We made it down to San Carlos without any problems. The rain was pretty heavy north of Hermosillio due to tropical storm Odile. The washes were really full and raging but the highway was clear and by the time we cleared Hermosillio the worst of the rain was done. We got to the house and got everything unloaded and unpacked pretty quickly and went into town to have some tacos. Those of you who have been to San Carlos will love this.... JJ's has moved. He owns his own building now and has built a huge palapa and an enclosed dining room with a tiled floor and at least 30 tables! No liquor license yet so no beer with our tacos but they were still great! Marina Cantina has been sold and just reopened as Hammerheads. They do have beer so we had a welcome home beer there. Chino, who used to work for Ocean Sports is managing it. There are another couple of new restaurants in town, too....reviews to follow.

It is so great to be back. It has been over 2 years since we were here and while some things have changed, the town remains the same. We've seen some old friends around town and at the dive shop. Ernesto is still the captain of the Ocean Spirit along with shipmates Oscar, Edgar and his brother. Our good friend Abrahm is running Ocean Sports here.

After I sent out the short blog about being on our way here, we got an email from long time dive friends saying they were in town to dive this weekend. How cool is that! We had dinner and caught up on all the news and had a great time.

Then we spent a great Saturday visiting our Mexican friend Rogelio and his family. It was his wife Mirna's birthday and they invited us over to join the celebration. The family just kept coming...... we left about 9:30 and Rogelio said the party went on until after 1 am. Definitely past our bedtime. We had carne asada, grilled onions & chilies and all the fixings. OMG it was good. Some of you who have followed our older blogs will remember that Rogelio & Mirna came over to the house one year and taught us to prepare tamales. They are great cooks and I am learning a lot.

Yesterday we went over to the boatyard to visit Abigail. It is a good thing we did. After these last storms we had quite a lot of water in the bilges and are pulling her out into the workyard today so we can pump her out and clean up. While she's there we will get some prices on the bottom work and start to do a few things.

Here are some pictures of the view from our apartment and of the party.

Pictures of the house, the bay and friends

Mexico or Bust!

On our way to Mexico ......Hope to miss most of the rain from Odile. They are expecting more flash flooding in Phoenix as it is heading this way.

Our 1^st stop after leaving Estes Park was Golden to see the grandkids and pack up our kayak and dive gear. We spent a whole day with Ethan, (Jeremy’s son, who is 10) doing some shopping, going out to lunch and going to the new X-Men movie. A whole day of play. We really had fun!

Then we drove to Red River the 1^st night and stayed with Judy. Jim's sister Norma was there, too. This was the 1^st time the 3 of them have been together since Jim and I have been together. It was a hoot.

Made the long trip to Phoenix and stayed with Melanie and got to spend time with grandsons Jack and Harvey. By then Norma got back to Phoenix and we stayed with her for a couple of days.

While out running errands we stopped to have lunch at Chino Bandido which was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. (Chino Bandido on DDD video) We've talked about eating there every time we come to Phoenix and this time we were finally in the “neighborhood”. It is in a little strip mall. As the name suggests it is a fusion of Mexican and Chinese food with some Jamaican thrown in. Really great food. Check out their menu at chinobandido.com.

It's been 100'+ here and Lucy has been really uncomfortable. We knew Mexico will be almost as hot for at least a month plus playing in the sand and salt water so we got a hot weather hair cut for Lucy. Now she looks like a Catawhoula except without the tail. Pictures of our trip to Phoenix 

Part 3: August

Estes Park

In July our summer plans for Cotopaxi took a right turn. Wendye & Shelley (owners of River Spruce in Estes Park, CO where we spent the winter) called us to tell us that Wendye's brother had passed away. They needed us to come and work for August so they could go to Wisconsin to the family cabin at the lake where he had lived and take care of it and his estate. This would be a good trial run for our time there next summer. (Last April they offered us a permanent position, working 3 months on and 3 months off, starting in Jan 2015) River Spruce webpage

