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.
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 25th
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 ................
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