Fun Weekend

Friday morning Heinz arrived and set up.  Angela came up after school and we all went out to dinner back down to Three Barrel Brewery in Del Norte. 

This is their one small wood oven	I like their logo	Beer pulls with all their ornate painted toppers
The Berganns “Bernie the Axel” pizza	My veggie calzone	Jim’s pepperoni pizza

 

When we returned to the campground we built a nice toasty campfire.

 

 

Saturday we drove over  Wolf Creek Pass to Pagosa Springs.  In the 33 years I’ve been in this area I’ve never walked the downtown area.  We just drive through or stop for lunch but never looked at any of the stores.  So that is what we did Saturday.  There are quite a few antique stores, not many tourist type places and a couple of nice clothing stores, like Goodman’s that has been there since 1900 and is still run by the same family today. 

We circled back around and walked the river front stopping for a picturesque shot.

Here’s a shot of the Animas River going through town with The Springs Hotel at the end with hot spring pools along the side.  Very pretty.

 

We walked to Tequila’s Restaurant and had lunch.  Look at the pretty booths they have.

 

 

Later in the day (after naps) Jim grilled trout Landi and Richard had given us before they left for Texas and a couple of steaks for the guys.

 

The Berganns left Sunday morning shortly after Salai arrived to spend the day with me.  She hadn’t made it out to the mountains all summer and this was her last chance; so glad that she did.  Look at the beautiful finger-tip clothes she wove on her loom.  Stunning…

I sent Jim off to fish so Salai and I could spend time going through my “stash” of yarn and sort out what to keep and what to give away to the charity knitters in Alamosa.  We sorted all the yarn into projects, selecting appropriate patterns for each and put them in plastic project bags and stored them under the bed.  Now all the yarn I have has a purpose and I can work on one after the other.  Yes, my goal is to use up all the yarn I have before buying any more…..we’ll see how that works out….no guarantees…..

Salai and I went for a late lunch/early dinner back to Three Barrel Brewery since she hadn’t been there before.  No pictures this time.

I’ll leave you with one final photo that I thought came out really well.  I have a flexible tripod that you can even wrap around a pole or in this case around a branch in the tree and Jim set the timer and got this photo. Came out pretty good I thought.

Remember, you are loved.

Almost Messed-Up

It had been eight days since we last dumped, so yesterday we buttoned up the rig to prepare to drive down to Rich and Terri’s campground and dump.

I have a mental six point checklist I go through inside to make the RV ready to move.

1. Close the bedroom closet and put the pin in the track so the doors don’t slide open.
2. Make sure the batwing is in the down and closed position.
3. Lock down the sliding door between the bedroom and the living area.
4. Put bungee cords around the cabinet knobs and pull up the railings in the refrigerator so things don’t spill out.
5. Put the pin in front of the moveable pantry track.
6. Tie down the TV.

Well I got through step four and then got interrupted or something and I never completed steps five and six.

I pulled in the slides, we hitched up and off we went to dump.  It’s an eight mile drive to the South Fork Campground and eight miles back.  The road into Highway Springs Campground, where we are staying, has been eroded a lot by the summer rains and it is bumpy and steep.

Imagine my surprise when I went inside to open the slides and I see the pantry door open and the rack full of food completely extended out into the living area .  I immediately knew what I had done.  My mouth flew open and I looked up at the TV and….and….and there it stood proud and sure…completely safe sitting upright.  Nothing had happened to it.  Can I hear “minor miracle”? 

Yes, I fessed up to Jim and being the darling that he is, he just smiled and said “I’ll be darn”.  All’s well that ends well.

Remember, you are loved.

Ribs for Nathaniel

Jim and I just love our friends’ son, Nathaniel.  He is such a “nice young man” as us older folk would say.  He is polite and respectful besides being a ranked tennis player, accomplished pianist and he is smart with a brilliant mind….he’s the total package….oh, and did I mention he is cute as the dickens. 

Well, Nathaniel just loves the way Jim fixes barbecue ribs…I mean he just loves them.  And he can almost eat his weight in the things.  He pretty much can eat 3/4 to a whole rack of ribs himself.