River Spruce is a lot different in the summer than covered with snow in the winter! The river is bubbling right along and the flowers fill the window boxes and the flower beds alongside the cabins. It is really beautiful. The fishing is great and everybody has a campfire. We met many wonderful people and ate a lot of s'mores. Out of 8 cabins we only had 3 nights vacant all month so we were busy. Thank goodness we don't have to clean rooms. Jim did a lot of painting and staining, I made 2 pans of coffee cake every morning and answered a lot of phone calls and emails …. and washed lots of towels! Since we're going to be here a lot, we decided to buy an electric smoker. We really had fun with it and did chicken, a beef roast and even some cheese! The brand is “Smokin-it” and is just fantastic. Smokin-it webpage

We had a black bear swim across the river one morning and then never saw him again. Lots of deer and the elk started coming around before we left. River Spruce pictures

We miss being there already but are looking forward to being in San Carlos, Mexico for the next 3 months. 

Part 2: July

Right after the 4^th of July Jim and Ryan went on another hike along the Rainbow Trail Rainbow Trail webpage and up into the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness to Bushnell Lakes. Bushnell Lakes webpage. They did not make it all the way as it is as steep and difficult as advertised. But an amazing hike and views Hiking pictures

Then we went on a road trip to Red River, NM. Jim's sister Judy and her husband Gil remodeled an old building there into a gorgeous retirement home in this beautiful area. Red River webpage

On the way south we stopped at our favorite pottery store Azul Pottery, Azul Pottery webpage. It is actually a factory and you can tour it. Their pottery is really unique. We got them a house warming present and headed south through the San Luis valley. We were tempted to stop at the Great Sand Dunes National Park, but the weather was all thunder and lightning and hail and rain! Pretty incredible driving through that valley with mountains on both sides and all that fury all around us.

Their house is amazing! We got the tour and had a great visit, even had some time to do some off-roading. Gil bought a jeep and we got to have some fun. Pretty tame by our standards but we've got to ease them in gently!

House Pictures: Judy and Gil's new old house

Jeep Pictures: Off roading in Red River

We took a day trip into Taos and toured the Kit Carson home and museum. Kit Carson museum webpage

I never realized what an important part he played in opening up the West. He ran away from his apprenticeship in Missouri at the age of 16 and came to Taos in 1826. And his story goes on from there........ Timeline of Kit Carson's career  and his biography Kit Carson Then we went to Out Back Pizza for lunch...... amazing wood fired pizza in a unique setting. Taos pictures

Allie Jane came to visit us for a few days and we had a blast in the pool and fishing. Allie pictures

Then we had a special day driving to Guffy and going to the wolf sanctuary at the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. Wolf Sanctuary webpage. You will not believe the pictures! Wolf pictures

Mark's first wolf rescue was Cheyenne, at 3 weeks old. She is known as the healing wolf. Her story is quite incredible. Cheyenne.

They are totally off the grid up on the top of this mountain Map. Everything is solar powered. He has 12 wolves now and is building runs for 12 more. He is rescuing them from another sanctuary whose owner's health is failing. You have to make an appointment as he only takes 1 small group at a time. He is always looking for volunteers, especially to lead the tours so he can work with the wolves. You can park your RV and work for a month or longer if you like ….... we are considering it for next May.

We are off to work at River Spruce in Estes Park for the month of August. Sad to leave our beautiful yard on the banks of the Arkansas River and all our friends there........ Pictures of our site at Cotopaxi See you in part 3........

Part 1 of our summer: June

We have been really, really busy this summer...besides me working in the office at the KOA and Jim fishing, I dug out my beads and stones and have been making earrings and jewelry again. I have it for sale in the store at the campground and on Fridays at the Farmer's Market in Cotopaxi.

Then we did all of this in June (PART 1) and July (PART 2)!

