Colorado Summer

Sorry this is so delayed and spans so much time... it was just one of those summers!
We spent our summer in beautiful Cotopaxi, CO. We have really enjoyed our time at this KOA campground along the Arkansas River. I loved working in the office and Jim had a blast fishing.

We got here right before Memorial Day after spending some time in Denver with the kids. Kalyn graduated from 6th grade and had a beautiful continuation ceremony. Most of the kids had gone to school together since 6th grade so the teachers put together a slideshow; showing them growing up together through the years. One of their classmates passed away from leukemia a few weeks before graduation. They included a special tribute to him. Then they had baby pictures (before) and graduation pictures (after). They were hilarious! It was a very moving and memorable ceremony. 
We celebrated Mother’s Day together. We also went to Allie’s ballet and tap recital. She was fantastic but unfortunately, she only had 1 dance routine. Denver visit

The drive down here was really beautiful. It takes about 3 hours from Denver, south through Colorado Springs and then west to Canon City, past the Royal Gorge and through Big Horn Sheep Canyon (yes there are lots of bighorn sheep) to Cotopaxi (named after a mountain in Ecuador). US Hwy.50 one of Americas grand old roads which was kinda the way to go back in the day before interstate hywys. ( remember that ) follows the Arkansas River the whole way. The view of the mountains and thru the canyons is pretty spectacular and there is a lot of history for old west buffs like us. Cotopaxi

We’re sure you heard about the wildfires that threatened this area in June. Almost all the buildings and the tramway were destroyed at the Royal Gorge, 20 miles to the east of us. Quite a historical and financial loss but there's already plans to rebuild ( gotta love capitalism ). Wouldn't you know the fire occured before we were able to visit the Gorge and it's remained closed ever since...go figure. Then the Black Forest fire happened in Colorado Springs followed by 2 major fires to the south of us ( one within 7 miles )and a huge one to the west around Wolf Creek pass. Holy cow Andy W. it was getting a little spooky. Needless to say we were praying that they would stay away from our us and they did except for the smoke which was at times pretty irrritating. But we had lots of cancellations from people who thought all of Colorado was on fire! Considering that the media made a huge drama out of it pre-empting all other programming on all major channels for a week it's no surprise. Thank goodness for Direct TV.

When we first arrived in Cotopaxi seasonal run-off had the river running deep, fast and dirty which equals unfishable.  Since Jim was really jonesing to do some fishing he bought a tent, air mattress, took the jeep and went to Antero Lake (remember last summer?) to fish. Alisha and Billy met him there and they had a great time. Then a couple of weeks later he went with Billy to Delany Buttes (outside of Walden in northern Colorado) for a week long fishing trip to celebrtate Billy's 40th birthday. It should come as no surprise that we're calling this the Dr. Seuss summer....remember 1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Delaney Buttes trip

All in all the campground was pretty busy, in spite of the fires. Alisha & Jeremy and the kids came down for a weekend in August and Allie got to spend the rest of the week with us. We had a blast! She and Papa Jim swam everyday for hours and watched the Disney channels. They wanted to go fishing but the gnats were horrible. They were constantly getting into your ears, nose, mouth.... yuck! So they played a lot of Crazy 8's and Go Fish, instead. The kids at Cotopaxi

One of the best attractions at the campground was the Art Shed.  Amy (who owns the campground along with her husband Jim & their son Thunder) ) is a potter. So she remodeled an old garage to be her pottery studio and created a wonderful area for people to do arts & crafts on the weekends. They always had ceramics and depending on the weekend there was tie-dye or Domino art. Check out some of the pictures on their website, coloradocampingkoa.com

We did some exploring and 4 wheeling in the area. Up and over Hayden Pass and part of the way up on Hermit Pass, both in the Sangre de Cristos. Lots of history and great scenery. The roads were very rocky but passable. Found a beautiful waterfall on Hermit Pass thanks to our 4 wheeling guide book...most people don't even know it is there. There are so many more places we want to explore we've decided to come back next summer. So plan your vacations now and come and see us.
 4 wheel trips
We left Cotopaxi September 9th. Jim headed to Antero to fish....go figure and I went over to the western slope to visit my friends Paris (in Hotchkiss) and Jill (in Montrose). 
Trip to the Western slope)
I had a great visit with them both and joined up with Jim at the lake . We went down to Denver in a few days to visit everybody and put in a new floor in the motorhome, We got to spend a lot of  time with Allie and Kalyn and Ethan, having sleepovers, going to soccer and basketball games, the pool, 1st grade and the Zoo. Kind of a last summer hoo-rah before returning to our semi- occupied, sorta retired life style. 
School & Soccer:
Zoo
Pool
We left Denver  Oct 8th, heading out to our next job in Kansas. Yep, we are going to work in Coffeyville for Amazon.com. We'll be working in the warehouse for 2 months. Check out the next blog to see how Toto or rather we..... like Kansas.