Camping out

Yes, we hiked four miles and about 1500 feet up to do this! It's the greatest pleasure trip of all time, next to driving your own kids to summer camp! It was loads of fun, except the sleeping and trips into the forest to read the morning paper. Below is our tent and me rising early, looking for coffee.

Here is Nancy and Teena enjoying coffee in the morning. They're waiting for chef Mark to get the pancakes going. And yes, coffee tastes better out here.

Tammy and Dan are also waiting for pancakes while they enjoy coffee in camp. Hey, who built that fire? Yes, it was me. The ladies seemed concerned about their appearance, since there is really no way to be prepared for all the dirt and messy hair, and so forth. I suggested that the bags under their eyes were Gucci! And that bottle of water? Perrier.

Finally the pancakes were ready to eat. And wow were they good. I was a little wary of Mark's recipe though. It said, "add two heaping tablespoons of anything!" Hmmm... Anyway, for dinner we had freeze-dried Beef Stroganoff. It was pretty good once you tenderized the gravy!

Granddaughters

Granddaughters are unbelievable. As the saying goes, "There is only one beautiful child in the world, and every parent has it!" My daughter's girls are happy as you can see below. What a beautiful world. Of course I find it amazing what our parents sometimes wished for. My mother used to say to me, "I want you to have kids just like you." If she'd only known!

Life is worth living

Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create that fact. Fishing a few times along the way helps too. Below, Nancy caught a nice rainbow trout and I'm helping her get it off the hook.

Now we're up at Rainbow lakes eating fish. These were the ones that didn't get away. Too bad it started to rain at dinner time. We hiked the trail in about four miles over the weekend with friends, camped out and went fishing for four days. More on this later...

The home I grew up in

We stopped by the house I grew up in on the way through Arizona. It looked much the same except the trees were a lot bigger and there was no lawn. Too bad. I remember all those weekends mowing it, all for nothing. Looking at my old house made me think of my Dad. Home is where you wait until your son brings home the car!

La Fonda

On our trip to Arizona, we stopped and had lunch with Pam at LaFonda. Oh, the memories this brought back to us. I'm a born gourmet. I start out every day with a bowl of Cheerios Rockefeller! Then, for lunch I go to LaFonda. It's not much but it beats the Italian/French place down the street. When they make potatoes, they mash them with their feet.

Hiking near Pagosa

We found a wonderful place to hike last week near Pagosa Springs. This trail is about 20 miles North West of town and follows the Piedra River. Nancy tried her new pack to see how it would do when loaded down and on the trail. What we discovered was a beautiful, pristine forest and a really nice pack.

A mile or so down the trail we came to this bridge and stopped to take a photo and drink some water. The bridge crossed over another river flowing into the Piedra.

When we saw this stretch of river, we decided to throw a line in the water and see if any fish wanted to meet some people. It was their lucky day. Good fishing is a matter of timing. You have to get there yesterday. Of course I had a good excuse, there's nothing a fisherman can do if his worm ain't trying!

A little bit further down, we found a nice campsite. Today was only a day hike, not an overnight one. However, I found a note taped to one of the trees. It said, "I was bothered by mosquitoes here the very first day. That night, they started coming after me with flashlights! Then my wife said, "no, they're just fireflies."

Coyotes

We went for a walk this morning and heard several coyotes singing and making music. We assumed it was because they had a nice breakfast, feasting on prairie dogs or rabbits. Sounds appetizing huh! They won't make the Denver Symphony Choral but they are nice to hear.

More on Red Rocks

I met the lead singer Tom Johnston from the Doobie Brothers after the concert. I asked him if he could read music and he said, "yea, but not enough to hurt my singing." Well, okay I didn't really meet him, but if I had I think that's what he would have said. His singing was pretty good actually.

Red Rocks has a special charm to it. However, with the new pot laws in Colorado, hundreds of people were smoking it. I could hardly walk out after breathing all that the second hand smoke. I remember the days when a cool smoke was menthol! The guy behind me smoked so much grass - I'll bet he has to mow his stomach weekly!

Don't look at me. If I could handle it, I'd have been a musician.

Ready for school

My grandson Andy is ready for school to start. His first meeting was last week. Yes, I suppose they have meetings now, before school starts. All my meetings related to school, centered around that card I had to bring home to my parents. "Yea but Dad, look what I got in gym class!" Trying to anticipate his future school work, I asked him the other day; "What did Paul Revere say at the end of his ride?" He replied, "Whoaa!"