We survived Memorial Day and then left for Sacramento to visit our daughterAvey and for our oldest grandson, Isaiah's high school graduation. Elena, Avey's new baby, is our youngest.

We had a wonderful visit. Isaiah is going on to Junior College and playing football in Merced, CA.

Graduation pictures

Holden and Bella (his younger brother and sister) have grown up so much in the last few years. Avey has a great new apartment in Sacramento and we helped her do some unpacking. Jim got to set up the crib. We didn't get to visit with Albert much as he was working crazy long hours but we really came to cuddle Elena anyway. She is such a happy baby! She smiles and talks to you all the time. Pictures of Elena

We've settled into the summer routine. Jim fished the Arkansas River until the run off got too extreme. We've had record flows through the canyon this summer and it is just now becoming fish-able again. So he's spent a lot of time at DeWeese Reservoir, fly fishing for small mouth bass. They are such good eating! We love cooking them for fish tacos. DeWeese reservoir

And we've had lots of opportunities to explore and do some really fun things:

One of Jim's favorite places to fish is Grape Creek. It drains out of DeWeese Reservoir and is pretty remote. Lots of hiking to get there. He took Ryan (our foreign exchange worker from Jamaica) and it was his first experience hiking and getting “back to nature”. Jim caught lots of fish and they both had a great time....Ryan was the official photographer. Grape Creek pictures

On the way back they stopped at a historic site … Beckwith Ranch Beckwith Ranch

We spent a delightful afternoon driving to Cripple Creek and touring the jail museum. I wanted to tour a museum of one of the famous “Houses” in the Red Light District but it didn't appeal to Jim so the jail it was. It was fascinating and the pictorial history was excellent. Jail Museum webpage Cripple Creek has had quite a colorful history over the years. Cripple Creek history There is still an operating gold mine there, CCV gold mining co but now it is more well known for gambling just like Central City and Black Hawk. Then we drove around and looked at the beautifully restored historic homes. Cripple Creek pictures

June 25^th we went to a free concert in Westcliffe. The Wototo Children's Choir was performing. They were an energetic and smiling bunch of kids, so happy that Jesus was working in their lives! They were dressed in native attire and sang and danced. They also shared their stories of what their life was like before they were adopted. It was an incredible night. Their story is amazing. They are representatives of a group of orphans that have been rescued in Uganda. They become part of families in special villages and are raised to be leaders in their chosen fields so that they in turn can rebuild their country. In addition the program runs Baby Watoto, Project Gulu and Living Hope, a program for abandoned women who create beautiful jewelry and embroidered goods.

Here is a link to their site: Watoto webpage. And here is a link to a couple of videos of the concert and pictures of the kids. Watoto Children's Choir I hope after reading about their story and hearing them sing you will be as inspired as we were. There are so many ways we can all help and become more aware of the plight of orphans in Africa.

And we finally got to do some off-roading. We had to wait until almost the end of June because the snow pack was so deep. We went west and north and west to the ghost town of St Elmo. All of the old buildings are privately owned and are pretty well maintained. Of course you can only experience them from the streets as they are all posted. St Elmo webpage.

We continued on out of town on the road to Tin cup, Tin Cup 4X4 road,  another ghost town where people actually live. Tin Cup web page. The worst part of the road was right when you were leaving town! Unfortunately, the shelf road over the top was snowed close with a huge snow slide so we had to turn around and go back down the way we'd come. Really amazing scenery! St Elmo & Tin Cup Pass pictures

There is quit an extensive Amish community in the Westcliffe area. They bring their baked goods to the Farmer's Market every week. So when we saw that they were having an auction to benefit their school, we decided to go and see if there was anything we could not pass up and/or fit in the motorhome. They had lots of quilts and pies and old tractors and furniture but the only thing I saw was a beautiful handmade basket. We didn't want to stay around all day to bid on the basket so we settled for a coffee cake instead and headed home. We heard that the quilts went for a lot so I'm sure the basket did too. Amish auction pictures. Continued in Part 2 ................