A stroll through Buena Vista

Carol and I took a walk through Buena Vista yesterday morning. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the photos I took.



I wonder where Momma is

Deer wonder through town undisturbed and can often be found laying in yards.

Here are some miscellaneous houses and porches I took. I love the Victorian houses and porches, as well as the long homes.



















By the way for those of you not familiar with blogs, you can click on an image and enlarge it for a better view.



Momma found

I know my brother Mike could have done a much better job of photographing, he seems to have an eye for the photo. If you haven't checked out his blog 'Ozark Photos' there is a link here in my blog.

July 19 through July 27

Saturday, July 19



Andrew at the Hamilton Ranch

Started the day with a visit to a couple of garage sales, but didn't find much. Carol bought a nice piece of pottery for $5. We got back to the campground and found that the park model was vacant so we went down to clean that for the kids. This is where Rob, Becky, Annabelle and Andrew are going to stay.



Robert Hamilton (Rob's dad)

We finally got packed up and headed for the Hamilton Ranch about 2:00. We drove down to Salida and headed east on 50 and then south through Westcliffe to Wetmore. We arrived at the ranch around 5:00. Rob, Becky, and kids are staying at the cabin and we drove right up to it. It was so good to see them all again. Can't believe how much Andrew has grown since we last saw him. He is walking and running now and was just holding on to furniture to walk when we left. He is a real doll. Can't believe he has such a pleasant disposition.



Annabelle and Robert on Ginger and Walker

Annabelle was with Robert and Rob Hamilton over at the other end of the ranch rounding up some horses. Robert and Rob pulled up about 5:30 and dropped off Annabelle and went back to the main ranch house to get cleaned up for supper.



Joannie and Robert

Robert came riding up on the horses about 6:30 and gave Annabelle a ride on Ginger, a white mule, while we cooked supper. Rob Hamilton and I cooked the burgers and the girls got the rest of the things together. The meat was hamburger and buffalo burger. Both delicious. We had passed a small buffalo on the way to the cabin. Robert raises them along with cows on the ranch.



Andrew and Carol

We cooked smores after supper. It was so funny, Rob Lynch was trying to show Annabelle how to roast her marshmallow without burning it and she wouldn't pay any attention to him. I said to Becky, that that was just like her when she was young and I tried to show her something. She admitted it was like her.



Becky and Andrew and Annabelle and Shelby making smores

We left about 9:00 to come back to the camper. We finally got back around 11:30 both very sleepy, but we really enjoyed seeing everyone and the Hamilton ranch again.



Annabelle and Shelby

Sunday, July 20

We had to work today. The kids got in about 4:00 and messed around in the camper until we got off. Mike, Teresa, and Amy got in about 7:30. They came down to the camper and visited with us for awhile after we got off.

Monday, July 21



Saddled up and ready to ride

We made some of our pancakes for everyone this morning and ate out on the picnic table. After that we had scheduled horseback riding for this morning. There were only six horses to ride so Carol and I stayed here at the camper and babysit Andrew while everyone was out riding. I found out this was the first time Mike and Amy both had riden horses. That surprised me. I think everyone enjoyed it. Annabelle rode Razor, but she said it was a little boring cause he just followed the horses in front of him and she didn't have to do any directing. She does sound like her mother.



Andrew on his horse



Annabelle on Razor

After that we packed up a picnic lunch and headed up Chalk Creek Canyon toward St. Elmo. We stopped on the way up to schedule a raft trip for tomorrow, and about half way up the canyon we stopped and had the picnic. We got to St. Elmo and spent about an hour feeding chipmunks and taking photos.



Amy trying to get the chipmunks to eat out of her hand

After we finished at St. Elmo, the girls and Andrew came back to the camper, but Mike, Rob, Annabelle, and I headed up to Mary Murphy Mine. We got up there about 4:00 and it had clouded up. We actually went up past the mine to an area where I thought there were a bunch of lakes but we couldn't find them.



Rob and Annabelle at Mary Murphy Mine

It was so funny, the road up was so bumpy we were bouncing all over in the truck and Annabelle was laughing all the way up. She really seemed to enjoy it. The ride down was a little slower. The road is so steep I had to ride the brakes all the way down and they heated up so we had to stop and let them cool a little. We spent about half an hour waiting for them to cool.



Mikey the cowboy

We got back to the camper and visited for awhile and then had tacos for supper. Everyone was tired and we all headed for bed around 9:00.

