Another Great Day...

After a leisure time this morning, Mark and I decided to head into The Springs for a couple of errands and a few photo opportunities.

My telephone hasn't been staying charged to well lately, so, we made a stop by the Verizon store.  I looked into upgrading, but the phone I wanted wasn't available, so I settled for a new battery.  Maybe somewhere down the road I will take care of that upgrade, but for now, I think I am fixed up.

Then, while we were in the area, we drove up to the

 

Broadmoor Hotel.  It is still a very exclusive area of town and the hotel and

grounds were beautiful.

Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Awards (formerly Mobil Five-Star Award by Mobil Travel Guide) announced its list of Five-Star winners for 2010 and honored The Broadmoor for a record 50^th consecutive year. The Broadmoor is the only property ever to achieve this status.

We made our way through the neighborhood to see

 

this home.  In the yard we found these

huge sculptures.

The artist, Starr Kempf, began to work in bronze sculpture in 1955, which he sold to collectors around the United States. As of 1977, his vision had blossomed into the creation of elaborate steel wind sculptures, each of which took him up to three years to construct. His kinetic wind sculptures were designed to exhibit graceful movement and interaction with the wind, and took the form of birds

and wind vanes, often soaring to more than fifty feet in height.

A pretty amazing site!

Next, we made our way down to

 

the Garden of the Gods Park.  We have been here many times, but, it still remains a favorite spot.  Today, we just took a drive through the park to

get a couple of

rock pictures, and especially

The Balanced Rock.

Time to head to Old Colorado City, where we had plans to meet

Jim, Ellie, Ed, Marilyn, Ginger, and Jesse for lunch.  Great lunch, great folks, and we are so glad that our paths have crossed yet again and we could get together for a long needed visit.

Even after a couple of hours here at Amanda's Fonda Restaurant, the visiting

continued in the parking lot.  You just can't shut those guys up, and they talk about us girls talking all the time!

After hugs and "see you laters", Jim and Ellie loaded up with us and we headed out to take in a few more sites.

Our first stop was the

International Fallen Firefighters Memorial Park.

I loved the

sculptures that

were all around

the park.  But, all the

names on the walls around the park were far too many...these are just the names from 9/11.

After, our time here, we traveled on to the

US Olympic Training Center.  Again, lots of beautiful

sculptures to

see.

Just outside the

Visitor's Center is the clock counting down time until the

next Olympics.  Inside the center, we saw

torches and

gold medals.

We walked through the

Hall of Fame, (Andrew, this is for you).

A trip through the gift shop and then it was time for us to be on our way.

We made one last stop at Sportsman Warehouse where we purchased a burner for our large stock pot.  The afternoon was then well on it's way to becoming early evening as we dropped Jim and Ellie off at their car.

We have spent a great few days with them, but, now it is time for them to finalize the last of the plans for their daughter's wedding on Saturday.  We want to wish Robin and Paul many many years of happiness as they join their hearts and their families together on Saturday evening.  Jim and Ellie, catch your breath and enjoy the moment!

Mark and I then headed up the mountain and into the rain which has lingered on into the night hours.

Gosh, what can I say except we were so  blessed with another great day!

Rejoice And Be Glad...

One of my favorite songs is, This Is The Day The Lord Has Made.  And, it continues... let us rejoice and be glad in it!

We woke to a beautiful morning with a thermometer reading of 47 degrees with a forecasted high in the mid 70's, and we had a great plan for the day.

  By 9:30, Jim and Ellie had arrived here in Woodland Park and the four of us loaded in the Jeep.  We headed out towards the little town of

Cripple Creek.  We drove

through the town and took a left at the end of town and headed on to the

Back Country Roads.

The morning was so great, that soon, we decided to stop and

take the front roof covers off...

much better.

We saw

beautiful flowers,

little critters, and

old mines.

We continued our drive on

Shelf Road where we found

little waterfalls,

curves in the two-way one lane road,

houses built high above the road, and

breathtaking mountains.

When the four of us had taken as

many pictures as we could, we decided to head back to Cripple Creek for lunch and to play a few pennies in the local casino.

With mid-afternoon approaching, we needed to head back to Woodland Park, but not before spotting the

the road up Pike's Peak. 

On the way back into town, Ellie had Mark take another little side trip down this

back road to a

little cabin in the woods complete with

outhouse out back.  This little cabin is one that has been in her family since the early 1940's and is where she spent lots of summers with her grandmother.

Thanks Ellie for sharing your childhood memories with us.

We arrived back at the RV Park.  Soon, it was time for hugs as Jim and Ellie needed to get back to The Springs to see about the fur kids.  What a great day with great friends.

