A day on the "Front Range"

Well, we are on the front range as the locals call it and off the mountain on the flatland just east of the Rocky mountains. We are near Littleton, Colorado just southwest of Denver in a state park called Chatfield State Park. Very nice park with great facilities including electric, water and sewer at each campsite! They also have a laundry facility and pay showers. All this for $20 per night.

There is a huge reservior here that was developed by the Army Corp of Engineers to control the Platte River during the spring runoff season. In recent history and as late as the 1970's this river has caused major flooding in Denver that caused millions in damage and claimed 13 lives in the last episode.

We received news today from our builder up north in Michigan. First he told us they got 16 inches of snow in Suttons Bay yesterday. Next he told us that we finally have an address at our property. They have begun the permit pulling process and now we have an address. It will  be:
6607 S. Wheeler Road, Maple City, MI, 49664

Sound exciting? I can't wait to meet with them on April 11 to stake the homesite and mark where the driveway will be so the excavator can start to clear trees and grade the building site and dig the basement. We will finally be underway!!

Here are a few pictures from todays activities:

This is the "front range", the eastern edge of the Rockies.

Another view while on our bike ride this morning. Temps in the low forties this morning. It is spring here in the flatlands as opposed to the end of winter up at Vail on the mountain. That is the beginning of Chatfield Lake in the picture.

A fly fisherman on the Platte River. This river fills Chatfield Lake behind the dam.

I always get a kick out of the cheesy backdropos that photographers use in their portrait studios. But this stuff is real!!

The state park built this replica sod top cabin in the park along the bike trail. Very authentic!

Double click on the picture and look closely, those are cactus plants growing on the roof!

Magpies (or Mockingbirds), I always enjoy seeing these in the west.

Here is Camp Chatfield. Peace and love to all!

Winter Wonderland!!

We had what they call snow showers last night and woke to eight inches of new snow. I'd hate to see what happens when they call for an actual snowstorm!

We have been hiking and doing some exploring around town and the area. Yesterday we took Mike down to the airport in Denver and he had much better luck getting home than Becky did on Saturday. Becky's flight was delayed, then transferred to a smaller plane. Naturally everyone wouldn't fit so twenty five passengers were left behind to make other arrangements. Becky was told she wouldn't be able to get a new flight back to Detroit until Tuesday. After being given vouchers and being put up in a hotel for the night they were able to get her onto a flight into Chicago on Sunday. Once in Chicago she had to get a cab to take her from Midway airport to O'hare to catch her connector to Detroit! Doesn't this sound like a fun way to spend your Sunday? She finally made it into Detroit and home by Sunday evening.

Today Elizabeth left Vail and is on her way to Denver to catch her flight back to San Francisco. Go Elizabeth!

Here are some pictures from the last two days.

This was Monday afternoon. We took a hike up the Booth Falls Trail about a mile west of David's condo. We hiked about a mile up the mountain and gained a lot of altitude. Temps in the forties and sunny! 

Further up the trail. I volunteered to go slow and take pictures. (At least that was my excuse not to have to keep up).

At the bottom of the mountain they had this soccer feild and we tried to figure out how they kept it green and snowfree through the winter?

This is a picture from our walk today. This is after snow showers came last night.

We couldn't walk trails today because of the new snow so we walked through the neighborhoods. Look at all the snow here!

It looks nice, but it sure isn't Florida!

Sunday in the snow but Warm Enough!

We had a fun day in Vail today. Mike and David went up on the slopes this morning to ski and snowboard and Nancy and I went hiking along Gore Creek and into the mountains for a couple of miles. The weather was beautiful considering there is still about two feet of snow everywhere. We hiked a trail that went up quite a ways and as long as you stayed on the packed snow everything was fine. If you stepped to the side of the trail you would sink to your knees!

Lots of people in town for the skiing and winter festivities.

Here are a few pictures:

Hiking on the Gore Creek Trail at East Vail

We were on the mountainside for about an hour and a half and gained about a thousand feet of altitude on this hike.

Gore Creek flowing under the snow banks.

A view across Vail Valley (during our hike), at the mountains east of the Vail ski slopes.

Back in town, the ice rink at Lionshead Village.

The slope near the bottom of the gondola. Quite busy with skiers! 

A view of the Vail slopes stretching across the mountainside.

We Made it to Vail!

After a week of driving and camping we are in Vail with David. We had quite an intense journey to get here, but made it without incident and saw a lot of country along the way. We crossed a small corner of Texas and realized what a huge state it really is. This could be a country unto itself! We saw small towns in the middle of nowhere that had nothing around them for miles and miles. We went around the Dallas/Fort Worth area and it almost seemed as busy as Atlanta. We saw Pikes Peak this morning and then drove up US 70 to get to Vail. Two days ago we had 97 degrees near Amarillo, Texas, yesterday it didn't get above 55. Today we are in Vail Pass and there is snow everywhere! Temperatures are moderating here and they are calling for 60 degree afternoons.

I am attaching a couple of pictures from our trip this past week.

Crossing the Mississippi delta on a bridge that spanned this bayou area for at least fifteen miles.

Canyon Top campground near Amarillo Texas. This area also had miles and miles of cotton fields.

A butte along the highway in Oklahoma.

Well over a hundred turbines in this wind farm. (Southern Colorado). I'll bet these are pretty safe in the event of an earthquake! Maybe the propellers would fall off?

Close to Dallas, Texas!!

Today we find ourselves about an hour east of Dallas Texas. We are en-route to Colorado to see David and Becky and Mike and Elizabeth who are going out there for a few days. We decided to change our plans for the East Coast and instead are heading up to Denver and then to Vail to see the kids. We have been on the road since Monday and traveled the Florida panhandle, then across Mobile Bay and on past New Orleans. We drove by Baton Rouge, Louisianna then Lafayette, and then north. Today we drove past Shreveport and into Texas. This has been quite a journey and the country side has been ever changing. First we were in the pine lands in Florida's panhandle, then near the Gulf in Mobile Bay, then across the Mississippi delta country where the freeway was a bridge that went for twenty miles across the bayous. Today we started gaining elevation through what looked like pine covered foothills in northern Louisianna. Turning to Texas the forests turned to lower brush and then farmland. The weather was in the mid-seventies with no rain. We hope that the days stay mild. Vail is forecasting snow, but hopefully will start warming up soon.

Our adventure has changed course but continues to be wonderful and we are enjoying seeing the country.

Hope all is well with everyone.

On the Road Again!

We left Leesburg today at about one o'clock in the afternoon after stopping at AAA for maps and picking up the camper. We drove for about five hours and took a chance on Florida Caverns State Park. Wouldn't you know it, spring break and even this park is full!!

We are finding that spring break is not only all those crazy college students partying their brains out at Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale but also all the families whose kids all of a sudden get a week off from school and the family decides to take a camping trip to Florida! Parks fill up even off the coasts! We are on US 10 and quite a ways north of the gulf, but still the parks are at capacity. We wound up at a private campground called Arrowhead Campsites for the night. The weather was beautiful today and we hope it stays that way for a while.

No pictures today because we were on the road so much. Peace and love to all of you.

Reminicing on the Day

We did some shopping in Clermont this morning then came home and relaxed at the pool. It got up to about 75 today with a clear blue sky. A perfect day at the pool. Here was the view from my station....

Can someone pass the salsa?