To the Big Party in Granby

Friday morning we finished packing and closing up the house. Dennis dropped off Erica and her suitcase. We headed off to Granby. Traffic was somewhat lighter than we expected. We were all hungry and wanted to stop for lunch at a fast food place, but there was no place to park our big rig at the McDonalds in Idaho springs, or at the Burger King in Dumont. We proceeded hungrily over Berthoud Pass, and finally found a place to park at the McDonalds in Winter Park. We proceeded through Granby, and headed up the road towards Grand Lake. We found our campground, where Art and Linda were set up and greeted us. Art and Linda had chili for everyone, and then we sat around the campfire and talked.


Saturday was the celebration for Sean's High School Graduation. Dennis, Ariana,Tim and Cindy arrived. The band that Sean is in played for the group, the photo is of Ari and Sam singing, while Wayne cooked up burgers. There was a pot luck with more food than we could eat, as well as a sheet cakes. There was a huge campfire that night with many people.

Sunday was the celebration for Art and Linda's 50th wedding aniversary. They hired a three piece band playing oldies, songs that those of us of a certain age could relate to, such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana, and blues. There were a large number of people there, many of them from Skimeisters.


Over the weekend, we met a number of members of the family for the first time, including Linda's sister Kathy and her husband Michael. They live in Bay City Texas. We spent quite a bit of time with them, very nice people. Maybe we will stop by and visit them the next time we are in that part of Texas.

Heading home

Bruce and Dora packed up for the eight hour drive to Boulder. Richard and Marianne decided to relax in Chaco, a lazy Sunday, and get up early on Monday for the drive back to Boulder.


We stopped for lunch in South Fork. The Sangre de Cristo mountains were beautiful.

The drive home was uneventful, if slow, 10 hours from Chaco to home. We were both pretty tired.

Touring and Hiking Chaco

On Friday, we did some touring of Chaco, walking through Pueblo Bonito and Chetro Ketl, as well as admiring some petroglyphs. This was Dora's first trip to Chaco, and it was nice to introduce her to it.

On Friday evening,it was rainy and cloudy, so we played games. Dora won at scrabble, as usual.




On Saturday, we geared up for the big hike up through the slot and up to the higher land on the north side of the canyon. Marianne was not sure if she could get up there, but she did. We walked over to where we could look down on the D-shaped Pueblo Bonito, even more impressive from above. Dora and Marianne decided to hang out near the canyon rim. Bruce and Richard decided to hike the loop trail to Pueblo Alto, the Jackson stairway, as well as the overlook of Chetro Ketl. We met up with the ladies and the overlook, and headed down the slot canyon. A pretty good workout, all in all.

Panorama on top of canyon including Pueblo Alto

Jackson Stairway, hacked into the rock by the ancient indians.

Bruce descending an interesting part of our hike.

Saturday evening, we took in the talk and slide show at the visitor center, including some viewing through some of the telescopes. We headed back to the camper, where Bruce set up to start observing. Richard stayed out with Bruce for a while, and got to see some star clusters.

Off to Chaco Canyon

We left Boulder on Wednesday, driving through the San Luis Valley, on our way to Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, to meet our friends Bruce and Dora. On Wednesday, we stopped in South Fork, a tourist town between seasons. South Fork was almost dead; we stopped to get a campsite, and the lady was not sure if the campground was open. Her husband said that they were open, and turned on the water for us.

Thursday morning we drove up to Wolf Creek Pass, and stopped in Pagosa Springs to visit our favorite bakery, and look for a bird book. The cinnamon roll was good, but no luck on a bird book. The sign on the Moonlight bookstore said that "Now that ski season is over, it is time to quit pretending that we are responsible buisness owners and go rafting". We continued south past Navaho Dam, and then on to Chaco. The dirt road into Chaco started out pretty good, but then the washboard hit, and shook our truck and camper pretty hard. We had to pick up stuff off the floor of the camper when we got to Chaco.