Tuesday, July 22



Andrew playing in the sand in front of the camper

Well, Mike called me about 5:30 this morning and said Amy had been throwing up since 2:00 and they had decided to head home. I got dressed and went out to say goodbye and they were already gone. I think Mike was worried that Amy was having appendix problems. After talking to some of the people here in the park we really think it may have been a bad case of altitude sickness.

Shelby showed up about 10:00. She is going to go rafting with us today. There is a mom and her daughter who come to the campground every year for about 6 weeks. We went over and asked if Carli, the daughter would like to go on the raft trip with us. She said she would. She has been on a lot of raft trips. She likes the faster rapids trips like 'The Numbers', which is rated 3 to 4. We are doing the Brown's Canyon float which is #2 and 3 rapids. Rapids are ranked from 1 to 6, with 1 being the easiest and 6 the hardest. The easiest trip is 'The Family Float' which is 1 and 2 rated rapids. We were able to get onto the Brown's Canyon float despite the fact that Annabelle is under 50 pounds. There are restrictions on the age of children riding the rapids. Minimum age on Brown's is 6 years old and 50 pounds. We talked them into letting Annabelle go since she can swim well.

We got to River Runners (the raft company we were using) about 12:45 for a 1:30 float. We needed six people to do a rowing trip. We had six, me, Rob, Rebecca, Shelby, Carli, and Annabelle. We got a safety speech before the float and then loaded up. Stanley was our guide and he was great. He is 24 and from Michigan. He is a senior in college and majoring in Special Education. He wants to come back to Colorado when he graduates.

We weren't more than a few hundred feet from the put-in when we saw one lady fall out of a raft. There were 9 rafts in our group. This was a real sign. We hit the first rapids and two ladies fell out of a raft behind us. We pulled on out of the river. She seemed really out of it when Rob and Carli pulled her in. She finally came around when we got to shore and she had a few minutes to rest. One of the guides later said the lady we pulled in had thought she had seen the light.

Overall, it was a great float. Annabelle did get thrown forward one time and hit the seat in front of her or my foot one and ended up with a bloody nose. She didn't even cry though. We all had a good time.

When we got back to the camper we grilled chicken for supper and had pasta salad along with blackbean and corn salad to compliment it. Shelby spent the night with us and she and Annabelle slept on the couch that makes into a bed.

Wednesday, July 23



On the Lost Lake trail

We took Rob, Becky, Annabelle, and Andrew up to Lost Lake this morning. I was amazed. Annabelle walked the whole way, 3 miles. Those of you following the blog will remember this lake. It is gorgeous. Andrew walked about a mile. I'll make him into a hiker yet.

We got to the lake and it was thick with mosquitoes. Unfortunately, I did not bring any insect repellent. We stayed about a half an hour and then headed back to the trailhead.

It was just as well, Caorl and I had to work this afternoon.

Thursday, July 24



Getting the poles ready at Chalk Lake

We packed up the fishing gear and a picnic and headed out to our favorite fishing hole, Chalk Lake this morning. Rob and Becky went by and picked up one day licenses so they could fish. Carol caught the first fish of course. Rob hooked a really large trout and got it to the shore but the line broke just as he was bringing it in and it landed about a foot from the water and flipped right back in before Rob could catch it with his hands. Annabelle caught the next one and it was a nice large one. Much bigger than Carol's. Needless to say, Annabelle was excited about that.



Andrew and Poppa fishing

We had a picnic lunch and then Carol and I had to get back to get to work.



Annabelle's first trout

Annabelle and Becky both caught a fish each in the afternoon. Overall four trout were caught.

We had an absolutely gorgeous sunset this evening but since we were working I didn't get a photo of it.

Friday, July 25



Trout frying on the campfire

Annabelle stayed in the camper with us last night since it was the last night they would be here. Becky and Rob dropped off Andrew about 7:00 so they could pack the car. They came up about 10:00 and we built a wood fire and put a skillet over it and fried the fish they caught yesterday. They all enjoyed it very much. The kids all loaded up and took off around 11:00. We really hated to see them go. We had such a good time while they were there. I think they really enjoyed their visit also. It won't be long before we are home again and get to see them again.