So when we planned on having them over for ribs yesterday, but then we had to scour around to FIND them.  So Tuesday after having lunch with Lesa and Terry we set out.  We already knew the local grocer didn’t have any, so we drove to Del Norte and tried Jack’s Grocery….NO.  On to Monte Vista and we stopped at Summit Grocery….again NO.  OK we have one last stop in town and if not, we are going to go all the way to Alamosa (54 miles from South Fork) if we have to!!!  I was determined!  Alas, Safeway in Monte Vista had pork loin ribs (meaty baby back ribs).

Jim did a bang up job cooking the ribs, as always.  They were moist and tender with a good bite to them.

Landi brought over some fresh green beans, salad, potato casserole, peaches and ice cream.  What a feast!

I tried to take a picture using my timer, but didn’t get my head in far enough, so you see more of the “girls” than me, but ya’ll know what I look like, right?

So I just took a photo of the others….better.

Sitting under the sun really got to me and I had to excuse myself and go lay down…..otherwise it was a wonderful lunch together. We look forward to seeing them again before they leave.

Remember, you are loved.

Camping Friends

We’ve had a bit of a reunion with a couple of families that use to camp with us when we were camphosting up here in South Fork.

Landi, Richard and son Nathaniel have become real good friends of ours through the years.  We’ve visited them in their house in Texas as we’ve driven through, so it was nice to hear from them on Friday that they were coming into town.  On Tuesday, while Jim joined the men fishing at Big Meadows, Landi and I went to breakfast at Old Firehouse.

We shared an omelet with cheese, tomato, onions and avocado.  Then we had them cut one of their homemade cinnamon rolls and grill it on the flattop…oh, my, bliss!!!

 

When we finished I went over to Rich and Terri’s campground and did five loads of laundry.  After two weeks I was down to one set of clothes left to wear, so it was time.  After two hours it was all done for another two weeks. 

But then I started to feel ill…..cold sweats, nausea, dizzy….and then the trots began.  So I hightailed it home and put myself to bed.  Stayed there all day reading magazines I borrowed from Terri’s (I love All You magazine but don’t get to read it much on the road), oh, yes, and visiting the toilet.  Thankfully it was only a one day deal and I was fine the next day. Neither Landi nor Jim got sick so I don’t where I picked up that bug.

Lesa and Terry are from Texas and come up here every year on vacation.  Terry likes to fish in Big Meadows but like the trees and solitude of Park Creek Campground. We’ve stayed in touch with each other through emails and Facebook. Lesa had messaged me that they were coming up Saturday, so we stopped and saw them at Park Creek Sunday and made arrangements to have lunch together Wednesday.

Since the Old Firehouse just opened up here in June we took them there.  They liked it a lot.

The men had the burgers with onion rings. Good burgers.

I had their chicken salad with cranberries, celery and walnuts on greens.

Lesa also had the burger (but had it wrapped in lettuce leaves forgoing the bun) and fresh chips

The meal was very good but the company and conversation even better.  We’ll see them again before they leave this weekend.

This afternoon we are having Landi, Richard and Nathaniel over for a rib dinner.  Nathaniel really, really likes the way Jim makes his ribs, so every time they are here we like to fix ribs for him.  I’ll show you pictures tomorrow.  Oh, and I made Honey Cinnamon Bars for dessert….doesn’t that make your mouth water?  ha-ha

Remember, you are loved.
Read the story behind this saying HERE

Jim’s Buddies

Tuesday’s cataract surgery went well and by late Wednesday I was seeing perfectly out of my right eye.  In fact, I think I can see better out of my right eye than my 20/25 left eye.  Yes, I did have the Toric lens put in the right eye.

So now it is just a matter of having my six pairs of +3.00 reading glasses spread around the RV and vehicles so they are always available to me…..cause now I can’t read SH*T without them.  No manner of squinting will bring that jumble of letters into focus now.  But I can see those far away mountains as clear as can be now!!!

With the surgery behind us Thursday we moved back up to South Fork, Colorado, and were able to get into our favorite site at Highway Spring National Forest Campground.  Jim wasted no time in bringing out the peanuts to give to the chipmunks.

