The first 6 weeks of our “time off” from River Spruce were very busy! At least for me ….. After we got all the new towing stuff installed on the new Jeep, Jim headed south to Cotopaxi and went fishing. I went to South Dakota to visit Jeremy and Brandy and Sydney (they moved there in June) over Labor Day. It was a beautiful drive to a place I’ve never been to. They live in Whitewood. It's a small town right in the middle between Deadwood, Spearfish and Sturgis.
We had a fun time in Deadwood on Saturday. They had a parade of horse drawn wagons and a re-enactment of snake oil sales complete with costumes and old fashioned speech. We went in this great store called “Beer and Bling”. Buy a beer and browse all the bling ….. Then we had lunch at Kevin Costner’s restaurant and casino, Diamond Lil’s. The entire place is decorated with memorabilia from all of his movies. I discovered I had seen them all. Deadwood website
Monday we went to Sturgis to have lunch at the Loud American Roadhouse. Very fun place, famous for their Steak Tips. These are bite sized steak pieces that are chicken fried. They are so tender and SO GOOD. Not much was happening in town since the rally was over Photos and info on the Sturgis Rally so we went to Spearfish to the park and the historic DC Booth fish hatchery. It was created in 1896 to propagate and stock trout in the Black Hills. It is a living museum and still provides trout for stocking. DC Booth website,
Then we found a park with horseshoe pits set up for competitions. Except that the ground around the stakes was so hard the shoes bounced everywhere!
It was a great visit and they really like living there. Pictures of my trip to South Dakota
Two days after I got back to Cotopaxi, Co. I left again, this time to go to a wedding. You know how your own kids keep growing and soon you have grandkids, etc but you just don’t embrace the reality of other people in your life life growing up and changing? You always remember them the way they were? We lived in Montrose, CO. for almost 18 years and my kids grew up there. I ran a home daycare for 16 years. Now I’m going to one of those kids’ wedding! Her mom is a dear friend so I’ve seen Brittany many times over the years and she has 2 little ones of her own. But there is something about a wedding that just hammers reality home.
It was a beautiful wedding in the mountains east of Montrose near Lake City, Co. We stayed in rustic cabins next to the river and transformed everything into a wonderful blend of outdoor woods and wedding bling Pictures of Brittany's wedding
The next weekend we drove the motorhome down to our friends west of Gallup, NM. Jim and Bren have a beautiful acreage up against the cliffs in the desert. They work on the Navajo reservation in Window Rock, Az. and are building this house. It’s called “The Camp” and we came for the Roasty. A roasty is when you get together with friends, old and new, drink beer, cook amazing food and roast chilies. They took orders (mild to extra hot), drove to Albuquerque and got many, many 40# bags of Lemitar chilis. So we cooked and imbibed and roasted and ate and watched some amazing sunsets and cooked and roasted and ate and imbibed. It was wonderful! We had a great time and a beautiful trip down there and back. Pictures of our Roasty trip
We drove down to Gallup via Highway 285 through Alamosa and Antonito in Colorado, through Tres Piedras in New Mexico, west to Chama, (where we spent the night) then on to Farmington and Shiprock and south to Gallup. Coming back we went to Albuquerque. I needed to get chilies (because I did not order any and wanted mild) and we were able to meet up with dear friends for lunch. We went to Taco Cabana website for lunch. They have incredible food. I highly recommend searching for one near you if you are in the southwest. Taco Cabana locate by zip code. Then we drove north through Taos and Tres Piedras and back to Antonito and Alamosa. You might know Chama and Antonito as that is where the Cumbres and Toltec narrow gauge railroad runs between. Cumbres and Toltec railroad website If you are into historic train rides, this is one to put on your bucket list! You also are very close to the oldest church in Colorado (website) Great Sand Dunes National Park (website), Colorado's only alligator attraction (Colorado Gators website) and another wonderful scenic train ride is the Rio Grande La Veta Pass route that travels between Alamosa and La Veta. (Train video ) They even have outdoor concerts at the top.
Well, that was 3 trips by the 22nd of September…...Wow!
We spent the next 3 weeks or so hanging around the KOA in Cotopaxi. The Aspen colors were beautiful. It’s been several years since I’ve been in the high country to see them and we really enjoyed the drives we took to see them. Golden Aspen pictures
I also had fun working with my friend Amy in the Art Shed at the campground. This year we made Sugar Skulls and helped the kids decorate them. One of our campers brought her white Cockatoo along for the weekend and he was quite the showoff with everyone. Check out this video….it's amazing. Cotopaxi pictures and video And here is a fantastic video taken by one of our campers via a drone…….who’d have thunk it! Drone video of Cotopaxi.
Even though we weren’t at River Spruce, Wendye and Shelley shared some videos and pictures.
And a friend sent me this link of a traffic jam, Estes Park style
The fishing was great and Jim could have stayed to fish for another month at least but I was ready for a road trip so we headed south ………...
Jim and Becky I am so pleased that you could enjoy many trips and see and visit so many friends and relatives. You are loved by so many and it is obvious why. You were so good to all of the people that stayed at River Spruce and really help Wendye and Shelly so very much. I had my last PT treatment last week and now just have a home regimen of exercises to keep the arm in good shape. Becky you were such an angel to help me with the stabilizer etc. that is why it healed so well. My caftan has been such a perfect item to wear in comfort and style. Thanks again for that lovely gift. The best gift is your friendship (Jim and Becky and Lucy). That will be a blessing for which I will be thankful on Thanksgiving Day and each day following.. Will hope to get the little cabin again next year, but can't count on it. Will keep it in my prayers. Keep enjoying trips and people and places. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving and keep enjoying trips. Sharon Struve
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