Sept 24 -27 Columbine Parrish Ranch

On Thursday, Sept 24th, David took the motorhome on down to St Vrain state park where our friends Ron & Kathy were waiting for us! I drove down after work and we were set up - all I had to do was fix a drink :) While driving in, I realized our good friends, George and Melva were set up in another loop of the park. It didn't take long for Ron & Kathy to call and invite them over for drinks (they had already eaten dinner). We sat outside for a drink, at which time Melva was COLD and they retired to their rig. It really was chilly and windy!

Kathy made us a terrific dinner - homemade beef vegetable soup and fresh biscuits. It was much appreciated. Afterwards we went for a short walk and retired to our cozy little home :)

Friday morning we got up and beat feet to the grocery store so I could get ice cream and crust for a peach pie I wanted to bake. We stopped and had breakfast at Waffle House - they have great breakfast specials! By the time we got back, George and Melva already had left for Parrish Ranch, and Ron & Kathy were rigging up too. About 15 minutes later we were on the road for the 10 miles to Parrish Ranch where we were greeted by some of the Columbine Caravan club. We settled in and were out socializing within 15 mins - wonderful weather and good friends, what more could you want.

Friday afternoon we had munchies as more and more rigs came in, then we were treated to the All American Hot Dogs - 10 cents each. What a great time we had - some of the guys sat around and watched some type of ball game, while some of us just enjoyed a very fine fire!

Saturday dawned crisp and clear, with peacocks roaming around as well as some turkeys roosting in the trees. Then the games began - a washer tournament started at 9:30, and David made it all the way to the semi-finals. Him and Cho came in second :( but had a good time. At lunch time there was a meeting, then at 1:30 the bean bag tournament started!

After the tournament folks scurried around and we had a cream can dinner - with dessert!

We had entertainment for the evening, a very talented lady named Bobbie Bell - she plays and sings mostly 50's songs, and a good time was had by all. We managed part of a 'Tennessee Waltz' then we went home. We hit the feathers pretty early, but we were bushed!

Bobbie Bell

Sunday the Caravan treated us to wonderful muffins, fruit and dessert. Yum...then, as usual, people started packing up and heading out. We kept chatting with different people, until only Ron & Kathy and us were left - they went to a birthday party and we had a late lunch. We finally left Parrish Ranch about 3 pm...drove back to Cheyenne and up on our little pad.

To all our friends, old and new, thanks for the memories!

Sept 17 - 20th Johnstown Rod Club

Thursday David drove the MH down to Johnstown Colorado to the Johnstown Rod Club. He got everything set up and was enjoying our friends who also came early. I drove down when I got off work and we all went to Platteville to a fabulous restaurant called the Doubletree. Walleye was on my plate, and David enjoyed coconut shrimp. Homemade black walnut ice cream was the topper! Friday I left the camp site at 4:45 to get to work by 6 am. I used a ½ vacation day, so I was done at 10 am. I headed back down I-25 and was there by 11:30. We yammered awhile with our friends, then Jim, David and I headed over to Camping World – we did not buy one single thing! Now that is scary, that we didn’t find a thing we couldn’t live without!

We went back to the campsite and all decided we would just do a carry out – I had sloppy joes, and made a bowl of macaroni salad, there were wonderful heirloom tomatoes, fresh green beans, baked beans, pork chops, a pasta salad and some wonderful zucchini muffins with a brown sugar icing…yum!

This is Joe...and Jake!

This is Hal and Mary!

We had a nice fire but we had an early night. The smoke bothers David and sets him to coughing, so we went in, I fixed him a hot toddy and off to sleep we went.





This is Jim and Joan and the most spoiled dog in the world...Amy! When I die, I want to come back as Joan's dog!

Saturday morning dawned hot and bright. We had a pot luck planned for noon, with our meeting at 1:30. The potluck was a bring your own meat to grill and a side dish or dessert…needless to say, there was much to choose from! I made 8 lbs of baked potatoes in my new Camp Chef stove/oven combo. This pie is from Maureen...she is a fantastic pie baker...Lloyd is a lucky guy! Mmmm, peach pie!

After the meeting, we all sat around and enjoyed each other’s company! Once again, we had a great fire, with a hot dog roast where we once again brought out leftovers to get rid of them!

