Posie the Pig

We have a new traveling companion, Posie the Pig!  She is perfect for us.....we don't have to feed her, take her to the vet, get her a license, or take her for walks twice a day.  There are also no messes to clean up or hairballs that appear on the floor during the night.

Our dear friend and fellow camp host, Patty Schorr, found her in Ft. Collins, and bought her for us.  She even came with an adoption certificate, and we didn't have to go through numerous background checks or interviews before we were allowed to keep her.  All in all, it was a win for both Posie and us.

As you can see from the picture below, our little Chilean pig has only 3 legs, but that won't stop her from traveling with us and having her picture taken along the way.  I've named her Posie since I will be posing her on different objects as we go along.  Who knows, she might even show up on the Ft. Collins Facebook page one day!  Power to 3 legged pigs!

Fun with Friends in Forbes

Have you ever had friends that live close by, yet you never see them?   That seems to be the case with us and our long time friends, Rob and Gay.  Even though we live about a half an hour's drive from them in Arizona, the last two times we have gotten together have required at least 5 hours hours of driving each way!  Go figure.  It's odd, but the 4 of us seem to readily pick up where we last left off.

Our journey to see them was last week to see where they have their summer house...or should I say RV?
We drove south to Walsenburg, Colorado, then 30 miles west to Forbes Park.

I guess we were at the right spot......or did  someone mislead us?

Nope, the dirt road through the pines led us to

their abode, complete with private guest quarters!  Rob and Gay live in the 5th wheel during the summer and they have a separate trailer for visitors.  Guests are treated to running water, indoor plumbing, solar power and some fabulous meals made by both Rob and Gay.  I highly recommend the cheese fondue and German potato salad.  And the fabulous blueberry pancakes....

As we toured their gated community, we stopped to see the log house that was shipped here in pieces from Tennessee.

 Of course, each piece was numbered before being taken apart and shipped.  The metal tags are still in place if you look closely at the logs.

 Rob stopped to take a picture of the view from the mountain ridge. 

 And this is what they saw (approximately) from their point of view.  Fantastic!

 Oh, Oh?  Did Rob step in something???  Hoped he wiped his feet off before we all climbed back into the truck.

 

 One last walk down the road before we head back to Boyd Lake.

Forbes Fauna and Flora

Even though our visit was short, I wound up with a lot of pictures!  Deer and elk roam freely in Forbes Park since there is no hunting allowed.  I wonder if they realize how lucky they are?

On our first evening with Rob and Gay, we went driving with them on some of the dirt roads in the area.  The mother deer and her fawn seemed to be staring right back at me as I kept snapping away.

But the young buck paid no attention to me because he was so engrossed in eating the new, tender and juicy Aspen leaves.

Avid hunters would be ecstatic if they came across herds of elk like those below.  Of course, when it is hunting season, the elk seem to disappear(at least that is what I've heard).  I bet these elk don't venture outside Forbes Park during that time of the year.

Both Gay and I were delighted at all the different kinds of wildflowers.  One field not only had lots of  flowers, but an abundance of Monarch butterflies sipping the delicious nectar.

Wouldn't you love to have a backyard with a view like this with the mountains in the distance?

Rob and Gay led us to the oldest Limber Pine in Colorado.  Boy, it was huge!  The barbed wire fence is up to keep out the free range cattle, and it was up to Rob and Don to find a place where we could either crawl under or over it so we could get closer to this humongous tree.

 We decided it was a good place for the four of us to have our picture taken.  We managed to all smile despite the fact that was a mighty uncomfortable spot for us to sit down.  I sure could have used a pillow.

Magnificent Mushrooms!

It was our first time to hunt for mushrooms.  In my mind, I was looking for the "normal" sized ones that I've seen in the grocery stores.  Boy, was I ever off track!  It's hard to gauge how big these Western Puffball mushrooms are by just looking at a picture, so..

I set my glasses on top of one of the larger ones.  If I were in Italy, I'd say "Thatsa bigga mushroom"...or something to that effect.  You get my drift.

Rob took the picture of Gay and I with some of our treasures.  Not only are they big, but they're dense, so I was surprised at how much they weighed.

Gay sliced off the outside, then cut them into pieces like steak fries while I put them into flour, egg yolks and Panko crumbs.  One mushroom was more than enough for the four of us for lunch, with plenty left over.  We tried them with green salsa and also mustard with horseradish.  It's a good thing they are edible, or I wouldn't be updating my blog.  You'd be reading my obituary with the caption of  "Suicide by Puffball Mushroom"! 

Early Birds or Early Bikers?

When you are retired for many years, the very LAST thing you want to do is set the alarm to get up early.  But that is exactly what we did....up at 5:15 AM so the three of us (Don, Kyla and myself) could meet up with Kim, Nate and Ella at 6:45 for Bike to Work Day.

My conundrum this morning involved coffee.  I needed to drink enough caffeine so I was awake and alert, but not too much that would involve stopping at each and every bathroom along the way.  Decisions, decisions.  Things like this never came up when I was young.  If you are younger, you might laugh at this, but trust me, it will catch up to you sooner or later!

Amazingly, all of us were wide awake and chipper as we unloaded the bikes at Edora Park in Ft. Collins.  The park is situated alongside the Spring Creek Trail, so it was a great place to meet for our morning odyssey.

 Ready, set, go!

The older two grandchildren and Don were ahead of Ella, Kim and me, which is usual for all of our bike rides when we are in a group.  I'm fine as long as we get to the same destination without a mishap.  Trust me, that doesn't always happen.