Nowadays there are two important days in the life of a student: the day he starts school and the day he pays off his student loans!

Red Rocks - concert

I want to apologize to my readers for the long delay in making a post. It's been busy at work to say the least. Glad to have a job too. Last May we bought tickets to Red Rocks to see the Doobie Brothers and the Steve Miller band.

Below was our favorite band, the Doobie Brothers. They kicked it off with Jesus is Just All Right with Me. We heard many of their oldies and enjoyed our time at the concert with 10,000 other fans.

We went to the concert with Mark and Teena. They brought the veggie platter and Nancy brought the cheese and crackers. We enjoyed out time together before the concert started, and got to know a few of our neighbors around us. Careful now! don't spill that on me! And, hey! what's that smell?

Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons did some nice acoustic stuff too. Then later, during the Steve Miller Band it started to rain. We donned our ponchos and toughed it out as long as possible. We left while they were playing jet airliner. We were ready to go anyway since it was Sunday night and we'd already been there four hours.

Colorado Hiking

I found it amazing how busy this butterfly was, hopping from flower to flower. I suppose hard work never killed anybody. But then, relaxing is responsible for very few casualties.

It's so easy to walk around Colorado and miss the little things, the wildlife, the flowers, and the simple creatures that adorn our world. When Nancy and I hike early in the morning, just the two of us, we see so much more like, deer, elk, big horn sheep, fox, coyotes, bear and small creatures too. Add lots of people to the trail, along with their dogs, and noisy bikes, etc, and presto, they're gone! Then, you realize that creatures in the wild are native, and not in a zoo. They feel easily threatened by outsiders. So, you must meet them on their own terms.

In a sense, God is quiet in His creation as well as in His relationship with us. We go charging into His world trying to find Him and wanting Him to do things for us, making lots of noise, and we overlook Him, demanding satisfaction and immediate answer to prayer. Then we blame Him for not being there, yet we are the one's with a mental handicap. I Cor. 2:8f says; "the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age had understood, for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, but just as it is written:

Things which eye has not

Seen and ear has not heard,

And which have not entered

the heart of man,

All that God has prepared for those who love Him.

For to us God revealed them through the spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God."

Vs.14 and 15 says; "But the natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct him? But we (those who are spiritual) have the mind of Christ."

The passage goes on to say that Christians who have broken fellowship with God and His blessings can't see all of God's realities and the things He wants to reveal to them. But for those who are completely yielded to God and have surrendered their will to Him, there is no limitation to how such a person can understand and hear the mind of Christ. Ask God, "what would you have me do?" And then do it. By giving up our will and meeting God on His terms, we gain everything. It's like quietly walking through the forest, early in the morning, and waiting and listening... you see everything.

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colors,

He made their tiny wings.

I've decided that I'm missing the island time we had a few months ago. St John was a really fun place and we really enjoyed the laid back time and atmosphere, especially with our friends Mark and Teena. Can't wait to go back.

So for now, we have to say goodbye to all the beautiful fish, turtles, manta rays, squid, octopus, tarpon, and starfish. God willing, we'll be back!

Black Canyon 'Rocks'

We visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison last week with our friends, Mark and Teena. What a beautiful place, absolutely stunning! None of us had been here before and we were really glad we could still hike around and see all the cool places. Below is our visit to the North rim.

We hiked along the rim and came to this place, which made for some nice photographs. The canyon is so big that you can't see the bottom or the top from this angle, with a camera.

The canyon is about 2,800 feet deep from the highest to the lowest point and of course you'll notice how narrow it is. This makes is proportionately the deepest and widest canyon in the country.

Exclamation Point, pictured below is the top of the highest point, called the Painted Wall. We had a snack here and then continued on our hike up to the top of Green Mountain. That's the Gunnison River cutting through the canyon at the bottom.

Careful Nancy! You're getting a little close for my comfort. This was taken at one of the many roadside viewing areas along the road.

There is a national recreation portion of the canyon on the East end. We took a boat ride down this area and saw this beautiful waterfall. In order to get to the boat, we had to walk down 232 steps and then hike down the river about a mile.

Early bird

The bad thing about being an early bird is that you have to make your own breakfast! This little hummingbird has taken up residence in the pine tree in our back yard and decided to start a family. She even has a home defense strategy. Her husband flies around the tree attacking anything that comes near, including that pesky robin and me! I could see the attacks everyday, but could never figure out why he was so mean. Then, Nancy noticed the nest on the limb.