Sunday Adventures - Memorial Day weekend

Yowza, I'm behind.  Babysteps.

This morning we got up about 7:30, got around for church.  We loaded up Jim and headed up the hill.

After church we went to the dogpark where his buddy Jack and his owner were.  Jim had a great time and is still wiped out!

Here are the latest dog park pics from May.

Dog Park Pics May

After the dogpark, we drove the Peak to Peak scenic highway, ended up in Boulder (no map, but made it).  Not a lot of pics in Boulder - I kept looking for the "Home of Mork and Mindy" sign, but was denied.

From there we came home through Lyons, but the pie ship had no pies!

We made it home about 4:30, had a late lunch and watched the rest of Lonesome Dove.

Exploring 5-27

Really behind

Yeah, really behind on blogging.....  Maybe later tonight.

We walked around Sprauge Lake today, saw a dude in Ninja boots.  That's right... full grown man, in public, wearing ninja boots.

Here is what they look like   Ninja Boots

I spent a little too much time in my teenage years reading about ninja's. :)

ALWAYS take your camera!

I broke my own rule tonight... always take your camera!

My list for going for a walk includes: GPS, camera, G23(That's Glock for the non-firearm types).  Possibly the Nano, water, etc.  But always the first 3 items.

I took Jim for a walk down the road to the park tonight - saw a red fox.  It was awesome too, not scraggly like I've seen back home.  Camera - Nuthin.

I'll leave you with this though:
 Estes Park news paper - Bobcat

Round Mountain

I will catch up... but not tonight.

We went to Round Mountain tonight after work.  It's about 4 miles down the hill or so, gotta look close or you miss the turn off.

There are two trails there, we took the "nature" trail.  Round trip it was 2.2 miles, with about 400ft of elevation gain.  Eventually I'll post the pdf of the GPS track.

Round mountain pics

Rocky Mountain National Park

We took Jim with us to church (he stayed in the kennel in the Yibble).  After church we went to the dog park, where he played with his buddy Jack.  It's pretty much a standing doggie-play-date now.

After the dog park, we went to The Other Side for lunch, and then up to RMNP.  We hadn't been up that way yet.

RMNP

One of my favorite spots.

Lily Lake

We went up to Lily Lake, did one lap and took some pics.  On the way out, we saw Wendy!  Crazy.  She asked us what's going on in Estes this weekend. :)

Lily Lake

Taste of Estes!

Whoa that was awesome!  20 vendors with different stuff, ranging from prime rib to BBQ sandwich.

My favorite was the BBQ sandwich!

The first round we sat down and I heard someone mention working in Cedar Rapids - I look across the table, and it's Boyd!  Pretty cool. We chatted for a bit, talked about maybe hiking later. He's here till the end of May.

When we purchased our tickets, the lady at the visitor's center told us to bring some containers because you can't try everything there you'd like.  Brilliant!

We were able to try pretty much everything!   My favorite still was the BBQ sandwich. :)

I didn't have the camera, but did have my cell phone so I took a few pics.

While there Lauretta sat down next to a lady and starting chatting.  Her name is Wendy and she works for the area transportation - the ones that take care of the town and NP shuttle buses. They had a good chat. :)

Before we left, they announced "last call" for the duck race.  Sure, we'll take one.  A lady came over and handed me the paperwork ( you pay $ to have a rubber duck. They all get tossed in the river, and if your duck comes in at the finish line, you could win a prize)

There was some bozo there in a duck costume, who had to come over and "shake" my hand.  The punk decided to be funny and continue shaking my hand after I was done. I tried to let go and he didn't.  It wasn't a hard grab, but just didn't let go.

I waited for a couple seconds and then announced loudly to the person sitting next to me "I'm a black belt in hapkido... watch this". And ducky let go. :)

Taste of Estes

Pics for the week!

Catching up again!

Exploring 4-15

Exploring 4-16

You guessed it.... 4-17

Drake->Glen Haven->Estes

Exploring tonight

Wow what a cool drive - Drake to Glen Haven to Estes.  Pics to come.