 Nate, Don and Kyla crossed Mason Street ahead of us.  Usually, we can avoid crossing the busy street. However, the bike tunnel is still closed due to flooding from all the precipitation in May and June.

Boy, the trails were busy, busy, busy today.  Maybe the overload is due to people like us who come out early for the good breakfast burritos, muffins, fruit, juice, coffee and other goodies.  Nate was disappointed that the Waffle Lab food truck wasn't here this year.  You can almost tell from behind that he was not a happy camper with his stance and his arms across his chest.

 However, Ella and I enjoyed the great tasting burritos they handed out for free.  I ate mine standing up, but she had a built in chair......namely Kim.

Off they head to stop number two..

The Spring Creek trail is a great place to ride.  Normally, there is a minimal amount of bikers and walkers when we arrive around 9 AM, with a nice wide, cement path.  As you wind your way west from Edora Park, you pass by the creek, parks, forested areas, open plains and numerous parks.

 I was proud of amazed at myself for being able to take pictures while riding my bike.  Normally, it is a wonder if I can chew gum and walk at the same time.  I don't think I'm getting more graceful as I age either.  I guess it was just dumb luck.  So, some of the pictures were a little fuzzy or out of focus, but that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

 Along here, the Spring Creek overflow runs right by the trail.

During the five or so mile trip we came across 5 different bike stops.  A few years ago, there were only three.  This is a great way to have fun with our grandchildren and get exercise at the same time.  As a plus, we even came back with a new Ft. Collins bike trail map and hand sanitizers we can hook on our backpacks or belt loops.  It was a win-win for us!

Denver Daze

Our granddaughter, Kyla, came to visit us in Colorado for a few weeks (actually, if you would ask her, she would say 3 weeks and 1 day).   One of the things she wanted to do was to go get some Voodoo Doughnuts.  That meant a one hour drive to downtown Denver, but that was sure a lot closer than going to the Voodoo store in Portland, Oregon.

Success!  One box of sugar goodness...mmm, mmm, mmm.

Next stop, was REI.  Kyla had consumed her first doughnut before we even got there even though it was a very short drive between the two businesses.  I caught Don and Kyla busy texting on their phones while sitting on the patio outside REI.  They were so involved that I don't even think they realized I had taken their picture.

Next on the agenda was Union Station, situated north and east of REI and across the fast running and frothy South Platte River.   

It took a bit of coaxing and cajoling to get Don and Kyla to agree to walking on over to Union Station.  It also involved three different people giving us 4 different sets of directions to get there!  Let's just say that the "smart" phones weren't always so smart and wanted to take us backwards at times...

Union Station was built in 1881,and has survived a fire, multiple floods and a decline in rail travel as it took a back seat to automobiles.   It was built for just over $525,000 by the Union Depot and Railroad Company.  In its heydey it serviced 80 trains a day.  By 2010 it was direly in need of a boost, and the Federal Transit Authority authorized $304,000 in loans for renovation.

Now the main terminal is filled with all types of shops, cafes, a bookstore and even a hotel!

A bar and restaurant now occupy the place where people used to stand in line to buy their tickets to far away places such as Chicago or Los Angeles.

Time for Kyla's second sugar rush and she headed for the ice creams at Milkbox Ice Creamery!  So many flavors to choose from.  Which one will she wind up with?

Here they even have adult boozy shakes, complete with your choice of ice cream and liquor.  Don't worry, Heidi, we didn't let Kyla order one of those!

One malted milk ball shake for her and she was a happy camper.  Nothing like a doughnut and a milkshake within an hour's time to keep her going!  Unfortunately, if she can't sleep tonight, we are the ones that will be impacted.  We can't do the S-S-S routine right now.....spoiling.....sugaring....and sending home.

Time to head back to our truck.  At least we walked off some of the calories we consumed.  If we had opted to walk off all of the calories, we would probably have needed to walk half way back to Loveland and that was NOT happening.

We passed through Confluence Park, situated right on the South Platte, which was running extra fast with runoff from snow melt and recent rains.  All in all, it was a great morning!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Some of you may be old enough to remember the film "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" with Clint Eastwood.

I thought of this for my first blog of the summer, after we arrived at Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland, Colorado.  Here is my version:

"The Good" was the rainbow that showed up in the eastern part of the sky on our first day back at Boyd Lake State Park.  I was in the middle of eating dinner, so I stopped, grabbed my camera and headed outside to take a photo.  The food could wait...but rainbows are fleeting!

"The Bad" was the huge puddle of water on the tent pad in our site at Cheyenne Mountain State Park.  If we were tenting, we would have needed to put pontoons on the bottom!  This is another reason we love "camping" in our 5th wheel trailer.  We are high and dry, so to speak.

And now for "The Ugly"

This is what our truck looked like after a gentleman backed into us.

We were at the Visitor center at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, registering for a site for one night.  One man came in and paid $5.00 for a stack of wood.  A few minutes later, he came in and said that he had accidentally backed into our truck.  I can say this much, he did a good job! At least we could still drive it, even though we need a new condenser for the air conditioning, a new bumper and possibly a new radiator.  We felt more sorry for the guy than us.  He had come from North Carolina, went through all sorts of storms, missed a tornado by 15 miles, had hail damage on his truck from one of the storms and then this!

I'm just hoping this is the one "biggie" for this traveling season.  Every year, something happens and we have had to roll with the punches just like Clint Eastwood did.  Only difference is that we don't carry any weapons with us.  If I shot a gun like I throw a ball, I'd probably shoot myself.