Us and the grandkids

Saturday, July 26

We're off today so we packed up the fishing gear and headed for Chalk Lake again. We are hosting a fish fry for the rest of the workampers Monday evening, and we need more fish. The morning was pretty productive. We had 8 trout by noon and headed back to the camper for a bite of lunch and to clean these fish. We made a quick trip to town and picked up a few items, including some more fishing tackle and headed back out to the lake. I couldn't hardly keep my eyes open on the way out so when we got there I told Carol to go ahead and fish and that I wanted to close my eyes for awhile. Well, awhile turned into about 2 hours. I flipped back the seat and dozed off. When I finally made it down to the lake Carol had only caught 2 more fish. I added one to that shortly thereafter, but they just were not biting. That's okay, we have plenty for the fish fry.

Sunday, July 27



The Hand Hotel where we stayed a few years back

We did laundry this morning and then headed for Fairplay. This is the weekend for the Annual Burro Races. Fairplay was packed with people and booths. We browsed around for awhile and enjoyed visiting the hotel where we stayed a few years ago. It hasn't changed much. Back to the burro races. This stems from back when miners used burros to carry their gear. The races entail a runner pulling a burro loaded with a specific list of items and at a specific weight through a course. There are actually two courses, a short and a long. The short course is 15 miles and the long course is 30 miles (I think). I think it is really just an excuse to have an event and bring a few dollars to the town.



Wild flowers on the road to Kite Lake

After that we headed up to Kite Lake just west of Alma, CO. This is a high alpine lake accessed by a rough road, but the wild flowers are gorgeous right now. It is hard to describe them and you certainly can't show it well in a photo. It is absolutely beautiful though. If you've never seen them you need to make a trip to Colorado in late July or early August and take a trip to a high mountain lake.



More wild flowers

We found a nice trail on the way back to BV. It is in an area covered with Aspen trees and it will be absolutely fantastic to hike in mid September.



A little shop in Alma with lots of flowers



Another shot

I can't believe the summer is 3/5 over and I haven't gotten to do nearly all I want to do. Guess I'll have to come back next summer with the truck camper and do some camping without the work, ha.



Carol at Hoosier Pass on the Continental Divide

Life is good.

July 16 - Lost Lake Found

Trail to Lost Lake

Well, Rob and Shelby came over last night. Seems that Shelby missed us so much when we left the other day they decided to come over and visit again. It is a beautiful clear day. We wanted to go explore the trail to Lost Lake so thought this morning would be a great time to do so. After breakfast out on the picnic table we packed up and headed up toward Cottonwood Pass. We had heard about this trail from some other workampers and saw a couple of photos of it. It really looked nice, so we decided to try it. We found the trailhead and it was already pretty crowded at 9:00.



Carol and Shelby at Lost Lake

There is no sign for this trail you just need to know where to start. It is frequented by locals, but I think the word has gotten out. It turned out to be a beautiful high mountain hike to a gorgeous alpine lake. We did see a lot of other folks and a lot of big dogs on the trail. One couple we passed as we were going out asked if there was a convention here today. I don't imagine they appreciated seeing my truck with the Missouri plates at the trailhead, but this is national forest land and it belongs to me just as well as anyone else.



Lost Lake

This trail has numerous ups and downs but Carol and I think it will be perfect for the family to hike. It will give everyone a taste of what real mountain hiking is like. There were an abundance of wildflowers on the trail, with many more promising to bloom soon. It was just an absolutely great hike. It ends up at 12,600 feet and ia about a mile and a half into the lake. Another great day in Colorado. This would also be a great overnight for Bob McCoy and I when he comes out, there are trout in them there waters.



Don't you love the hat

We got back to BV at 12:00 and ate lunch at K's Dari Delight, the place with the great hamburgers and malts. I got Carol her own shake this time though.



Wildflowers galore

We had to work this afternoon and Shelby and Rob headed back to Denver.



Heading back out - what scenery

July 12 through July 14

Saturday, July 12



Shelby and Rob's

Well, we're off today after working the last 4 days. We headed to Denver to visit Shelby and Rob. We took highway 285 northeast through Fairplay. It was a beautiful drive. We stopped at a couple of yard sales on the way and found a couple of metal chairs with cushions and a side table for under our awning. All three were only $12. It filled up the back of the CRV. We got to Shelby and Rob's about 11:30. Rob had been working on the garden shed and had done a great job in refurbishing it. He has a nice shop set up in the garage. Shelby has really put a lot of work into her backyard, tearing out old concrete walks and putting in grass and flower beds along with a flagstone patio. It really looks nice.