  This day was

beautifully created and we did rejoice in it!

Moving On...

After a great evening with Jim and Ellie, plus getting a good night's sleep, we were up this morning and ready to move on.  However, before we could leave, Mark and Jim needed to make a trip to Camping World.  Never turn two guys loose in Camping World...

When they returned, it was time for us to pack up and truly say, "see you guys tomorrow"...more about that later!

Our travel today would only take us about 30 miles

up hills and

around rocks to the town

Woodland Park.  Once we made our way through town and a turn on Hwy 67, we found ourselves arriving at Diamond Campground and RV Park.  This is the park were Jack and Danielle Mayer work for the summer season.  They are also one of our neighbors from Retama.

We were excited to see them, and I laughed and told them they didn't have to go overboard with the

welcome!   LOL

Once we were settled into our beautiful site, it was time to take care of a few necessities...such as

lunch (Mark's choice),

washing the Jeep, and

restocking the pantry and fridge!

Then, it was back to the RV Park where we spent a nice quite afternoon.  Mark found the lawn chair very comfy, while Danielle and I took a nice walk around the park.  By the time we made it back, Jack had wandered over and found the other lawn chair, and he and Mark were in deep conversation.  Danielle and I joined them until time to call it a night.

Tomorrow, Jim and Ellie are coming to Woodland Park and the four of us are taking off for the back roads and who knows where they might lead.

Jello Plans...

This morning we took our time in getting up and out of Amarillo.  Our jello plan was to travel only to Raton, NM.  But, as we traveled in that direction, we realized that with the time change, we would arrive shortly after noon and that was sort of a waste of good travel time.  So, after little discussion, we decided on the perfect plan.

I made a call to the Colorado Springs KOA and found that they had availability for tonight. Then I sent a text message to Jim and Ellie, knowing that they were staying there, and ask if they would recommend the KOA as a place to stay.  They were excited to find out that we were coming, even it was just for overnight.

We arrived around 3:00pm and were parked just a couple of sites away.  Of course, we quickly set up and were off to get the visiting started. And, the talking, laughing, and visiting lasted the rest of the afternoon, on through dinner, a drive around town, and into the evening.

It has been way too long since we have been together and we enjoyed the day so much.  And, even though we will leave tomorrow to go on to Woodland Park, which is about 30 miles up the road, we have made plans to get together and share in a few adventures over the next couple of days.

So, once again, those plans that were only jello this morning, ended up setting up quite well.

Today

Being at home in Texas all summer has been hot and hotter but, fun.  We have had lots of good visits with family, the arrival of a new granddaughter, and, of course, the summer motor home trips with the grandkids.

This last week has been especially busy.  A few last minute appointments for both Mark and I.  And, then there was lots of babysitting, while Karen was at school preparing her classroom for the fast approaching school year.  I also painted a

wall hanging for Kinley's room that Karen and I have been talking about all summer.  But, I work better under pressure, so there was no real hurry to start it before last week...LOL

And, then, before we could turn around, last week was gone, and, it was Today... the day we have looked forward to since this time last year... our journey toward the 2011 Escapades Rally in Gillette, Wyoming.

Our day started at 5:30am with a trip to the hospital, where Scott, our oldest son, was having a scheduled shoulder surgery.  It took the doctors a little over 2 hours to repair and clean up lots of damage in his right shoulder.  They had to place 2 anchors in his bicep muscle, 2 more anchors went into his rotator cuff, and several bone spurs were removed.  The surgery went well, but, his recovery will be slow and painful.  His arm has been completely immobilized for 3 weeks followed by another 3 weeks of movement only by the physical therapist.  He is home and Jennifer is keeping the pain meds flowing.  With them settled in...

We were back to the house and ready to finish the last minute "make ready to travel" list.

While Mark was making sure all the

new tow equipment was working properly, I made sure all was ready inside.

Then came the hardest part of leaving for me, the hugs and kisses from all those little folks.

Miss

Kourtney and

Mr.

Caden start pre-school next week.  Wow, not sure where the last four years have gone.  Hope you two have a great first year of school.

Miss

Kinley is 3 months old today and is growing like a weed.  I can't imagine how much she will change by the time we get back to Texas in October.

Then,

Zachary, Lauren, and Andrew start back to school in another week and will be in the 5th, 6th, and 8th grades.  Can't believe they are growing up so fast.

Well, with all the hugs and phone calls made, it was time to head out.  Our travels today took us north out of Fort Worth to 287 and on to Amarillo where we have stopped for the night.

  Other than a few rest stops and a giant

West Texas Red Dirt Devil, our travels today were uneventful.  We are blessed and thankful for today and looking forward to a great new adventure.