Life on the High Plains

This past weekend we took the new fifth wheel out on its maiden voyage. We decided to stay close to town so we picked the Golden Eagle Campground in the southwest area of the city near Ft. Carson  You see, when you have a new trailer there are always little things that can go wrong (usually with the water connections) so we wanted to be close by just in case. Miss Maisy got to come along on her first camping trip.  She's prone to car sickness so neither of us will hold her.  She does quite well in her little car seat. The first order of business after getting the trailer set up was to explore the dog walking area. It was a really large area with lots of trees and other vegetation.  We've had so much rain this summer that even the yuccas look fantastic.  It's been years since I've seen them bloom around here.  The rain let up long enough for us to build a campfire and cook our dinner over the flames.  There's not...

Last Saturday was the big day!  Garth's Stadium Tour came to Mile High in Denver. The girls and I loaded up and met my fourth daughter at one of our favorite restaurants in LoDo. Since nobody was going to be driving for several hours we enjoyed some of their signature margaritas.  At this restaurant they will not serve anyone more than three of their margaritas.  After two each and a delicious dinner we caught a Lyft to the Stadium. We arrived a few minutes late, but as you can see by the photo above we weren't the only ones.  There was quite a delay while waiting for everyone to get through security and to their seats. Nothing better than popcorn in a Denver Broncos orange box. After awhile there was a surprise guest--Joe Nichols!  Joe and I have a strange relationship.  He seems to always show up in unexpected places when I'm there.  I've had unexpected sightings of him in Wichita, Las Vegas, Colorado Springs, and n...

We did it!  We took the plunge and made the investment in the fifth wheel that I've been dreaming about for two years.  As first time RV buyers three years ago we purchased the RV that we thought would meet our needs, but very quickly it became apparent that we had underestimated what are needs really are. You see, when you live it an RV for many months at a time your needs are different than what is needed for an occasional weekend getaway, especially if there's more than one of you. Do we need an RV that is controlled via wi-fi from our phones and the electronic control center?   Do we need an RV that has a master bedroom, plus options for two other full sized bed? How about the theater seating, huge TV and fireplace?   Do we need 30 feet of trailer with.... three slide outs? No, we probably don't need all that, but we want all that to be comfortable.   When I'm back in Yellowst...

Yesterday we ventured out to check out some new trails.  I'd recently learned about a city park that I wasn't familiar with in the northeast side of town.  I had planned this hike as an outing for the family during Mr. Bean's graduation, but we all know how that turned out with snow on May 20th. The weather was beautiful and after a short wait for a parking spot we checked out the trail map and chose the largest loop around the park. You can see the tip top of Pikes peak in the center of this shot.  Still lots of snow up there. Very nice trails with very little elevation gain through some nicely wooded areas. There were lots of rock bluffs and formations that we stopped to explore. We took a little detour off the main trail over to this one. There were also some arid areas filled with dryland grasses and cacti. Look!  There's even a picture of me this time. More rocks to explore.  There's a reason this ...