The backyard

They mentioned there were a bunch of garage sales not too far from their house so we headed over there. We didn't really find anything at these sales but Shelby found a nice little narrow table for her bedroom and a very nice print. It was now close to 1:00 and I wanted to go down to REI to see if they had any hiking boots on sale so we decided to eat at My Brother's Bar next to REI. They have an outdoor eating area and we had a pitcher of Southwick beer with our cheeseburgers. It was delicious. After lunch we went over and visited REI. They didn't have any hiking boots that I was interested in though. From here we ran by a nearby Sally's Beauty Supply so Carol could get a perm kit. We then took Shelby and Rob back home and dropped them off and went over to Sam's to restock our supplies. We got back to the house about supper time. We grilled chicken out on the grill and admired the back yard. Julie, Shelby's old roommate came over and ate with us. It was good to see her again.



Julie

The food, the setting, and the company made for a very pleasant evening. We ended the day by putting a tape in the VHS player called 'Alone in the Wilderness'. It was a fascinating documentary about a man who went to Alaska in 1958 and built a log cabin. He had documented his exploits and the building process on his home movie camera and these were used to make the documentary. It was fascinating, unfortunately we couldn't stay awake for the whole thing, it had been an exhausting day so we had to finish it Sunday night.

Sunday July 13
Carol and I had bought some watermelon and pineapple at Sam's yesterday along with some danish rolls so we had that for breakfast while sitting out in the backyard. Unfortunately, Carol had been sitting out there before breakfast thinking up projects. Shelby has a gate in her privacy fence that opens to allow the cars to be driven into the garage. The gate itself was really sagging out at the top so Carol decided it wouldn't take much to straighten it. We got started right after breakfast I thought a crossmember on the back of the gate would do the trick. One thing lead to another. Before we knew it we were over at Home Depot buying new parts and boards for the gate. I decided that a steel cable with a turnbuckle was needed on one of the gates. The gates each had a wheel on the bottom to hold them up. Rob suggested a couple more wheels a little way from the first one to provide added support. This really helped. We replaced several of the boards on the gate also. Overall, we pretty well got it back into the position it should be. Carol also decided that the wheels needed something more to roll on so it would open wider past the driveway itself, so she started digging out an area on the front side of the gates and laying in flagstone to roll the right side gate onto it. It worked very well. Overall, we took the whole day on this easy project. It was fun though. I like working with wood, especially if I'm not rushed. I don't know of any project thought that turns out as simple as first thought.



Working on the gate

Carol and I ran over to Sam's again to pick up a couple of pizzas. We had to run by Home Depot first though and get some more parts. While there we started looking at patio tables, umbrellas, and umbrella stands. Shelby has a small table and umbrella but it is really small for more than 2 people. We decided to offer to get a table and umbrella, stand and a couple of chairs for her for Christmas. When we got back to the house Shelby and Carol went back to Lowe's and Home Depot to pick up the items she needed. It was Christmas in July at Shelby's house as she and Rob put the table together.



Shelby and Rob assembling the new patio table

We baked the pizzas that evening and ate them on the new table. After supper Carol had a little more work to do on her rocks and Shelby helped her. Rob and I snuck out so we could go finish the movie from last night- 'Alone in the Wilderness'. It was amazing how skilled this guy was in working with wood and living in the wilderness. He had obviously done a lot of reading to prepare for this venture. He lived in this cabin until 1998. He decided he couldn't take the winters any longer at the age of 82. The cabin was turned over to the national forest service as a historic building.



Pizza on the new table

Sunday, July 14

We had breakfast at a local little cafe/coffee shop near the house this morning and then packed up and headed home. We took our time driving back down 285 and enjoyed the scenery. We actually saw a bear at Antero Junction. It was crossing an open field toward the highway and we timed it so it crossed right in front of us. It was moving pretty fast. We just got one photo of it and that was a quite a distance. It was a little black bear. Black bears are fairly common in this area. The brown bear or grizzly is not found in this area. The name black bear is a misnomer. This particular bear was actually a fairly light brown. Black bears come in several shades from light brown to black. Grizzlies or brown bears on the other hand are brown and larger than black bears. They also have a distinctive hump right behind their neck.



Black bear

We got home about 3:00 and unpacked the car. I put out the awning and secured it down. I hope we have a system so that I don't have to put it in and out all the time. We also picked up a reclining lawn chair on sale at Home Depot this morning so after I got the awning out and put down the awning mat I set that up. It is really comfortable and I have a great view of the mountains now. Life is good.