Up the hill

We made it "up the hill" to Estes tonight!  It was our first trip since we got here.  Wow, how cool.

First stop was the visitor's center where we loaded up on free documentation as well as the location of the dog park.

From there... dog park.  Jim was greeted by a chocolate lab who jumped the fence.  He was still on the leash and some growling occurred.  I quickly scooped him up.  The lab got bored and jumped back into the park.

After we entered into the area and took off his leash, he was fine, and had a good time.  When we were done, we stopped in at the indoor range (same parking lot as dog park) for the EP Gun and Archery club.  Very nice range and friendly folks.  I look forward to doing some plinking.

From there we hit True Value and snagged this year's "Rocky Card", which gives discounts to local stores.  After that we stopped by Estes Park Pet Supply and got the scoop on they do it yourself dog washing - pretty sweet, everything you need, and they clean up.  Jim will be getting a bath there!

Next up was a quest for Estes Park Pie Factory, "You need pie!".  We had no luck, and it's not looking good. :(

The next stop was Safeway to get some dessert, which ended up being cookies and tiny individual ice cream.  While there we ran into Lori and Kevin - the only 2 people we know in Estes.  (Just met them at the dog park)

 After Safeway, we stopped at Kind Coffee, where I snagged a bag of the darkest coffee they have. Can't wait to try some in the morning!  http://www.kindcoffee.com/

The last stop was at Rambo's where I picked up a long-awaited 12 pack of Old Chub.  Yep, life is good.

Tomorrow we're going to sleep in, then head back up the hill for some exploring.

Sunday, it's church in Estes, and maybe out for breakfast.

Catch-up

Yowza, way behind!  We're set up and getting some things figured out.  For those that don't know, we are in Drake, CO - it's about halfway between Loveland and Estes Park.  The elevation is around 6200ft.

The weather has been pretty good, in the 60's during the day and upper 30's at night.  There was a little rain shower this afternoon, but barely enough to get the windshield wet.  Chance of mixed precip this weekend.. we'll see!

Last night, we found the preferred wal-mart.  It's a little farther away, but I was the spookiest looking person there. :)

Tonight after work, we walked down to the public area down the road from the camp.  I'm thinking this might be a good lunch-time walk, about 1.5 miles round trip.

Here are the catch-up pictures!

Loading up for CO

On the way to CO

Around the camp

 Campground setup and new grill

More campground and first "hike"

Made it!

Crazy few days, but we made it and have connectivity for work!

We've met the neighbors, and they're all pretty cool so far.

I'll be updating this with pics and the scoop soon.

4 Days

And.... I'm almost packed!  Hat, coat, gloves, boots, extra thick socks.  Sweatshirts, blue jeans, shorts, sandals, t-shirts, jeans jacket, button up non-tuck-in shirts.  That should about cover it!

Next up, books I just-can't-live-without, one or two computers

Oooo. Not to mention the electricity in the garage is *hosed*.  I think the thunderstorm  took something out Saturday night.  Sunday I tried to open the garage door, and .... nuthin. A big bowl of jack squat.

I found the breaker in the basement, flipped it, and it immediately tripped again.  Nice.  I made my way into the garage and unplugged everything.  Tried it again, same thing.

It occurred to me the only other thing that was getting power is the outside light.  I replaced the photo cell in it, and replaced the breaker.  STILL tripping.  BAH.  An electrician is coming over tomorrow.

5 days to go

Lots of stuff done yesterday! 

Camper basement cleaned out, my "closet" in the camper cleaned out, Jeep pushed into the garage.

More up today

The bathroom remodeling project is almost done!  Here are the progress pics.  Someday I'll try to get them in order...

Bathroom pics

10 Days

10 Days until we leave!  Man, those 6 months went quickly.  I can't believe it's almost time to go.  Still have a fair amount of things to do, but it's coming together.

The camper was checked out, my office is set, and pack lists made.  It won't be long!

Hmmm.

Setting up a new blog... the one on IAJeeper is a little painful to use. Hopefully this one will be easier!