COVID and Colorado

 COVID 19: the most hated word for 2020!  Since my last post in January, it has tainted everything for everyone.  Ugh!  Plans for our summer to go to our grandson's graduation in Wisconsin and visit friends in Minnesota were cancelled.  No camp hosting for us at Boyd Lake.  So we decided to take just the truck and our bikes to Colorado for a month.  Not the same, but we were thankful for this opportunity.

We drove straight through to Ken and Lisa's home in Parker, Colorado.  Took us 14 hours and I felt like a limp rag when we got there(and probably looked like one too).  There was a lot of construction going on in both New Mexico and Colorado plus we had a difficult time even finding a bathroom in Gallup. All the restaurants were closed except for take out.  Normally we don't have to worry about such inconveniences since we were pulling the 5th wheel behind us.

It was wonderful to relax and enjoy Lisa and Ken's new kitchen, the grandkitties and her lovely garden.  Porter was checking out the bird videos while Jenga was content just lying around on the counter.

They had no interest at all in Lisa's garden, unless there was a rabbit hiding among the flowers.

We arrived late Thursday night. The next two mornings we rode the Cherry Creek trail in Parker.  What a difference from Arizona!  Great trails to ride and about 30 degrees cooler!

I thought this was cute, and it was right beside the pathway.

Seems like this guy is always ahead of me! 

Our last night in Colorado was also at Ken and Lisa's since it's about an hour and a half closer to home.  We enjoyed the evening dining al fresco on their back porch and loving the much cooler weather before heading back to the heat.

Catalina Potpourri

What floats your boat?  What do you do when you're camping at Catalina State Park (besides the obvious)?  Here is a mish-mash of pictures that I took, along with some taken by Jerry after he swiped my camera without my knowledge!  He is one sneaky guy. LOL.  See if you can figure out the ones he took.

 Happy Hiker group.  Nothing but smiles from these ladies as they head out in the morning.

They would have passed by one of the beautiful and majestic saguaros along the way.

About half our group at one point were the Sherwoods who came from Tucson, Phoenix, Silver City and La Junta.

Two slightly off kilter photos....

 A beignet pucker!

A Harris hawk headed straight over my head after Berdie clapped her hands.

 Image from the German dinner.

All I can say about this one is "Ask Jerry"!

Recognize the hair? Who do you think this is? 

 If there ever is a national hug a cactus holiday, I think this would qualify.

Last, but not least, one group of people who were cruising the campground.  They were a hoot!  They would have fit right in with our group.

The "Group"

January 2020, our biggest turnout ever!  We had 10 different sites reserved between family and friends that came from Arizona, California, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado.  We came in all shapes and sizes, old, middle aged and young.  What did we have in common?  Love of family,  faith in our Lord and Savior, a penchant for camping and a love of food!

There were plenty of delicious meals consumed, with each group wanting to make their favorite meal.  Before every meal, we say the common table prayer followed by Guten Appetite and God Bless you. The photo below is the morning that we had 30 people for breakfast that included 3 dozen eggs, 3 lbs. of bacon, fresh tortillas, two large pans of hash browns, banana bread, cheese, salsa and toast.  No one went away hungry.

Layton was busy cooking bacon

 while Allen was making two types of eggs.

On a different morning, Jerry made his beignets, with the help of Erica, Doris and Sandy.

The only downside to this is getting powdered sugar over the front of your clothes.  Who cares?  It can be wiped off!

Roberta and Jerry were the local experts on Dutch oven cooking.  Time to check to see if the cornbread is done, Berdie and Jerry.  We don't want it to burn!

 Perfect cornbread, hot from the oven.

 It was a side dish for the chili made by Allen and Berdie.

The pineapple upside down cake was made in the Dutch oven while we were eating our dinner:

One meal that Jerry wanted to make was a shrimp boil.  This year he changed the recipe a bit.....

 Looked delicious!  Not suspicious!

Sandy ladled out the potatoes, kielbasa, onions, corn, onions and potatoes on to the table.  We all partook of the goodness.  Then everyone said their lips were burning!  Sandy discovered why:  Jerry had added 4 Tlbs. of cayenne pepper to the boil instead of a partial teaspoon!  It was zippy! If he makes it again next year, I bet Sandy will be checking the ingredients.  The meal was topped off with a delicious chocolate cake made by Gay to celebrate Rob's and Jerry's birthdays.

Even if it was chilly outside, we ate outside.  One afternoon the Illinois/California group made smoked pork loin, corn casserole and a huge pan of potatoes and veggies. 

