Great Blue Herons enjoying early sunshine on the rock wall.And gave us a view of their magnificent wing span.Our guest room had some activity with friends from Santa Fe!J & J came back for 2 weeks of R & R – we would not let them work this year!Supporting the arch in the Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado’s largest wilderness! For more of J & J’s adventuresWe gathered with fellow Chimney Rock Volunteers at the Springs Resort.Family comes from Florida to visit!We hiked at a 2 year old pace – but got to look at lots of leaves, flowers, sticks and bugs!Precious!Got everyone out kayaking.And all appreciated the water!Another excuse for a dinner party!Largest yet with 14 of us gathered!
A special three dimensional card made by my friend Wendy in Spain – can’t believe it has been 10 years since we met them and been together. Very nice we still communicate! This card is more beautiful in person with the amethysts and pearls. I am loving the squirrels.Happy hour party with our friends! We met all 4 years ago: fun to get everyone together.Burgers and beer on Zinburger’s patio in front of the fireplace.And of course some wine…a Mischief Red. Appropriate!M & R surprised me with a gorgeous and yummy cake. We divided into 8 pieces and devoured the entire delight!J & J brought some gifts for the aging – a diaper, um, swim suit bag – and assistance for those difficult jars.The next night, we indulged with a nice quiet meal out. And more wine.And more desert!And the next night, we celebrated with champagne, flan, and strawberries…with some more cards and gifts….…and friends bearing consumable gifts. Good we will be able to keep the party going for a while!
Our friends from Littleton joined us for some cycling.We rode the gondola to the top of Keystone and reminisced about our times skiing there.It looks like we are ready for some Spring skiing! Beautiful view of Lake Dillon.It is Happy Hour and what a life!This was our view as the Local Folks played for us.A few days later we went on a Geology Car Tour of the region by Friends of Dillon Ranger District and learned about how this region of the Rocky Mountains was under the inland ocean and then uplifted.Our next visitors were my parents – we had a picnic lunch by the lake and then later a poolside BBQ.The next morning we walked the Dillon Natural Area which is a nice graded dirt road with no bikes. and enormous views. Flax in bloom.Nice reflections!These Wild Animals are thinking about our Benjamin and wishing him a Get Well Soon with Lots of Love, Hugs and Smiles!
My “rich” uncle rented a three bedroom home and this was our family meet-up.It was on this nice little lake, complete with blue herons, night herons, swans, Canada geese, bunnies, quails……and sunsets!My parents were also there and we posed them for anniversary photos next to this Joshua tree on the other side of the lake.Hers and His – retirement life on the golf course.My aunt, Mom, Betty Homemaker and me in the 1960 Sun City Museum Model Home kitchen. Mom still has the Pyrex bowls and her canisters are stainless rather than pink. It was fun to tour and watch the original promotional video.We made it to White Tank Mountain Park to hike a bit of the Mesquite Canyon Trail.The wildflowers were looking quite spectacular.Our hiking companions – this was a more challenging trail than last years waterfall trail. http://tealsky.com/2016/01/09/white-tank-mts-phoenix-area/The size of the California poppies were amazing. Lupins also in bloom.My “rich” Dad treated us to their celebration dinner at Arrowhead Grille – half of us had fish and half had steaks – YUM!And this incredible desert with 6 spoons.We played 9 holes of golf – MINI, that is.But oh! The concentration. Do you win with the high score? HaA full moon in the morning – we were all up to watch it set. Very picturesque.
We stayed at my uncle’s who has a condo on a lake. We made cherry pies over the fire while watching the sunset.And what a great sunset! This was actually from their balcony after we went inside.My aunt: Let me brace myself as there is a lot of wave action on this pontoon boat!But she got the shot! Our “snow bird” friends we met in Tucson came over for a ride on the lake and lunch. Good fun!We went on a bike ride to Stillwater, the birthplace of Minneapolis. It was a bit humid but I guess it is true, we don’t melt, even though it feels like it!We went to St Anthony Falls which is a national park site in Minneapolis.They no longer use the locks but this is one of the largest drops of water in the Mississippi.This is an old stone bridge and there is a park there as well telling about the history of the flour mills.We went down the river a bit to Lock Number 5 and enjoyed exploring that area as well.