We filled up the camper with water, and then chose a campsite with a view up the canyon. Our friends arrived late in the afternoon. Bruce started to set up his telescope. When it got dark, Bruce showed us the stars and the moons of Saturn.

Taking care of business

On Monday, Mater and I headed to the bank, where one of the ladies spent an hour helping us change her social security deposit. Then I worked on changing her pension deposit. We spent a lot of time in voice mail hell, with some success, but a lot of frustration. Mater and I went out to dinner at one of the local restaurants.

In the evening, Diane arrived, and we three talked for some time.

Tuesday, the contractor came by and we discussed the punch list. Planning ahead as usual, Richard talked to the funeral home, and verified that mater had made her own funeral arrangements. Diane and I took mater to Captain's Quarters. We continued some cleanup/throwout, as well as some financial work.

Wednesday, Richard leaves Louisville around noon to catch a flight home, while Diane will stay a few more days and see that mater is moved back to her home.

It is tough to leave knowing that mater is frail and easily confused.

A Visit to Louisville

Saturday 2/20 I flew Frontier Airlines from Denver to Indianapolis, and then rented a car from Enterprise to drive to Louisville to see my mother. I stopped by the retirement home; Mater had been expecting me for some time, seemed a little dazed by my arrival. She did not look or sound very good. I chatted with her for a little while, then drove to her house, which is being remodeled.

The remodeling seems to be almost finished; unfortunately, in order to make room to do the work a lot of things got piled up. Stuff needs to be put back where it belongs for her to be able to go home. The bed that I was planning on sleeping on was piled about a foot deep.

I kind of panicked looking at all the stuff, and started frantically going through it to sort it into four piles; trash, recycle, donate and keep. The biggest pile was recycle, due to 40 years accumulation of magazines and clippings. The smallest pile was things that we might want to keep. I eventually shoveled down to the bed. I talked to my sister Diane, and we agreed to try to move Mater back to the house this week, after we get stuff moved.

I did not sleep very well; my back was out of sorts already, and the bed was bad.

Sunday morning I go up at dawn, had a bite to eat, and headed to church. The neighborhood church where I attended third to eighth grade has been closed, and is for sale. I decided to go to St. Margaret Mary, where I attended first and second grade. The church was new, concrete and glass, and semicircular, as many modern churches are. The church I was remember was very traditional and basic, one rectangular hall with the altar at one end. The priest seemed nice, the deacon's sermon asked us not just to give up something for lent, but to do something positive for lent.

I stopped by to dump off some recycle, and then headed to the retirement home. I greeted mater and told her to get dressed up, we were going to Captain's Quarters, a nice riverside restaurant which mater visited with pater, a restaurant she has been going to for at least 40 years. She acted a little confused, like this was a big deal, but did get dressed, and we headed out. She enjoyed the drive, of course knew the road, through a well landscaped neighborhood. We got a window seat, and the sun came out. It was really very pleasant, and the food was good. She perked up gradually, and enjoyed it, kept saying that she was surprised to be there. It ended up being an unexpectedly warm day.

After lunch, I took her back to her room to rest, and went back to the house to get some more done. I came back to her room around dinnertime, and we chatted a while. I explained that we had a bunch of financial stuff to do on Monday, and I would pick her up midmorning.

Miami and home

Sunday morning found us tied up to the dock in Miami. After some delays at immigration, we went to the curb. After some confusion, our limo driver picked us up and took us to the Fort Lauderdale airport. We had a long wait at the airport, and surprisingly good middle eastern food for lunch. The airport was full of Christmas travelers.

Our flight home was uneventful, chasing the sunset. Dora and Bruce's daughter Sophia picked us up at the airport. Marianne was Sophia's 6th grade teacher! We stopped at their house for a few minutes, and watched Sophia's boy dance the Nutcracker. Bruce drove us home, where our new kittens did not seem too interested in us.

A good trip.