Leavenworth -- Autumn Leaf Festival

The final days of this trip. We de ou last "vacation"" stop in Leavenworth for the festival fun with part of the family. Susan and I arrived on Thursday to Mary (Susan's sister) and Phil's house; Sarah and family would arrive on Friday evening and we would all have the weekend together.

On Friday I took myself on my usual bike ride loop for a few miles, while Susan and Mary had a plan to take a hike up Ski Hill.

 

A pleasant house by a pond

 

Wondering if these students were practicing for tomorrow's parade

 

Bike Friendly Leavenworth

 

A piece of the River

Upon returning home I found that Susan (exhausted from all the driving of our long trip) and Mary (exhausted from a month long stay in Korea helping with her newborn grand baby) were each taking a nap. The heck with that hike up Ski Hill -- they were tired out.

On Saturday there would be a kids parade before the regular parade and we would decorate all the bikes. But first let's explore the festivities.

 

Lucy would try her hand at climbing the wall

 

And she would get up fairly high

 

Kaitlyn would do her own climbing to get to the top of the slide

 

Jaydon screams down the slide

 

And Lucy has her turn

 

The bandstand draws a small crowd for some music listening

 

We gathered up bikes and people and transported to Mary's condo garage as a staging area for decorating.

 

Unload bikes and decorating gear

 

Mary had provided some colorful stuff for the bikes

 

Kaitlyn thinks this is fun

 

Lucy thinks her (and their) bikes will be the prettiest in the parade.

 

Family finds the best viewing spot

 

Get to the parade start and .... wait

 

Starting of the parade

 

Jaydon would like to be riding faster!

 

Lucy paces herself too

 

Kaitlyn did her wave to everyone along the route (it was just too cute)

And their bikes were the prettiest and best decorated in the parade -- though there were a few more with quite nice decorations as well.

After the Kids Parade, the Regular one started. At an hour and a half long, it is the longest parade I have ever been to. So many schools from around the state

had junior and senior high school bands, and many local and non-local people had elaborately decorated floats, cars and wagons.

Unique for the Leavenworth Parade are the Alpenhorns

After lunch at Mary and Phil's, the family did do the Ski Hill hike and I joined them for only part of it.

Lots of fun and good activity for this weekend and a fine way to close out our travels for this summer.

I don't know how I did this to myself, but a week after getting home I will be flying out to Michigan for yet more fun with my friend Vickie. Will be blogging again, so keep an eye out ;'-)

Posted with Blogsy

Chugwater Wyoming

Not much writing for this day, but a cool stop in this little town that thinks it is a big town. We found it simply by taking a little diversion off the interstate to follow the "business" alternate route.

 

It was early, but not too early for a stop at the Soda Fountain store

 

And for Susan, some of the famous, award winning chugwater chili.

 

1876 soda and pharmacy store. Medications once stored here

 

Old fountain and tables adorn

 

A sign found in the restroom. Good rules to live by!

 

Lawn art in one of the yards of town

 

This steakhouse has seen its day, and a newer version has been built on the edge of town

 

It was a stage stop back in the day.

 

Church cum library

Memorable on our drive through the prairie of Wyoming are all the beautiful antelope we saw along the way. Two or three at time, sometimes a solo one, and other times herds of up to about 20 or so. It must have been the right time of day for us to be driving as there were so many antelope out feeding or wandering for our pleasure.

Landing in Missoula for the afternoon and night, we got to share time with our friends Vickie and Ray. They are gracious hosts and we wish we had more time to stay for a couple more days. But home calls, as does Mary's family gathering in Leavenworth, so we depart this morning. We'll be back Vickie and Ray -- so keep our bed ready ;'-) and thanks for the hospitality.

Posted with Blogsy

Boulder CO

A visit with cousin Dean and wife Kate, and Uncle Stewart (and as it turns out, dog Buster) was a real treat. On one of his walks this past winter, Dean had found this little thing of a dog lying at the road side half starved, malnourished and in very bad shape. He and Kate rescued him, took him to the vet and left him there for a week to see if someone would claim him. No one did, so they are now the happy owners of Buster. I am so annoyed with myself for neglecting to get a photo of Buster and of Kate!!!

On the morning after our arrival, there was a half ironman triathlon scheduled and Susan and I got up early to walk down to the reservoir to watch some of it.

 

Colorado -- Rocky Mountain High!

A fine view of the Rockies just across the road from Dean and Kate's driveway.

 

The reservoir is very big and the 1.2 mile swim was not only long, but there was quite a bit of wind to battle.

 

A little barn site on the walk back to the house with Dean.

After breakfast and time visiting with Uncle Stewart, Dean would take us for an afternoon drive to enjoy some of the sights. Susan and I had visited Uncle Stewart twice at his Tucson AZ home. As he ages, he has need for some care and now lives with Dean and Kate in part of their duplex.

Our driver (Dean) took us to the top of some mountain for fantastic views of the city.

 

Beautiful brick work forms an amphitheater with a view

 

Amphitheater seating

 

Dean and Stew make their way to the stage

 

Our guide points out some things of interest

 

Rock lined walkway

After this stop we moved on to an area that has a sensory trail walk. Susan and I enjoyed taking turns walking along the rope with eyes closed and taking the challenges along the way of identifying things with our other senses.

 

Holding onto the rope and walking with eyes closed

 

Identifying two different rocks by feel

Leaving this area, Dean brought us to yet another place of pleasure. People often come here to just sit, or have their lunch and enjoy the scenery and peace.

 

Pearl Street in Boulder. There are several blocks -- at least 3 or 4 -- that make up a pedestrian only market place and this day there was an event happening.

 

 

 

Susan and cousin Dean at the Fall Fest

 

The University of Colorado (here in Boulder) mascot is the Buffalo.

The pedestrian mall is apparently very well known, and boasts many nice shops that include Patagonia that Susan had to hop into for a moment (fortunately she did not buy anything), and what looked like an interesting bike shop that we did not have time to prowl!

This was a very full day, and after dinner we were pretty well done in. We watched the Packers lose their game to the Vikings ;'-( and thought of all the relatives here who would be sad for the loss.

Now we will be in transit for a bit as we begin the final leg of our marathon trip!

Posted with Blogsy

Fortober Fest

One last day in Fort Collins, we rode our bikes into town for some festivities. Riding along the Poudre (remember -- "Pooder") Trail we captured a few more interesting things. At least interesting to me. ;'-)

 

Not that I haven't seen prairie dogs before, but we don't have them at home.

 

And here were two of them out of their home.

 

I call this the crow bar.

A little furthere on we spotted a young guy with multi colored hair and leather "jewelry" adorning his wrists and throat. We could not make out what he was doing crouched over in the middle of the trail holding a pop can. As we got closer we found out what he was doing.

 

The young man was trying to get this snake to trail side for safety. He said, we are all sharing this planet and this one needs some help to survive

It was a baby and the guy wasn't sure if it was a bull snake (harmless) or a rattler (since the tail shook when he got near). I appreciated what the guy was doing, and told him so. We found our own Vernetta here in Fort Collins.

We veered off the trail to take a street into town, locked up our bikes and strolled through the stands and the shops of old town square.

 

The sign over the band stand says "Fortoberfest"

 

Another mews-type alley way.

We found lunch in the form of nachos, which Susan has been craving, and reclaimed our bikes from the bike rack to take the trail back to Lucie's. There we cleaned everything up, took showers and packed our stuff to depart for Boulder.

Posted with Blogsy