Royal Gorge Train

This has actually been one of our items to do on our Colorado bucket list.  Our friends the Neely's and the Bergeron's asked us if we wanted to go with them this past Sunday and of course we said "YES"!  The train left at 12:30 so we opted to have lunch on the train instead of eating in town before we left.  The day was absolutely gorgeous with cornflower blue skies, very few clouds and temps in the upper 80's.  

The Royal Gorge has two ways to view it.  One way is from down in the canyon, on the train.

Arkansas River

Old water ducts

Waterfalls

Rafters on the river

Royal Gorge Bridge

Suspension bridge

The best story of the day however, was when we were on the train getting ready to pay out our lunch tabs, Steve Neely lost his wallet when a gust of wind knocked it out of his hands and landed on the train tracks.  We immediately informed the train personnel but they told us that they wouldn't stop the train.  However, they would send a truck up on the tracks after the last train left for the day to search for it.  So in the meantime, we decided to extend our  sightseeing and went to go see the bridge from up top but we didn't actually walk out on the bridge.  Not that we were afraid to or anything, it was more the fact that they wanted $20 per person to walk out on it and we thought that it was a little pricey for such a short stroll.

Royal Gorge Bridge

The Graves, Bergerons, and the Neelys

After we finished looking at the bridge from the topside, we went on Skyline Road which provided some awesome vistas during the drive.  

We also made sure that we stopped and looked at the dinosaur tracks that are embedded into the side of the hill.

Dinosaur tracks

And we drove through downtown.

Downtown Canon City, Colorado

And then went over to the local park to put our feet into the Arkansas River and waited to hear whether or not they found Steve's wallet. 

The train engineer said that they didn't find his wallet but that we were welcomed to go walk the train tracks to see if we could find it.  By this time it was already about 7 pm and the Neely and the Bergeron's kids had to start school on Monday so Angela and Ticha and Mark and I decided to drive back to Parker (2 hours) and we left Steve and Jerry to hike the trails (in flip flops) to see if they could find it.  And lo and behold, they actually did about 3 miles up the track- EXACTLY where Steve had told him that he lost it.  Apparently the train didn't send out the truck or they would have found it as easily as Steve and Jerry did.  It was the perfect ending to a great day!

July

To say that this July has been a whirlwind of activity is an understatement to say the least.  It was so good in so many ways and so stressful in others.  Good in that we were able to spend time with each of the girls, I got to see some life-long friends and Mark and I took a much needed out-of-town trip but stressful in that the month included 2 moves and one small surgery. 

It started on July 1st when Mark and I flew to Austin to help Delaney move from her apartment in South Austin into a duplex about 3 miles south of downtown.  She had hoped that it would help with commute time, give her access to some of the local eateries and closer access to the "Austin Scene" than she was down south.  We spent the weekend getting her moved and settled before we had to leave on Sunday.  Henley (and Peanut of course!) was sweet to come and help so we were all able to be together for yet another weekend. (how precious they are too) Of course, we had Zach helping to provide some extra muscle to help get her moved in! We had a great 4th of July dinner with all the fixings and ended up going downtown to watch the fireworks over Town Lake.  It was a great weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed the long weekend with the girls and Zach.

Unfortunately, she has discovered that her next door neighbor is completely mentally unbalanced and Delaney and Sir have become her target. Delaney endured about 3 weeks of unadulterated hell from this woman and she has chosen to move out of the duplex (with her landlord's blessing) to stop the harassment and stalking that the neighbor has subjected Delaney to.  Mark and I are very happy that she is getting out of that situation but we are now on a frantic search for housing.  And that's not an easy task in Austin in August with all of the college students returning to campus and trying to find housing as well. 

Peanut and Sir worn out after a day of playing together

I flew to Dallas on the 11th and Henley, Katherine and Everett picked me up from the airport and we went by and picked up the bedroom furniture that Henley had chosen for her new house.  After driving to Stephenville, we set up her furniture in the new house and soon discovered that there were several things that the landlord still needed to complete before Henley and her housemates could move in.  That is a story in itself but the upshot of the story is that the landlord hired Blaine (Henley's boyfriend) to do the all of the necessary repairs to the house so that they could move in on July 15th.  We spent the entire day on Sunday getting her yard cleaned up.  The weather was relentless and it hovered at 105 degrees almost every day that I was there.  I hate to admit this but I have acclimated to the Denver summers quite well and the heat just about melted me!

Backyard before and after

Henley had been having some intestinal issues that were similar to the ones Mark's mom has (Crohn's disease and diverticulitis) so her doctor in Odessa had recommended that she have a colonoscopy to determine whether that was her problem.  Since I was already planning on helping Henley move we made arrangements to have her colonoscopy done while I was there.  Fortunately all of the tests came back negative. 