 Gay, Rob, Norm and Allen talked while Sandy was scooping out the corn casserole.  Lots of comfort food and good old home cooking.

While many people think of camping food as mainly hot dogs and hamburgers, our menu isn't like that at all.  Gay and Erica both contributed homemade tamales for one meal,  Doris cooked steak one evening, and one night Don and I made a German themed meal: brats, wieners and homemade German potato salad.  So many times we hadn't finished one meal before someone was asking about the next!
Last, but not least are the two pics of the hash Roberta and Allen made one morning.

 Beef, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions topped with eggs.  Goodness in one pot!

Charming Catalina

It was time for our annual camping excursion to Catalina State Park.  Before I start posting photos of the different meals and people, I thought I'd start with some beautiful pics from our campground. I was glad I had my Nikon camera along when Doris and I walked the loops.

Sun splashed across the foothills, lighting up the ridge and a beautiful saguaro.

 As the evening approached, the front portion of the Catalinas were a lighter grey color.

And a short time later, this is the way they looked: not quite as foreboding as before, and now a beautiful reddish purple color. 

To the West, dark clouds hovered over the campground.

Now you can understand why return here every year.  The comradery of our camping group, large camping sites, the location of the park and beautiful weather (for the most part) make this our go to place in January.  The only downside to this is the fact that it has become TOO popular. We tried to reserve spots here next January and they were almost fully booked!  There were only a few sites scattered between Campground A and Campground B, which wouldn't work out for our large group.
After many hours of searching the Arizona state campground website, we finally found sites at River Island campground near Parker, Arizona.

Ecuador Trip, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

This summer we had decided to visit our granddaughter who is currently studying in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  We’d be going during her autumn break and planned accordingly.  We found out that we both needed Hepatitis A shots and Malaria pills, plus Travelan pills for prevention of diarrhea.    In addition, Don had to get a tetanus shot.  Heidi needed typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria and hepatitis shots!

We researched places to go, one of them being a side trip to one of the Galapagos Islands and another to the equator!   We bought a huge bottle of sunscreen since Quito sits at 9350 feet above sea level at the equator.  We bought rain jackets since it would be the start of the rainy season when we got there.  This would be our first trip to South America.  We were definitely looking forward to an exciting vacation.  We were PREPARED.  Or at least we thought so.

We got much more than we bargained for in the way of excitement.  As the old saying goes, “Man proposes, but God Disposes” (Proverbs 19:21 The Living Bible).  Yep, we had it all figured out.  God had other plans for us.

Our plans: Fly Denver to Miami and on to Quito on October 3^rd.

God’s plans:  Fly to Miami and find out our flight was cancelled.  There were riots in Quito.  Trucks and Taxis blocked the only road to the airport.  They were taking the tires off the taxis and burning them, and more protests were scheduled after the President decided to strip away a $1.3 billion dollar fuel subsidy.  Yowza!  That took us by surprise!  Even the ticketing agents at American Airlines had no idea of what was going on in Quito.

Heidi and Glen had gotten to Miami the night before, so they were able to get a picture of us disembarking the plane!  Remember the “olden” days (before security checks) when you could do that?!  Seems like eons ago.

Follow us on our journey to a third world country in the 8 different posts below.  God was definitely in the lead.

Miami Layover

  Our plans: Spend a few hours in the airport with enough time to walk around and get something to eat before boarding our flight.  

     God’s plan:  No flight to Quito late that night and re-booking our flights for Monday. 

     Okay, I could go with that.  The warm weather and a chance to swim in the ocean was certainly better than going back to Denver and dealing with cold and snow predicted for the next week .   We did get in exercise by biking, swimming and walking along the Miami beach boardwalk during the weekend.  Meanwhile, Hailey was asking “Can’t you come tonight?  Or tomorrow night?”  We were halfway there, but she would have to wait.  We were all praying that things would settle down by Monday.

Thursday evening pictures on South Beach.

     Friday:  Beach time.  The last time we were in Miami, Heidi was a junior in high school.  That was a few years ago......

      The guys sat under the shade while Heidi and I swam and floated in the Atlantic.  This was the best picture that Don got of us!  Can you tell I'm on the left and Heidi is behind me?  LOL!

My toes hadn't been in the warm sand for decades.  It was wonderful, except trying to get all the sand off between my toes as I put on my shoes and socks.  I had not brought along any sandals since I wouldn't need them in Quito. As it turned out, that would be the least of my worries.

As usual, I am trailed behind, trying to get some pictures.  I was happy that we got Glen and Don down to the beach even if they never stuck their toes in the water.