Our trip began with destination Durango, then Ouray, then Frisco, then lunch in Denver with Marvin and Jennie, then Estes Park, then lunch with friends in Loveland from our former living in Peru days, then several days in Harrison while Larry and Wayne were helpers in the reshingling of their mom's roof, a quick trip to Chadron for me, then Rapid City to visit friends and relatives, then back to Harrison to drop Larry's mom off, then Steamboat Springs, then Moab, and then...home. All this travel was done from Friday, July 27, through Sunday, August 12, and involved a lot of picture taking. AND, I got a new camera in the middle of the trip with more zoom than the other camera but still not as much zoom as I'd like ha!
Lake Vallecito near Durango...
View from hotel porch in Ouray....
Black Canyon of the Gunnison...
Is Colorado countryside beautiful or what!! I was always deeply impacted by the scenery I saw when we traveled in South America, but this road trip through Colorado reminded me of the beautiful scenery we do have in the U.S.
Along with the beautiful scenery we were treated to, we also enjoyed the weather! Although it was warm by Colorado standards, we absolutely loved it! We particularly enjoyed the rain whenever we were treated to it.
We ventured out of the Colorado mountains into Denver to meet up with stepfather Marvin and wife Jennie. FYI: this photo and the previous ones were all taken with the "old" camera.
There was a Costco near Marvin and Jennie's where a sort of impulse purchase was made of our new camera which I expect to provide us with better focused with more zoom photos...we'll see. We traveled to Estes Park and stayed at the Stanely Hotel where parts of the Steven King movie, The Shining were filmed -- what a beautiful historic hotel with a perfect front patio to enjoy a glass of wine at the end of a day of travel....
I need to watch The Shining again...
We left Estes Park the following morning to meet up with Phoenix friends Buck and Susan who are now living in Loveland (in the summer - such lucky, smart people) for coffee. We then went to the beautiful home of friends, Gary and Lori. We met Gary and Lori over ten years ago when we were all living in Cajamarca, Peru. By the way, the background of this picture is their front door!
We'd had a great time traveling through the Colorado mountains but it was time to head to Harrison. Larry, Wayne and godson Jared were to start reshingling Larry's mom's roof the following morning -- off to northwest Nebraska! Nephew-in-law Doug helped too allowing the job to be done in 3 1/4 days. Nebraska was experiencing high temperatures so add the heat to the tough job of shingling - ouch.
While the fellows worked, I headed to Chadron to visit Virginia and Cheri...
The parade in Harrison is always a highlight of the visit, particularly for the kids...
And then there is church on Sunday morning -- Larry's mom Dorothy plays piano...
A special treat this year was that at the end of the day, we took a drive into the surrounding canyons twice and saw several doe with their twin fawns!!, buffalo!, wild turkey, what appeared from a very far distance as Ostrich? and a coyote along with a beautiful sunset.
We were able to spend an evening with old friends John and Terry.... By the way, the below picture was taken with the old camera. Not good quality but I had to include it...
So, with the shingling done, Fair over and other family members gone, we headed to the Black Hills. Larry had a half day of business to attend to allowing us to see family and friends there. We first traveled to Spearfish to visit Larry's Aunt Dee who makes 96 look easy! and his Cousin Judy and her husband.
(L-R: Cousin Judy, Aunt Dee and Larry's mom Dorothy)
It is always a pleasure to gather with Larry's friends from his college days -- I need to go find a photo of the guys from those days so you can see if they've changed much...
(L-R: Larry, Bret, Danny and Brad)
We then met with Larry's Uncle Richard and Aunt Marj and Aunt Co for breakfast before heading back to Harrison. (L-R: Larry, Uncle Richard, Aunt Co, Dorothy and Aunt Marj)
So, back to Harrison where we dropped off Dorothy and we were onto Steamboat Springs -- it was time to start the return trip to Arizona.
Following a lovely evening in Steamboat Springs (and rain!) we headed for Moab, UT, as a destination and came upon these birds in a field near Meeker -- Larry thinks they are Sandhill Cranes -- huge! which you can't fully appreciate in this picture.
In past years, we've been through Moab on a few occasions and this trip, as with Colorado, Moab countryside affected me to a higher degree than in the past in it's beauty.
Enjoyed the drive through Monument Valley -- gotta love The West!!
The vacation officially ended on Sunday, August 12, but we look forward to our next trip at the end of August when Larry's work takes us to Tucson for a short get away.
Today is August 15, which is significant in that one year ago today I started chemotherapy. I'm thankful to still be here. I'm thankful for the supportive family and friends. I'm thankful that I feel good (last scan showed "disease stable"). I'm thankful for the continued opportunity to be -- to be able to take a trip and enjoy the beautiful countryside in the U.S. Ha! and I'm thankful for hair! Onward and upward...
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