Time with Sara and Family

The day after we returned to Evans, we took Sara and her kids for a long weekend to Estes Park. We drove up thru the Big Thompson canyon – what beautiful scenery! We visited the historic Stanley Hotel, but couldn’t get on the tour (maybe next time). Jim, Sara and the kids went up to Rocky Mountain National park and saw a lot of elk (JoAnne was under the weather). The kids went miniature golfing for the first time. Leo’s idea of golfing was to pick the ball up and drop it in the hole. Cute!! On another day we took the tram up to the top of Prospect Mountain which has an amazing view of the town and the surrounding mountains. A couple of the evenings we had a fire and made S’mores and roasted marshmallows. We had a great time. We returned back to Greeley (and Sara to Evans) on Sunday.

In Greeley, Sara is studying Massage Therapy and is enjoying it very much. So, we went to the school and got a free massage from her. Boy, did that feel good!! She really has a talent for doing massages. The Thursday after we returned from Estes Park, Shannyn started kindergarten! It doesn’t seem possible that’s she’s old enough to start school already. The school is very nice and she is in a full day kindergarten program where they send the kids home with homework every night! In between Sara’s school, the kids activities, etc. Sara and I cleaned up her bedroom and painted it. It really turned out nicely and she was finally able to move in the new furniture she had purchased. She now has her own sanctuary. Sara is still involved with the Greeley orchestra and is enjoying that as well. We had a great visit with her and the kids for 2 weeks before we moved down to Denver.

Colorado Springs with our Granddaughter

The last day of July we picked up Shannyn in Evans and drove to Colorado Springs. This was her first trip with us without Mom. We stayed just south of the city near Fort Carson in a very nice campground. Our first excursion was to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It’s really a great zoo, built on the side of Cheyenne Mountain. Shannyn fed the giraffes, got to pet a wallaby, fed birdseed to a budgie, got to see mountain lions being fed, saw a brown bear fishing for trout, and all the other wonderful animals. We had a great day. Back at the campground she got to play on the playground equipment and also got to play horseshoes. On another day, JoAnne got to visit with one of her dear friends, Mary Margaret, while Jim and Shannyn bummed around Manitou Springs. The rest of our time was spent at the North Pole, where Shannyn and grandpa rode a lot of rides, the Cave of the Winds, which Shannyn thought was ‘amazing’, and the Seven Falls, where we saw the waterfalls and Shannyn got to dance with some Indian dancers. At the campground itself was the May Museum, a large collection of butterflies, beetles, and assorted other insects from all over the world. Shannyn liked all the pretty butterflies, but got pretty bored with the other insects. Still, it was quite an amazing collection. We returned to Evans after enjoying a week with just Shannyn.

Brush and Ft. Morgan and a Visit with Family

From La Veta we travelled to Brush, where Jim’s sisters and Mom live. On our way to Brush, we passed through Rocky Ford, Punkin Center, and Last Chance. I always wanted to visit Punkin Center – it’s just a cross road and Last Chance, for what I don’t know. It would be interesting to stop there one day to find out its history. We parked at Judy and Bob’s house (Jim’s sister and brother-in-law), where we enjoyed their gracious hospitality for about a week. We visited with them, Sue, Jim’s other sister, and his Mom. Then we moved down the road to the Ft. Morgan park, where we entertained our grandkids for 5 days while Sara was on a trip. It was a pretty park, with a playground, a pool, and some ducks and geese to entertain us all. We had fun but we forgot how much energy a 5 year old and a 2 year old have!! After returning the kids to Sara, we moved back to Judy and Bob’s for a few more days of visiting.

On to La Veta, CO to Visit Friends

After leaving Silver City, we made our way to Colorado going thru Taos and over La Veta Pass. It was a great drive and the coach handled the climbs beautifully. We found our way to our friends’, Sandy and Mary, beautiful home outside La Veta. The back of their home faces West Spanish Peak and the front looks over the valley towards the Sangre de Cristo mountains. It is so peaceful there. One of the highlights of our visit was watching the hummingbirds on their back patio. They have several bird feeders on the patio tables and if you hold very still, the hummingbirds will actually light on your fingers at the feeders!! We had a great visit with Sandy and Mary, and their son Turk, soaking up all the wonderful scenery and ambience of the town. Turk gave us some elk that he had shot last season – boy is it tasty!! During our trip to La Veta, our son Jim called to tell us he was getting married in October. We knew he was going to propose to his girl, but didn’t know when the wedding was going to be. Needless to say this news changed some of our summer plans.

On the Road in the New Motorhome – Silver City, NM

Mid-July found us starting on the road on our way north. Our first stop was at Silver City, a charming town in the southwest mountains of New Mexico. We arrived there in a rainstorm and found our way to the campground. We had planned to stay only a few days, but the campground and surrounding area were so nice, we ended up staying almost a week. There were many sights to see, among them the Santa Rita open pit copper mine, a scenic drive over Emory Pass, and the Gila Cliff Dwellings. The open-pit mine was really amazing to see, with it spanning a mile across and 2000 feet deep. Emory Pass was quite a drive, with all the curves, climbs and narrow roads. We were told that it was not a road for motorhomes, so we took the car to see if that was true – it was!! And, once again (as we did in Europe), we proved that anything worth seeing is at the top of a hill. The Gila cliff dwellings are amazing!! After climbing up a path almost to the top of a mesa, there are several rooms in the dwellings that you can actually climb up into and listen to the Forest Rangers explain what they know and have found in these dwellings. It was a trip well worth our time. Our stay here was very relaxing, just what we needed to start our travels.