around 4 PM.

After lunch on Friday, we walked from the condo to the Botanic Gardens.  The walk took us past the Yampa River.  Wildflowers of all colors decorated the green hillsides.

The guys plopped themselves under a nearby tree right after we entered the botanic park while Gay and I meandered around.  Gay is an artist so she was thinking about all the flowers she could paint and I was busy snapping pictures.  This garden is a real gem and there is no charge for admission (a bonus for us seniors who are retired!).

We passed lots of tubers on the river on our journey back to the condos.  I want to come back here next year, rent one of those tubes and do the same thing.  Everyone seemed to be having tons of fun.

Since we had neither tubes nor swimsuits at that point, our only option was to take off our shoes and cool off our feet.  The cold water sure felt good on our "tootsies".  The hard part was walking on all those small, slippery wet rocks and pebbles in our bare feet.

After a large breakfast on Saturday morning, we hit the farmers market in downtown Steamboat Springs.  We skipped the beetle kill wood and wound up with a nice loaf of pumpernickel bread and some smoked salmon which we ate for lunch.  Maybe the combination sounds a bit odd for you, but it worked out well for us.

Next on the agenda was the ride up the mountain on the gondola.  Don and Gay sat across from Rob and me.  I don't necessarily like riding in gondolas because I'm afraid of heights, but there is NO way in this world that I would be hiking up that steep mountainside!

Here is a view as we go up.  Do you recognize that cute guy sitting on the porch and smiling at everyone?

Yep, it is Ronald McDonald!  His cheeks must get awfully tired since he was smiling on our way up the mountain, and had the same smile on our way down.   I bet he is just one happy fella after eating all those Happy Meals!

I found a great spot for us to have our picture taken at the top.  Gay graciously took my camera and took some shots of us.   At least the scenery in the background is nice to look at.....takes the focus off our faces!

About half an hour later, I got a a chance to get a picture of Rob and Gay with their great smiles.

Had a chance to get a photo of the beautiful old barn before we left.  Just wonder how long it has been sitting there.  If its walls could talk, I wonder what stories they would tell?  

"I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing."

Johnny Carson

Rubber Tires and Rubber Chickens!

It is Bike to Work Day in Colorado and there were 40  stations serving breakfast in the Ft. Collins area this morning.  So, we combined our morning bike ride with a free breakfast and fun stops along the way.

The second stop for us was the best.  Not only did it have fresh waffles, fruit, coffee and juice, it provided free massages and other free coupons.  No wonder they were busy.

The guys at the Waffle Lab were busy just keeping up with the demand of fresh, hot, delicious waffles.  Just like a morning newspaper, they were "hot off the press"! Yummy!

And then we saw the "Rubber Chicken Lady" who was "egging" us on to participate in the rubber chicken throw.  We had the time, and weren't hungry anymore, so we figured, why not?

This will probably be the first and last time you'll see me throwing a rubber chicken with a helmet on my head.  Maybe it was a good idea to keep the helmet on just in case there was an errant chicken in the air.  One can never bee too careful...

And my last chicken does a wonderful swan dive toward the basket, or should I say chicken dive?  He missed, but I'd give him an eight for his form.  After all, his toes were pointed and he kept his wings close to his side.

Don managed to do two things at once: toss the chicken and drink his cup of Joe with nary a drop of coffee hitting his white shirt.  

And his last one was a hit!  Chicken in the basket, so to speak!  You can just make out his beak peaking out of the bottom net.  For our efforts we got coupons for TCBY yogurt, and two REI lip balms.  Okay, it's not much, but it was free and fun at the same time.  It doesn't take much to entertain us, that's for sure.

We got in a 14 mile ride, had a nice breakfast and came back with some goodies.  This was ten thousand times better than going to work!

Feelin' a Bit Rocky in the Rockies

Last Friday it was a gorgeous day and we decided to join Kim, our grandchildren and her parents on a jaunt to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The day would eventually unfold in many ways that neither Don nor I anticipated.

This is the view that we got as we drove down the hill into Estes Park.  Snow capped mountains backed by brilliant azure skies and fluffy clouds.  We drove into Rocky Mountain National Park and found a table nested in a grassy meadow.  Across the river was a herd of elk.  Great setting and it would have been perfect if my stomach wasn't cramping and giving me fits.  I kept waiting for it to pass...

Kim, Tatum, Nate and Ella were ahead of us, all set for the hike up the mountain road to find the falls that Kim wanted to see.

Not feeling well, I handed the camera over to Tatum and asked her to take pictures.  She could take as many or as little as she wanted.  So, one of the first was of me peering out over the valley.

One of the interesting things the kids discovered was a huge web of writhing caterpillars!  I have never seen so many crawling caterpillars in one glob before.  It was a mass of constant movement.

