Sept. 25-30: Last few days in Canon City

We are just about ready to leave Canon City and head on to new adventures. During this week before we left, we spent a day and took a scenic drive and followed a loop to Salida, Buena Vista and then back to Canon City. The views were spectacular; the trees along the banks of the Rio Grande were turning yellow. The drive took the entire day since we had to stop every few minutes to take pictures.






We also celebrated September/October birthdays. Susan's was the weekend we were leaving and mine will be in a few weeks. So we had a wonderful meal, just like all the others we cooked during this time and then cake and ice cream...........and hats! Mine, of course, is a tiara.












We leave Canon City on Oct. 1 and head for the Great Sand Dunes. We have never been there. Apparently these are the largest dunes in North America and they are at the base of the mountains. No ocean in sight! The dunes are formed from the winds and the runoff of the snow from the mountains. Not sure how that all happens but we are very anxious to see them. We will be camping at the state park near by.

Love to all of you.

Sept. 17-24: Busy Days in Canon City

Sun-- Barb, Co, Flo, Susan and Ann went to Cripple Creek to try their luck and have some fun. They had a great time and Barb loved playing poker, as you all know. While they were gone, I spent the day organizing our Alaska pictures........all 1500+ of them. I also fixed stew for dinner for everyone. After dinner we went to see the Al Gore movie about global warming and the effects it is having on our planet. It was really frightening to know what we are doing to our world.......his facts seem to document that we are heading in the wrong direction but that if we and our government would make some changes, we could change the direction we are heading.

Monday--Today was a work day............Barb used the huge 8' ladder and waxed the top section of one side of the motorhome. I was very helpful........I would hand her the wax bottle when she dropped it and help her move the ladder. I worked on cleaning and polishing the wheels and cleaning the tires.......By the end of the day we were both sore and stiff ...... so we just stood there and admired our work. She will need another two days to finish the whole motorhome. By the way, we waxed the lower section without ladders several weeks ago.

Tuesday-- Another project day. Barb went grocery shopping and I worked on cleaning the windows and screens in the motorhome. We fixed a new recipe that we got from a restuarant that we visited while in Colorado City. The recipe was for Stuffed Green Pepper Soup. It was really very good!

After dinner we played Mexican Train;
Flo and Co had prizes and medals for the winners. Barb came in 4th place, Susan was 3rd place, I came in 2nd, and Dorie was in 1st place.

Wednesday--Breakfast at the Waffle House and off to Cripple Creek again, via Guffey. Dorie gave us a tour of Guffey where she lived and constructed homes. And in Cripple Creek, Linda hit a Royal Flush on the nickel poker machines.........won $200. And I still have it...................

Thursday--Tested out new gizmo we got from Camping World for draining the tanks and decided the old system works better. Spent rest of day doing laundry, appointments and shopping.

Friday and Saturday--We spent the day preparing for Rosh Hoshana. Barb and I prepared a traditional dinner of Matzo Ball soup, gefilte fish, roasted chicken, potatoes, carrots, squash, applesauce, and apples and honey with macaroons for desert. On Saturday, since we did not know of any temple near by, we spent the day meditating and taking a walk along the Arkansas River. It was nice and peaceful day. We wish all of you a very Happy, Peaceful and Healthy New Year.

Sunday--Worked all day on our video of Alaska and finished it. We will show it to the group here on Monday evening.

Scenic views from Alaska

Gradually I have been going over all of the pictures from Alaska. Thought I would post a few of the great scenic views, including the shot we got of Mt. McKinley, also called Denali by the Native Alaskans.


[doubleclick on pictures to see enlarged size]



From what many people have told us it is very rare to see Denali since it is so high and is usually covered with clouds.


Some of the views from the ship. The mornings were sometimes overcast and so the lighting produced some great shadows for pictures.

















Love and hugs to all of you.

Sept 11-16: We are still in Canon City

I am spending today catching up on pictures from Alaska and from the past several days. I have not even had a chance to go through all 800+ pictures we took in Alaska. My plan is to organize them into sections of the trip and then put them on video with music..........for us there will probably be 3-4 CD's, over an hour worth of watching. Now don't get nervous...............I will also make a CD video of about 12-15 minutes of the best or most interesting pictures to show you. I will also post a few more on this blog for you to see.

In addition, I have pictures from the past several days ........ we have been "playing" tourist in the Canon City area (The Royal Gorge) and Colorado Springs area (Seven Falls, Cheyenne Canyon and Garden of the Gods).

Yes, we are still here and will be here until the end of the month. There are still 4 rigs and eight people here with Susan and Anne returning from Vermont.



If you double click on the picture and look closely behind our rig, you can see all four rigs.

Dorie and Anne's house is located in a great area just outside of the main section of Canon City. The entire back area that you can see is partial flood area and protected area that cannot be built on. Our site (#1) and Anne's site (#2) are the sites with a view; Flo and Co just behind us are in site #3, which is the site with the patio and Ann and Susan have the garden site (#4). Anyone else who arrives gets site #5, which is the driveway site.