Sunday morning was good, I cooked on Jim’s outdoor kitchen, garlic sausage, pancakes and eggs to order. Yum, yum.

The ladies sat around and chatted while the guys started picking things up, getting things ready to go…we managed to stretch it out until around 3, then we had to go home.

To all our friends – thanks for the memories!

Sept 11, 12, 13 Albany WY

Friday we left Cheyenne for Albany, WY where we camped with our local club, the Cheyenne Jackalopes! Our guests were 5 units from the Longmont Drifters. I think we ended up with 23 rigs – great turnout!

Friday evening many of us walked over to the Albany Restaurant and had a terrific meal. I think we made their weekend! We were in there for a couple hours (just visiting because it was very chilly outside) and when we walked back to the units, our friends Ron and Kathy came to visit. They will be spending part of their winter in Harlingen TX, the lucky ducks! We had a good time as always with this terrific couple.

Saturday morning dawned gray and cold! It was time to get out the sweats and layers! I looked and looked for my gloves – can’t find ‘em so I guess I’ll be getting a new pair…dang it! Once again we walked over to the restaurant with friends Jim and Joan – and found when we got over there a lot more folks from our group had the same idea! Nothing better than good fellowship at breakfast! The topics ranged from health care (no not the political carp, but who was hurting/doctors/surgeries) to games (who’s playing bean bags, washers, ladder golf) and everything in between!

Of course, when we went back to the rigs, the games began :) It is always so much fun, even though I was out on every one the first game…love to watch! David had issues breathing that high up (about 9,000 ft) so he just cheered folks on. A fun time was had by all.

We had a pot luck at 3:00 and the theme was ‘Mexican’. Boy, there was a ton of wonderful food! Even after seconds/thirds there were leftovers. We had our club meeting and then it got cold again. We went to Ron & Kathy’s for visiting, and was joined for a little while by friends Ray and Sandy. They are a unique couple originally from the east coast (VA and WV) so we have a lot in common. They are spending most of the winter in the Phoenix area – lucky people! About 9ish we headed on over to our unit, enjoyed a nightcap and hit the feathers! Sunday morning we gathered again for breakfast and fellowship. One club member, Clark had volunteered to make sausage gravy, so each unit took biscuits and/or fruit, juice, whatever to enjoy. I made blueberry cream cheese butter braid, a pan of biscuits, and watermelon. We had a great time!

We waved to all our friends as they pulled out heading for home. We were the last and we left about 3 pm, putting us back in Cheyenne around 4:30. Another wonderful weekend.

To all our friends – thanks for the memories!

Labor Day Weekend 2009

Labor Day weekend - Friday evening we went to Laramie to the farmer's market, and bought fresh corn on the cob, tomatoes, watermelon, cukes, and a loaf of fabulous bread! We had dinner at Corona Village, a very good Mexican Restaurant right off the 3rd St exit...yum! We went back up on the mountain and took this pic as the sun was going down:

Saturday morning came with sunny skies and cool breezes. We took several walks with Cinder, who loves it up there because she doesn't have to have a leash on...just her Sit Means Sit obedience collar (if you have a dog, you NEED this system!). Here she is heading off to play!

We spent the day re-organizing - my file drawer was in a terrific mess - we got new files made, and managed to get rid of a LOT of paperwork...yaaay - you know how much paper weighs? A ton! The rest of the day we just vegged - I actually got to read an entire book! I read "Night World" by L.J. Smith. It was really 3 books, but they all tied together...terrific 'vampire' 'witches' book! It was 729 pages long, so that was a lot of reading! I'm so happy that I now have time to occasionally read again! We had a wonderful evening, again with a terrific sunset!

I made a fabulous pot of soup that just screams 'comfort food' to me. My mother made it all the time when I was growing up. Here is the recipe:

Potato/Onion/Beef Soup

Put in stock pot leftover bite sized pieces of beef. You can use pot roast, leftover steak, whatever. I put in whatever juices might be left over too.

Add some beef broth or boullion.

Thinly slice a couple potatoes (Figure 1 and 1/2 per person) add to broth.

Thinly slice a big onion - add to broth.

Bring to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender.

I always serve this with homemade bread and applebutter. YUM!