As usual, Ella had to scamper off and do some rock climbing while the rest of us headed up the unpaved road.  She is always eager to find bugs, flowers or whatever interests her at that point in time.

Nate even found a John Deere Tractor with a Colorado Machinery decal on it.  His dad probably sold this one to the forest service here because it is part of his territory. They were using it to rebuild the road we were on.

On the way back, Don took a shortcut down the hillside. He made it down okay, then looked back to find me, stepped in a hole and down he went!  He had the wind knocked out of him, tore up his hands, ruined a shirt and bruised his side.  Tatum flagged down a park ranger who gladly provided us with large bandages and some adhesive tape.  At least no bones were broken.

Kim and little Ella had much better luck going down the hillside.

Following Don's patch job, we headed over to the water falls by the Alluvial Fan Trail.  Tatum kept a close eye on her younger sister because the water is not only cold; it runs very fast here and could be quite dangerous.

Don and Kim watched from the bridge over the falls while Char and I rested by a rock downstream.

I got this photo as Don was driving back out of RMNP.  Then a bee flew in the window, resulting in ear piercing screams from Nate and Tatum who are deathly afraid of bees and wasps.  I swatted while Don drove since there wasn't a place to pull over.  Crisis solved and one bee bit the dust after I whacked it with a magazine.    Down the road we stopped to let badger with a recently caught critter in his mouth pass across the road and into a culvert.

All the way back down the very windy and curvy highway I was miserable.  The upset stomach plus car sickness felt like the journey would never end.  I wanted to be a kid again and ask Don "Are we there yet?" every 10 minutes but decided against it.  I don't think it would have helped matters.  I later determined I had suffered from food poisoning.  When our youngest granddaughter, Ella, saw me a couple days later she advised me that if I brushed my teeth in the morning I wouldn't have bugs in my stomach!  Never have heard of that remedy before.  Although I am a few pounds lighter(a good thing), I would never suggest that for a weight loss program.   What a day!!

A Milestone Post!

As I went into my blog today, I noticed that this will be my 200th post!  Somewhat of a milestone for me, with a combined total of  over 5,400 pages.  At least the blog has helped us remember where we've been during our travel times since 2009. This way is so much easier than going through boxes of pictures and trying to figure out when they were taken, and where we were at!  I have plenty of those at home, in their original Kodak paper folder, which were then put in a box/bag without any writing on the back.  Those were from the years when we were both working and had 3 children active in various activities.  My record keeping was sorely lacking back then.  

I want to give thanks to whoever invented the digital camera.  At least now I can tell exactly when they were taken.  Maybe in the future it will also record where we are when I take a photo.  The details of the pics below show they were taken on June 6, 2013.   We had started out on the bike trail just off Prospect Road with Kim's parents, Roy and Char.  Goal for the morning:  head to the Silver Grill Cafe in Ft. Collins where we would treat ourselves to a nice breakfast and enjoy each other's company.

We made it to Old Town Ft. Collins even after we got disoriented when the Poudre Trail took a U-turn after coming out from under a bridge.  There are a plethora of bike racks in Ft. Collins, making it easier to park a bike than a car most times.  We found a huge bike rack almost right in front of the restaurant. Score!

Our place of destination was BUSY!  No wonder, since that morning the Ft. Collins paper had named them #1 for food and their Al Fresco dining.  It was a beautiful, sun-drenched morning, so we headed for the back patio rather than eating inside.

Four bike helmets and 3 hungry people (actually I should count myself even though I was behind the camera as usual).  What to order?  The menu had so many tempting choices. Hmm....

Even before ordering breakfast, Roy settled on some kind of awesome looking mocha latte.

But my focus was on one thing......one of their fabulous, gooey, mouth watering cinnamon rolls that the Silver Grill Cafe is noted for.  The waitress warms it up just before putting it down in front of you.  Heaven on a plate!

Roy, Char and Don cross over to the Poudre Trail near the Belgium Brewery.  This is where we were supposed to end up when we biked here this morning.  The path follows the Poudre River, which is so much better than being on surface streets with traffic at your back.

Here we are, back where we started out hours earlier.  What a great way to burn off the calories from that delicious breakfast.  Thanks to Roy and Char for joining us!

  

Spring Ride on Spring Creek Trail

Tuesday, June 4th, was a perfect day for our extended family group to ride the Spring Creek Trail in Ft. Collins.  It got to only 71 degrees, about 35 degrees cooler than Phoenix weather.  There were 10 of us, including Kim's parents, her brother Jay and his son Eli.  Lots of bikes to unload in the parking lot!

Ready to ride!  You can see that Nate had his special orange biking "outfit" and his favorite soccer socks!