We have continued to spend the days working on the rigs........cleaning, waxing, shining and polishing and of course, making repairs. And the most fun is sharing products............Anne has this great rug cleaner product. So one day, while Barb was helping Anne wax her rig, I cleaned our carpet. Wow, was it easy and now we have a clean carpet. It is just a powder that you sprinkle on the carpet, let it sit and vacuum. All of the black spots and grayish dirt colors are now gone and we have a clean carpet. Co and Flo have a polish for the aluminum wheels and they have used it on their rig and on Anne's........shine is so bright that we can really, really see our reflections in the wheels. We cannot use it on our wheels since we have a protective shield on the wheels. All we can use is soap and water. No polish, rubbing and buffing for us. Awwww, what a shame !
And I put together a water pressure controller for Anne's rig that increases the volume of water so that showers in the rig are like showers at home. Those of you who are not rv'ers do not understand the grandeur of this..........but basically, water pressure in rv's is low and showers often are just sprinkles of water. I made one of these contraptions for us and it really works great..............so we get high volume showers........yeah!

It also seems like we are also running into town for something. First Flo goes into town, checks with everyone first, then we realize we forgot something, and then either Barb or I or both of us go into town. Guess that is the life of leisure and small town living. And then at the magic hour of 5:00 pm, we all gather on the patio for drinks, food and great conversation. And a great dinner. Today while everyone is gone, I will be fixing dinner....................

More later. Love to all of you.

Pictures from Royal Gorge, Seven Falls and Garden of the Gods

September 15th

• Royal Gorge

Rafters at the bottom of the gorge.





We are on the cog train at the bottom of the gorge, waiting for the cog to return to the top. Can you see the top way up there?
[double click on picture to enlarge size]






September 16thSeven Falls (September 16th

Sept. 5-10 Canon City, CO

We are in Canon City visiting with friends, Dorie and Anne. We are parked in their backyard with 3 other rigs. They have put gravel in their yard and also have installed hookups for Rv's. So there is our rig, Co and Flo's rig, Dorie and Anne's rig, of course, and last night JoAnne and Anne, popped in for the night on their way to Gunnison, CO. So we had quite a fun night telling stories about traveling and camping.......Dorie's story about opening her tent flap and shining a flashlight right into the eyes of a bear is priceless........funny now but not then!

We have named Dorie and Anne's place the Million Star RV resort.............and it certainly feels that way. Not only do we all have hookups, but we are sharing doing the cooking and every night is a gourmet meal. WOW!!! We have started each evening with cocktails and smoked salmon from Alaska, complements of Cheryl and MaryAnne, and then dinners that range from pasta with pesto and shrimp, roasted beef with a wonderful horseradish sauce to last night I prepared my "famous" pork roast, marinated in SoyVay......a marinade developed by a Jewish man and a Chinese woman. Quite good.

While here we have all spent the days doing projects, mainly cleaning and shining the motorhomes. We have been sharing ideas for cleaning products and sometimes it feels like being at a rally where vendors are showing you new products to try. Have learned alot about how to clean and now have a new product for shining the aluminum wheels. Will work on it sometime next week.

Yesterday was Senior Health Fair Day in Canon City. So we all went. It felt like Halloween for old people. There were probably 50 booths and all of them had candy, cookies and free giveaways. We came away with pens of all shapes and sizes, pill containers, a measuring tape with levelers, many types of vitamin and eye pills, and many, many cards and info leaflets. But even better, there were drawings for prizes and we won. I won a really nice backpack that also had wheels. Barb won a decorative bowl with blue rocks and candles, which we gave to Dorie and Anne for their house here in Canon City. The colors were perfect for the kitchen. Co won a huge floral display and Flo won a "peace" statue. Of course we also did the routine testing for blood pressure, glaucome, etc.

Had a great day!!!

Today is breakfast of Anne's famous eggs and then we are off for haircuts.

Love to all of you.

Pictures from Alaska

(Double click on picture to enlarge size.)



Here we are in Denali. Notice the jackets, sweatshirts, caps but most important, notice the beautiful scenery. The valley below is called a twisted river or pretzel river; the shape and direction changes seasonally based on the run off from the mountains. The snow on the mountain was a result of the first snow of the season and we got to be there for it. Actually we started the drive into the back country of Denali, got 3 hours in, snow started, the mountain pass froze and we had to turn around and go back 3 hours. And then, once we got back, the sun came out, the ice melted and we got back onto the bus and drove the entire 6 hour drive. So we made 3 trips into Denali, two half way and two the entire way. Saw Denali in the snow and in the sunshine. We spent one night in the cabins in the back country, right on the river. Then the next day we returned with another 6 hour drive out of Denali. We saw everything.........caribou, bear, wolves (4 of them playing on the side of the road), moose (cow foraging for food in the bottom of a lake by dunking her head all the way in and coming out with a mouthful of green stuff). And because it was sunny on our second trip in we were able to see the north peak of Mt. McKinley. So the Denali trip was quite successful and exciting.