Sunday morning we had a terrific breakfast. I put together a strawberry stuffed french toast, and we had it with sausage links. Once again, we went for a nice long walk, and I cleaned out another drawer (the dreaded utensil/junk drawer). Once again, I was able to dispose of a few things. We decided we were going to go to Laramie and visit the Territorial Prison. I was there about 13 years ago, and David was never there. The web site is: http://www.wyomingheritage.org/territorialPrison.html I did take some pictures but the web site is better :) We spent about 5 hours there. They DO utilize work kampers there, and have 4 full hookup sites. If you're in the area, check it out!

We went back on the mountain where once again we needed a light jacket outside. We were tired and took a nap, then just puttered around. We had a wonderful dinner of grilled baby back ribs, split a baked sweet potato and had a wonderful salad...once again we watched a terrific sunset, and went to bed with the chickens!

Monday once again we had strawberry french toast and maple sausage patties. I packed us a picnic lunch and off we went to the Village of Centennial, WY. When we got there we realized that it was Monday, and the Art Show/Farmers Market/Craft Show was Sunday!!! So, we walked around a couple shops, and while doing that chatted with one owner who said that in their area there was 75% Beetle Kill. She said the other side of the mountain (Colorado) there was 90 percent, and they were doing controlled burns. I won't get into the politics of the whole thing, but this has gotten way out of hand. Our grandchildren will never get to see a National Forest here in the west, because all the pines are either already infected or will be by spring. Here is a picture - the 'red' trees are dead, and most of the green ones are infected. If they don't do controlled burns, lightning will strike, then OMG, it won't stop until the forests are swallowed up. Sigh...such a shame!

Of course, while we were up close to the top (elevation over 9,000 ft), we noticed that the aspens were already showing golden! This really should not happen for another couple weeks - so my prediction is that we are going to have an early and nasty winter!!! YUCK!

Monday evening we had yet another wonderful meal - grilled cheeseburgers, baked beans, corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes, cukes and avacado's...

That brings us to today, and back to work! We'll be headed to Albany WY next weekend with our Jackalopes camping club!

David my darling - thanks for the memories!

August 29, Director's Meeting Wheatland WY

What a wonderful weekend! We went to Wheatland WY on Thursday night, and there were 4 rigs already there! We were all very happy to go out to dinner together, and went to a terrific restaurant called El Gringo's. It is a mexican/chinese restaurant owned by koreans! Wonderful food and the 8 of us really had a great time. We came back and just waddled around :)

Friday morning was a lovely leisurely time, we went shopping for a few perishables (I never seem to 'stock up' like I did when I wasn't living in the RV! Since we were the 'hosts' for the director's meeting, we told everyone that we would be having happy hour at 4, bring munchies and libation of your choice and join us! Well, by 3 we had 11 rigs there, and started the 'happy' early :)

We continued happy hour and didn't stop until about 8:30...when we went back to our rigs and went to bed!

Saturday again we had a slow start - I put a ham and new red potatoes in the nesco roaster for the pot luck at lunch, we went to a farmer's market (only 1 vendor!!!) and then we just sat around with our friends and visited...

We had a great pot luck, lots of food and a good Director's meeting. Saturday evening we again spent much time just sitting around chatting. What is better than good friends, fantastic weather, and camping? Nothing at all :)

Sunday morning dawned with grey cloudy skies, and from the news we found out that the haze was from the CA wildfires...but that was ok, I cooked sausage gravy and each unit brought a pan of biscuits (some brought fruit or juice instead) and we had a lovely farwell breakfast. Some friends had to pull out before breakfast, but most stayed, and by 10 am there were three of us left...we decided to have a nice nap, and once again got together for happy hour :)

It wasn't all just sleepin' and eatin'...I spent some time on the ladder, washing the windows on the MH. During the washing we discovered that the passenger side windshield had popped about 1/4 inch out of the frame. We just had both sides of the windshield replaced about 6 weeks ago. Needless to say, we called the glass shop immediately on Monday morning - they will be able to get us into the shop tomorrow, Wednesday. Sure hope they get it back in properly this time.

Sorry I didn't get more pictures - it is hard to cook and socialize and remember the camera!

To all my friends - thanks for the memories!