Russ, the camphost, came over and showed us a variety of a ?? powder puff ?? mushroom….I think that is the name.  It sure was huge…a cross between a large cauliflower and a soccer ball.

Russ said this is an edible mushroom and offered us a part of it.  No, no not for me.  Now I like mushrooms and, in fact, eat mushrooms every day, but not those wild mushrooms.  About seven years ago I ate a chanterelle mushroom I gathered with knowledgeable folks and got as sick as a dog, so no more wild mushrooms for me.

We’ll stay here for a couple of weeks and then move over to South Fork Campground for the Labor Day holiday.  Our buddies The Abeytas and The Berganns will join us there so it should be a fun, fun weekend!!!

Remember, you are loved.

Surgery went well

My second cataract surgery went well and I was out of the hospital within two hours.  I rested and slept most of the day….thank you Angela for bringing over dinner.

I can’t pick up anything over 8 pounds and little bending over and picking anything off the floor.  They told me I could drive starting today…… but……..

I figured I needed readers at 2.75 to 3.00 power to read my Kindle or use the computer.  Without those “cheaters” I can’t read anything anymore.  Hope I don’t cut my fingers off making potato salad today.

More later…..

Remember, you are loved.

Fun-filled Day

I had a great day yesterday with lots of activities producing a soul-satisfying feeling.

First up was meeting Salai at The Roast, a new coffee shop in Alamosa.  It is located behind the San Luis Valley Brewery (same owners).  The Roast is so named as they are roasting their own coffee beans which they sell locally. 

 

 

It has a very nice exterior with seating outside

 

 

Inside it has a very “up town” look…you’d think you were in Denver or LA.

Roaster in the back with bags of beans	Ordering counter
Food counter	Main part of the restaurant

The Roast has become very popular and for good reason.  They have nice breakfast and lunch selections and the coffee is very good.

I met Salai there and we exchanged info on our latest knitting projects.  Here is the Wingspan Shawl pattern she is working on.  The love the colors in this hand-dyed yarn by a local artisan.  The colors change every two feet so there is a lot of movement in the piece and is so pleasing to the eye.

After talking for an hour or so we went over to the local farmer’s market to get veggies.  They have such a great selection of organic produce from this area. 

 

 

I especially like the White Mountain Farms from Mosca, just a few miles up the road from Alamosa. Look at all the varieties of beans they had!

 

 

Then there was all the other veggies they provided.  The prices are good too, especially being all organic.  I paid $2.50 for three large yellow beets and $1 for a bunch of red lettuce.

	Another booth had herbs and plants for sale

Next I went for a ride with Jim and Poncho in Jim’s 1964 El Camino that he took out and washed.  He has entered it in the Early Iron Festival taking place on Labor Day weekend here in Alamosa.  Jim wanted to ride it around since it has been in storage for a while.

Take a look at that face….he’s happy!!!

We drove around town getting a lot of “thumbs up” and ended up at Heinz and Angela’s house as they had never seen this truck before.  We invited them over for happy hour where we sat out behind the RV in the shade to take advantage of the cool afternoon breeze.  We were so happy for Jim’s brother, Ron, to join us and contribute to the conversations.  It was a good time all together!

That was my day…fun and friend-filled.  Very enjoyable!

Remember, you are loved.

Dinner with the Friends

We continue to have beautiful weather here in Alamosa, Colorado. Days are in low 80s and nights in the 50s which makes for wonderful sleeping.

We didn’t do much yesterday, Jim going for coffee with his brother, Don, and me knitting on my shawl.

We hadn’t seen Nina and Greg for a while so I messaged Nina and we arranged to meet for dinner at the Grille at the Cattails, out at the golf course.

 They have recently put out a new menu and we wanted to try it out. We all agreed this menu was an improvement.

My Blue Burger with straw onions and blue cheese dressing

Nina’s veggie wrap with avocado and all the veggies

The guys both ordered the burger smothered in green chili

After dinner they invited us for dessert at their house.  They have such a beautiful view from their backyard we eagerly accepted.  See the ducks in the water and among the cattails with the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background – so picturesque!

Then came the sunset….beautiful…..

We had a good day, how was yours?

Remember, you are loved.
Read the story behind this saying HERE