Our group wound up in 2 sections: the faster group with Jay, Tatum, Eli and Nate and the much slower group who was following Ella.  She wanted to be the leader (normal for a 6 year old).  Many stops for water and rest were taken since it was a 6 mile and mostly uphill ride to the park at the end of trail.  It took lots of coaxing along the way as she complained about being tired and her knees hurting.  It was a LOT of pedaling for her little legs on her new bike.

This is a view of the Spring Canyon Community Park, our final destination for the day.  Beautiful setting for the park which is nestled in the foothills of Ft. Collins.

Time for lunch on a grassy hill.  We all were hungry!

After lunch, the girls had a chance to play in the water fountains.  

Nate and his cousin, Eli, plan their strategy.  They were always running away from me when I had the camera in my hand!

Don, Ella and Char start out from the park and head back to the parking lot.

The kids didn't mind when we suggested that we stop at a Dairy Queen on the way back.  There was a bridge from the path over the creek that wound up at the Dairy Queen.  I bet they do a booming business in the summer.  Bikes reposed on the side of the path while DQ Blizzards, cones and smoothies were consumed.

I'm In a Fowl Mood

Yesterday, as we sat at our table in the campground at Cherry Creek, there were all sorts of birds flying around in the meadow.  Soon I realized my mission for the day was to get some good pics of them, or at least make the attempt.  Some, like the robin who wakes us up with his song every morning, are easy to take a photo of.  They stay put, even when you get fairly close.  Others, like the Western Tanager, don't stay in one place for very long and are always flying from tree to tree.

Yep, I was in a "fowl" mood.  Don't ask Don about the play on words.  He might just tell you I have other

days like this, but it is the other foul word! I digress....back to the bird pictures.

This is the beautiful Western Tanager.  When he landed in the tall grass, all you could see was his head.

 A Western Kingbird in a tree near our RV.

We saw these two Mallards when we went for a walk in the wetland area of the park.  I can just imagine one say to the other. "Hey Mack, if you look sideways at her, she sure looks a bit odd."

This little fella is a Western Wood Peewee Flycatcher. 

The Magpies are large and very aggressive birds.  They will gang up on other birds and dive bomb the squirrels.  Pretty, but dangerous if you are a fellow feathered species.

We had seen this Prairie Falcon earlier in the day when we were bike riding.  We drove back with my good camera, and he was still flying between his two favorite tall trees by the lake.  Guess the grassland between the trees must provide some good meals for him (or her).

 

“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” 
― Willie Nelson

7th summer of travel

Day 1 of our 2013 summer travels:  The engine light appears on the dashboard of our Ram truck just after we crossed the border into New Mexico.  Crap!  How can that be?  We just had the truck checked out last week at the dealership in Avondale.  These newer cars and trucks are just way too complex and it could be anything from a dirty air cleaner to dozens of other things.  None the less, we make it to Albuquerque.

Day 2:  Don heads out in the morning to the local Larry Miller Dodge dealership to have the truck checked out.  The last thing we need to do is be stranded somewhere along I-25 in New Mexico with only cattle and antelope to talk to!  At first, Don calls and tells me it cost $1000 to get it fixed. While I am having a minor meltdown, he backs down and tells me it cost nothing and was under warranty.  It was an update that was needed.  For crying out loud, why couldn't they have discovered that a few days earlier when it was being worked on?   Argh...
We get a late start, and run into wind, rain, a dust storm and more pockets of showers. I am thankful it wasn't snow!  We get to Colorado Springs during the beginning of rush hour traffic and a long line of cars because of construction in that area.  That delays us even further, making us get into full blown Denver rush  traffic at 5 PM.  I got so frustrated that I timed part of it:  we went 1.5 miles in ten minutes.  The really bad part of this was the fact that we had stopped in Trinidad where I got a cup of coffee.  Even before we got to Denver, my eyeballs were turning slightly yellow and I felt every bump in the road.  Note to self: NEVER, ever do that again when the two hour maximum time limit for my bladder will commence when we are getting into a large city!  Even though we were stopping a lot, I don't think the people behind us would have liked me getting out and going back to the trailer for my much-needed pit stop.  We finally made it to Cherry Creek campground by 6:30, tired and hungry.
Day 3:
Ah, so glad to be back at Cherry Creek State Park!  It will be a good 20 degrees cooler here than at home.

We biked on some of the great trails in the park and came across a nice quiet little pond close to the large lake.

On the pond were one goose and 2 "headless" ducks.  I took several pictures of them, and each time they ducked their heads back under the water.  We both enjoy seeing the abundance of robins, water fowl, magpies and other birds in this park.  This is the reward for the 2 long days of travel. It was well worth it.