Caribou in Denali.

Our ship was able to get up very close to the glaciers. I never realized that the glaciers had a blue color due to the compression of the ice. We actually did see this glacier calve several times. The breaking of the ice sounded like gun shots.

Black bear in Hyder. We were able to view the beginning of the salmon run. The river was filled with salmon and this guy here had just finish eating one.

This brown bear just crossed the road in front of us. I think he looked back at the bus we were in to say, "You just try and continue on the this road while I am crossing it." He looked at us for a few minutes and then just went on his way.

Fluke of humpback whale.

Orcas.

Love to all of you.

Our Alaska Adventure

We are in the last few days of our Alaska adventure. Our plan has been to spend Labor Day weekend in Sitka with friends, Cheryl and Mary Ann. They have been entertaining us royally and have shown us Sitka from the eyes of people who live here. Our first day here, we went shopping in town and then they took us and Cheryl's mom out to dinner for our anniversary. Had a great evening. Yesterday they took us on an outing, driving around the town to the end of the road. There is a whale park with huge formations of whales and their flukes for kids and adults to climb on and stairs leading way down to the water. The views are magnificient and we can certainly understand why people fall in love with Alaska. We went down to the water walked around a bit and the almost did not make it up the stairs again. We also went to the Raptor Center to see the eagles that they have saved plus other raptors that they are training to be released. All of the raptors there have been injured by some means and their purpose is to medically heal them and release them. Today we go to a raptor release. One of the raptors who they have medically saved will be released into the wild today.

Also we go to the Russian Dancers, a group of woman who wanted to preserve the Russian dances and perform the dances for the tourists to see their culture. And then we go to Totem Park. So it is a big day today.

The salmon here is, of course, absolutely wonderful. We had some freshly smoked salmon that just melted in your mouth, actually my mouth, and the taste was exquisite! Thank you, Cheryl and MaryAnn, for a wonderful visit!

And now for a summary of our Alaska visit. Not sure how much I can express how wonderful this trip has been. All of our expectations were exceeded by many times over. We saw wildlife and scenery and snow capped mountains and just had a marvelous time.

We are more than convinced that touring the Inner Passage by small boat is the way to go. We were on the Cruise West lines and our ship had 96 passengers and everyone was great to visit with. We met many new friends from England and Australia as well as from the states. Everyone was warm, friendly and delightful. We had a wonderful time trying to see if we could sit at a different table each night so that we met someone new for the dinner meal.

Probably the biggest problem we had was finding the time to rest. There were so many viewing opportunities while cruising that I could not find time for my afternoon nap. Each afternoon, I would tell Barb that I just want to rest for about 15 minutes...so, I would go to the room, take off all of my layers of jackets, vests, sweatshirt and shoes, stretch out on the bed, pull up the blanket, close my eyes and boom, the intercom announcement would come on saying, "There is an Orca on starboard side" or "We will be approaching a glacier in ten minutes so you may want to come outside" or "Siting of brown bear and 2 cubs on land." What was so wonderful about this cruise is that the captain would get in as close as he could and just stop the ship. We would stand outside and just watch. One time we must have sat for about 1.5 hours watching the Orcas. What a great experience.

It got to be a joke that when we did see a big cruise ship, like the Holland America, we all booed. What was very nice is that we did not see them very often. Our tour took us into small narrow inlets and coves and areas that only the fishing boats can get into. Amazingly, when we did see our first big ship at the glaciers on the 5th day, it was real clear the advantage of a small ship. They were sitting a distance away looking at the glacier and we just slipped in front of them and went up close to the glacier.

We start our trip by flying into Anchorage. The only unpleasant part of the trip was the Ramada Inn we stayed in while there. It was filthy, smelly and all around unpleasant. Fortunately we were able to find another hotel for our return to Anchorage after going to Denali. We spent the day in Anchorage walking to the Native Alaskan Cultural museum. There are 5 different native tribes in Alaska and the cultural museum had outside settings depicting the life and times of each of these tribes. They also had speakers at each setting to give the history, stories and customs of each tribe.

We also had our first experience with Alaska rains. It does rain most every day, but were very, very, very well prepared. We had weatherproof, windproof, breathable jackets, hats and pants.......and actually stayed very warm and dry.

And then we were off to Denali...............and that provided an interesting experience. Because of the rains, the road to Denali and the train to Denali were closed from flooding. We were to take the train, so the train company chartered a flight and flew us to Fairbanks and then chartered a bus to drive us to Denali. An all day experience and by any standard quite confusing. But we can now say we were in Fairbanks, even thought we did not get out of the airport except to get onto the bus. We did however get to see the sights and magnificient views on the road between Fairbanks and Denali.

We spent 3 days in Denali and saw wildlife galore. We saw bear, moose, wolves, caribou, and we saw Mt. McKinley.

There are stories in all of these adventures but I am going to stop now to just publish some pictures from our entire trip. I will publish separate postings over the next few days.

Love to all of you.