Santa Fe and Sand Dunes

Monday we drove down to Santa Fe to visit our kids and grands. We went to Soup and Salad, which is a nice alternative to a regular buffet. A salad buffet doesn't put on the weight if you watch the amount of salad dressing you use.

We had a fun time looking at photo albumns and laughing alot. It was a very nice time being together. Oh, did I mention our youngest grandson informed us we are going to be GREAT grandparents in November. Talk about feeling old....Maxx and April will be good parents and it will all work out fine. We are excited for them.

We stopped at Trader Joe's while in Santa Fe so I could get a supply of Greek style yogurt and Jim got his cashews. Look at the culinary basil plant I bought for $3. It is huge and in a 4 inch pot. I can't wait to use the leaves in cooking...oh, tonight I'll add it to my scallops and linguine.

Tuesday we drove to the Great Sand Dunes National Park which is outside of Alamosa, to visit SKP friends, Dave and Marie Dengate.

We met the Dengates last year at the Colorado Boomerang and traveled with them for about a month. They are volunteer camphosting at the Great Sand Dunes for May and June-----what a great gig. I mean, take a look at the scenery they have.

That sand you see are the sand dune. They are 750 feet high at the highest point and are the tallest sand dunes in the United States. It is wonderful to see the changes the dunes make one day to the next with the shifting sands. The Great Sand Dunes is the nation's newest national park, enacted in 2004, and it is right here in our backyard. It's a great place to visit and we get visitors from all over the world, especially from German and Japan.

We all went out to the Oasis Restaurant just outside the park for lunch and of course, had to finish off our lunch with some of Diane Vittoria's fabulous pies. Jim had apple, Marie had mixed berry and Dave and I had the brownie chocolate pie. Oh, my goodness, such wonderfulness. Yea, yea, tomorrow starts the diet!

Last year a bunch of us Escapee Boomers camped together at the Sand Dunes and the we had a Ladies Day Out and we went for pie at the Oasis while the guys went four-wheeling up Medano Pass. The pie was as good this year as it was last year.

Well, folks, that is it for today. We are off to the mountains this afternoon to start our summer job. Our camphosts will arrive May 18 and the campgrounds open May 22 for Memorial Day weekend.

If any of you are in the southern Colorado area give us a jingle and come up and see us. We'll be in the South Fork area till Sept 10th.

Remember, you are loved.

Catch-up

Friday night we spent a delightful evening going to the local library to watch a movie. The library shows movies twice a month; and they are usually pretty current. They have a large pull down screen and a dvd player mounted on the ceiling. Young mom and dads bring their kids and the kids usually sit on bean bags on the floor or in child-size chairs. Friday we watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua. It was very cute.

I had a wonderful time Saturday with my friend, Salai, as we spent the day in Walsenburg at Etla's Yarn Shop. I think I finally mastered using one 40" long cable knitting needle to knit two socks at a time. It's just learning how to do something completely different than you have ever done before, that's all! That's a cinch at my old age, right? Well, it is good for the brain to change things up a bit, like stirring things in the opposite direction or combing your hair with the opposite hand than usual. Makes the brain work to figure out how to do it (saw that in a Readers' Digest somewhere).

The drive to Walsenburg over the mountain was pleasant with most of the snow gone from a couple of weeks ago. The area should be greening up a lot in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday Lesle and Bill came over from Colorado City on their day off. We familiarize them with Alamosa, then drove to Monte Vista and had lunch at Baldo's. It was fantastic as usual. Lesle even tasted some of my menudo (a stew made with cow stomach).

Then we drove up to South Fork and showed them the area we will be spending our summer. On the way we were able to double-check on each of the campgrounds. Since we picked up the keys last week from the Forest Service, we were able to unlock the gate and enter Big Meadows. We were able to drive as far as the campsite we will be using, but there were still a foot or so of snow pack on the road further up, so we stopped there.

Lesle got a kick out seeing marmots - or whistle pigs as we call them because their squeak sounds like a high-pitched whistle. They live in above 6,500 feet and burrow under rocks. We have a lot of marmots around Big Meadows.

The falls were bursting with spring run-off water and tumbling down in a roar. It was very pretty.....as life would have it, of course I didn't have my camera with me. Next time.

Oops, off we go to Santa Fe to see our daughters and grands.

Remember, you are loved.