Last Day in Quito

Friday morning.  Time for the last pictures before Hailey took an Uber back to her host family and we prepared to leave for the airport.  We were all smiles.

Last hugs for Mom and daughter until December.

It was only 2 P.M. and our driver was taking us back to the airport even though our flight didn't leave until midnight.  Do you think we were a bit anxious?  Both the road and the airport were open, so we prayed that our flight wouldn't be cancelled.  As we drove past there were people waving flags to support the protesters in different areas of the road.  There still was a feeling of unrest in the air.

How do you spend 10 hours at the airport?  Don figured it out!  He took a cat nap and used the suitcases as an armrest!  The seats were not that comfortable, trust me! 

We did find more comfortable seats in the terminal across the way.  Plus Don and Glen had Kentucky Fried Chicken for supper!  They both were happy campers (more or less....probably less at this point in time).

Goodbye Ecuador!  I wish we had gotten to know you better.  For a better understanding of the protests, here is a link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Ecuadorian_protests

  Epilogue: Our plan and God's plan coincided!  We requested prayers that we would get out on Friday as planned, and we did.  On Saturday, as we got off the plane in Dallas we found out that the flights in Quito both had been cancelled.  Ditto for Sunday.

Birthday Boy, Part III

The last celebration was in combination with the Cousin's Reunion in Parker, Colorado.  It included the important 4 F's:  Food, Family, Friends and Fun!  What more could you want?! Our nephew Greg, and son Bret take time to figure out how to solve the problems of the world over food and beer.

 While others relaxed on the back porch.

Some of us had to be held back in our celebrating......

Cheers to 80 years!

Hugs from granddaughters and hugs from friends!

Of course, the younger generation had surprises in store for Don and the rest of us "oldies" as we were referred to!  We even had our own different colored shirts so we wouldn't be mistaken for one of the younger kids.  It's hard not to laugh when you are trying to shake the ping pong balls out of a Kleenex box that's hanging off your backside.....

In another game it was the ladies against the gents and the competition was vicious..... thank goodness I had Sandy and Doris cheering me on as I tried to knock over the water bottles!

You could see the younger generations were having fun just laughing at us!

The food finally arrived.  BBQ and all the fixings, except the most important thing: BBQ sauce!  We had to wait another hour for it since Dickies forgot to pack it!  Good grief!

And of course, we had to have another birthday cake!

Lisa, Kim and Ella cut and served the cake for us.  Thank goodness for professional help!

Birthday Boy, Part Two

Eighty years and one day:  party number two!

This was a moving party, not a stationary one!  And it was awesome!  It didn't take long after boarding the bus for the wine to start flowing!  Bret came fully prepared with both red and white wine, plus water for rehydration purposes. Bret, Kim,  Tammy and Phil Prellwitz, Patty and Ron Schorr, and Bret's co-worker, Carlos and his wife Debbie climbed on the bus in Windsor with us.  We all were ready for a good time.

Our first stop was at Hale and Bradford Distillery in Berthoud, Colorado.  It's located on the second floor of an old Oddfellows building there.  This is where we met up with Ken and Lisa.

 Don, Patty and Ron look over the menu and try to decide what they want to try.

Don and Carlos enjoyed a game of shuffleboard while Debbie and Patty chatted.

Next stop: Longtucky Spirits in Longmont, Colorado.

One of the favorite drinks here was the cherry bomb which consisted of a ball of frozen dark cherry juice with whisky poured over it.  I heard it became better as the cherry juice melted and mixed in with the whisky.  I opted for a Horchata drink that contained no liquor.  Don enjoyed whatever was bought for him!

By this time, Don was "hangry" and wanted food.  We skipped one drinking stop and went straight for our evening meal without passing Go and collecting $200.....

BBQ it is!

Hmm, what should we order?  How about two huge platters of various smoked meat and sausage, plus some burnt ends?  Bring on the meat sweats!  LOL

 Here's to Don's 80th birthday!  It's a proven fact that people who have more birthdays live longer!

Birthday Boy

I guess when you turn 80 and are now over eight decades old, you have reason to celebrate!  Well, that is exactly what Don is doing, with multiple parties over the course of a week and a half.

Party number one was held at Boyd Lake State Park, where Don and I are camp hosting once again during the summer.  No way are we going to be here in the winter time!!!  Thursday was his actual birth date, and we celebrated with co-workers and family.  Our good friends, Ron and Patty, made pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw for the occasion.  We provided side dishes and a carrot cake.  No one left hungry!

After most of the people had left, I was taking off the black plastic tablecloths and decided to do a bit of "recycling".  I wound up wrapping it around myself and Tatum found a picker in one of the golf carts.  Voila!  I became the grim reaper!  That's what happens when you have a lot of goofballs in the family!

Loving Lathrop

One of our favorite Colorado State parks is Lathrop, located just outside the quaint town of Walsenburg.  Our site provided us with a wonderful view of the twin peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (translated into English as the Blood of Christ).

Bike trails are numerous throughout the whole park, so Don unloaded our bikes from the back of the trailer and off we went!  It was good to be out of the truck and cycling our way past the trees and lakes.

 You can barely see Don above the bushes and various plants as he rounded the corner

 Since it was a Tuesday, there were very few people either walking or riding on the paths.  The slightly overcast day with mild temps and no wind made it an excellent time to do our bike ride!

The evening sunset of pink and blue clouds enhanced the already spectacular views from our campsite.

If you are traveling with a trailer, you may want to consider this as one of your places to stop for a day or two.  You won't be disappointed!

Summer, 2019

Our summer travels this year actually started in Tucson, where we parked our trailer in front of the White house.  No reservations were needed and the accommodations were excellent.  The hosts were gracious, so we do plan on coming back again.  Our only disappointment was missing Tommy the Tortoise, who was still hibernating and oblivious to his surroundings.

Our Saturday evening stroll along Snyder road was cut short by the incoming thunderstorm.  Doris, Don, Jerry and Sandy were all ahead of me as I stopped to take some pictures.

Black clouds obscured the moon, while distant lightening illuminated the sky at times.

As the winds increased in velocity, it was time to head back and watch the storm from the back porch.

We left on Monday morning, heading to Colorado for the summer.  Our first stop was 50 miles south of Albuquerque, in Bosque, New Mexico.  Not only is this a RV park, it's also a horse hotel!!

 A walk around the park and along the old U.S. 60 road that flanked the backside of the park yielded not a single horse.   Lots of stalls and a big enclosed riding ring were available for the equestrians who travel with their favorite mounts.  It made me wonder where those people stayed at while on the road since not many RV parks or state parks have those types of facilities available.  At our stage in life, we don't even want a dog to worry about, much less a horse!