We stopped in Washburn and met up with a friend of a friend who grew up there – she had some great history to share with us, especially about the brownstones. We visited the National park headquarters in Bayfield before working our way to Cornucopia.We really enjoyed their harbor – it was a nice park area with an artesian well.Meyers Beach hike in the National Lake Shore had some outstanding vistas.Fun to see the kayakers going into some of the caves.They gave us a sense of scale.And we could see where to look for the sea caves and arches.The scenery was spectacular. It was an overcast day so not great distance views.But enough visibility!They said they were trying to set a record for number of hammocks above each other.Looking back on our lunch rock – it was a very nice place to hang out!We hung around for Corny Day – a nice group of people set up for the flea market and an equal number came to check out the wares.But it was really for the food that we came.We waited almost an hour for the fresh fish but it was worth it! They keep serving until they run out (which is before people get tired of eating it, we are told).Makes your mouth water, doesn’t it!
Visitng family and friends – and a class reunion. It is very hot!The architectsThe new Frederick Meyer Japanese gardens with fun sculpturesBeautiful reflections…Not a selfie!How far did we walk to see this Caulder sculpture? How many times has Mom done the walk? Ha! At least we got to relax for a nice water front lunch. Also we toured the recently renovated Gerald Ford Museum…did not see any mention of Vail.Some 1950 Fords – what fun colors!More fun reflections…Cherries and blueberries and sweet corn. Yum! We are eating well 😉High School friend took us around Crystal lake – fun to relax there and hang out!A wonderful 101 year old friend of the family and his daughter – how fun it was to visit and give a hug.
June 1 we flew to San Antonio, Texas. We were chauffeured by Rick, cousin of Barry Gorden (Motown Music Founder), to KerRVille where our van was waiting. We learned so much about how to operate it from Keith, for which we are very grateful. We also appreciate the small town service of Otis, Todd, Shannon and Keri. Thank you so much!We bought a Winnebago Travato 59K which is a converted RAM 3500 high top extended cargo van. This is the layout of the 21′ length – everything we need!We did not linger in Kerrville because of the intense rains forecast. We drove to Fredericksburg in the rain and spent the night there. We had a pleasant evening but it did rain all night – so we know our van is waterproof!Our first National Park with the Travato is LBJ childhood home. The Texas White house is closed due to flooding but we enjoyed our time here very much. Good movies on both LBJ and Lady Bird – seemed like a good start as they did much to preserve some of the beauty of our country.We took a ranger led tour and sat on the front porch.
We left early and drove to Ft Stockton to skirt all of the storms. We were successful!Our first purchase was this fresh water hose. Newbies trying to figure this out. We love that the Travato is fully self contained and that the solar panels recharge the “house” battery.The little kitchenette, 2 coach seats swivel with airline type trays, overhead cabinets have lots of storage, 2 twin beds that can push together and also tilt for reading/TV viewing. Sliding screen door and lots of windows – good cross breezes.After a visit to Ft Davis Historic Site, and the local library, we headed up into the hills and found this The Nature Conservancy Trail and picnic area.Seemed like a good spot for wine o’clock and then to spend the night.Guadalupe National Park with Chollas blooming.Our camp site for 2 nights. Interior of van is 6′-3″ so Henry does not hit his head.An automatic awning over the picnic table. Wine O’clock in style!We got up early and hiked Guadalupe Peak. A 3,000′ elevation gain!This formation of El Capitan from the top reminded us of Michigan lower peninsula.What lies ahead? We wander into New Mexico.The Mexican Trestle Bridge hike in Cloudcroft where we spent a night.We went to the space museum in Alamogordo. This was the moon model behind Walter Cronkite when he gave all those updates on the astronauts. Pretty interesting that it is preserved here.Capitan is home of Smokey the Bear and they have a museum to him.