The night after her procedure Henley, Katherine and Ev went to eat at this awesome place in Bluff Dale called Wilfongs.  Man!  That was some awesome food to say the least.  If you are ever around that area on Friday, Saturday or Sunday night (the only nights they are open) get there early and enjoy some delicious Cajun food!!

Shrimp boil at Wilfong's

Henley, Me and Katherine

I had plans to fly back to Denver on that Saturday but our dear friends Paul and Joyce called on Friday the 17th to tell me that his mother had lost her battle with lung cancer and told me that she wished to be buried in Brownwood,TX.  As it turns out Brownwood is only 60 miles from where Henley lives so I made hasty arrangements to change my flight so that I could stay for a few more days in Texas and be there for the funeral.  I was very happy that I got to see Paul and Joyce and their girls even if it was under such unfortunate circumstances.  I returned to Denver on Wednesday and was home long enough to wash some clothes and pack for Mark and my trip to Breckenridge on Friday.  

Mark often gets emails from his company offering specials for weekend get-aways and we try to take advantage of them if our schedule allows it.  As it turned out, there was a great offer from Breckenridge that we decided to take. On Friday I picked Mark up from the train station after work and we headed straight up to the mountains.  Unfortunately, I believe that everyone else in Denver had the same plans because it took us about 3 hours to get up to Breckenridge when it normally takes us right at 2 hours. 

When we left Denver it was about 92 degrees which is pretty danged warm for around here.  By the time we got up to our resort (Beaver Run) we were staying at, it was 37 degrees and raining!  But when we got up the next morning we had gorgeous cornflower blue skies.  After getting coffee and breakfast we walked along the river that runs through town and then went up to the main ski area on the free gondola. From there we took a three hour 4x4 Jeep tour up on the mountain that took us almost to the top of the mountain. We then took a 2-ish mile hike up in the mountains where our guide talked about and showed us every plant and flower on the entire mountain haha!  

After we got off the mountain we stopped in at The Canteen and had lunch. There was an arts and crafts festival going on as well as the First Annual Breckenridge Wine Festival so of course we had to do both that afternoon.  Later that evening we had dinner at Jakes Dive Bar and had just a good old fashioned pizza. We had never been to Breckenridge in the summer before and we absolutely fell in love with this town.  We definitely will be back again!

Wine Festival

View from the top of the mountain

Mom's 80th Birthday

Oh my.  Can she really, really be 80?  She simply can't be.  I mean she has the energy of a 20 year old and the mind of a 40 year old..hey I'm giving her the benefit of wisdom with age! She absolutely, positively does NOT act like an 80 year old woman.  She still has her snarky sense of humor, her impeccable fashion sense and such a wanderlust spirit that it makes gypsies stop and take note.  But above all of this, she LOVES her children and her grandchildren with such fierceness it's almost scary.  Yet these are all of the things that we adore about her.  If I can be 1/10th of the woman she is I will feel like the most blessed gal in the world.  

We knew we wanted to do a family celebration for her so Rob and I managed to coordinate his kids and my kids schedules and we were all able to gather here in Parker on her actual birthday weekend.  How fortunate was that?  I mean with Delaney and her work schedule, Henley and college courses, and Zoe and August with their summer jobs.  But we managed to get everyone here and it was a great weekend. 

Delaney and Henley came in on Thursday night but the rest of the family didn't arrive until later Friday evening so we took advantage of the free morning and the three of us opted to do a morning hike at Castlewood Canyon State Park.  Fortunately for us, the morning was cool and cloudy and was perfect for our hike.  There are several trails that we could take and we ended up taking the trail that went in a large loop so we were able to see the whole thing.  It normally takes people about 3 hours total but since we stopped and took pictures, and selfless, and one wrong turn; it turned into a 5 hour hike. Ha!

Everyone else arrived later Friday night and we spent the rest of the evening eating, sitting outside on the deck and enjoying visiting with one another.  Saturday August and Zoe wanted to hike so we all went to The Bluffs  for a short hike.  It was a gorgeous morning and we were able to see the entire Front Range and downtown Denver from the top of the mountain since it was so clear.  

That afternoon we went to Boulder to get out of the house and let everyone see another part of Colorado that they hadn't been to.  Of course, Pearl street was its usual crazy self.  After walking around and watching the street performers and going into the shops we treated ourselves to some gelato before heading back home.  

We took mom to Yanni's for her birthday dinner (Greek was her choice) and the evening was a total success.  They even brought her candles on her dessert and the whole restaurant sang Happy Birthday to her.  Once home, she opened her gifts and we spent the rest of the evening together reminiscing about the kids when they were little and all of the special times we have been fortunate enough to spend together.  

Unfortunately, the girls had a 10 am flight back to Texas on Sunday morning and Rob needed to get Zoe back to Santa Fe for her work so everyone was gone by about 9 am.  The house was way too quiet the rest of the day but the laughter and the love we all shared remained in my heart.