We aint sittin no more!

I know I have been really slacking off on my bloggin.  It easy to do that when there is a flurry ( make that hurricane) of activity going on around you, and believe me there has been.  I have been overwhelmed with all the things we have been doing.  It started as soon as we arrived in Buena Vista.  Claudia, Pam's friend from church, is well known as "the tour director".  There is not much doubt she is hyper to the extreme.  If it wasn't shopping at Canton type events, it was off road Jeeping at the top of the world.

Jeeping includes a picknic.

A Jeeping Smile from us.

 Or having a crowed over to her Fiver for chili and beans.  By the way that's two different events cause she is a Texan and knows they don't go together in the same pot.  Of course when they went shopping, Fred, her husband, and I did man stuff.  We replaced his TV, and convection oven, we went "shopping" at the hardware store, and hiked a billion miles up hill on the Collegiate  Peaks. (Mt Harvard, Mt Yale, and Mt Princeton)  Joint activities included  an annual burro race which is one leg of the Triple Crown of burro racing here in Colorado.   Claudia has a large group of friends who she organized into treating it like the Kentucky Derby.  Ladies in gaudy hats and men in ties (with TEE Shirts).  There were strawberries and champagne in real champagne glasses, a viewing area set up with lounge chairs  for the "Bridge Crossing" and  even a visit by the local constabulary responding to a citizen complaint the a bunch of rowdy septuagenarians were publicly consuming alcohol  in a public park.  He said if we claimed it was Spark Water instead of champagne he would let us off with a warning.  We so claimed and were duly warned.

 By the way, Claudia seldom cooks, so we absolutely blew our out to eat budget for August.  Mom did however get to try trout for the first time and really liked it. At about $10 an ounce, it will not become a staple in our diet.
Our time in Buenie or BV as the locals say (we'er locals now) came to an end and we moved south to Canon City Colorado.  That is pronounced "canyon city" but I don't know how to put the tilde over the first n in Canon.  You  know by now it is famous for the Royal Gorge.  I have never seen Mom so excited about a place we were visiting.  Ok, Biltmore wins that race, but she was like a kid in a candy shop anticipating the bridge visit and the train ride at the bottom of the gorge.  That picture of her kicking up her leg is a good visual of how excited she was.

Happy Happy

Bridge above the train.

It was a unique and special place.  Built by 80 men in 7 months in 1929.  That was an amazing feat.  The original bridge is still here though a few of the wooden planks ( yes its floor is wood) have been replaced because of a wild fire that destroyed the park and surrounding area in 2013.  The original steel suspension bridge still stands. Fortunately for me, we now have a tee shirt to prove we were here, a coffee cup that is microwave and dishwasher safe with a picture of the bridge, and a doggie sweater that proves Mati was  with us. She didn't actually go on the bridge cause she is afraid of heights, but she did go shopping in the gift store there.  We did make a side trip to Cripple Creek on our next to last day in Canon City.  When we saw the sign "Event in Progress"  we should have known something was up.  Fifteen thousand motorcycles and 30000 bikers is what was up.  We did not see much of Cripple Creek, but we saw a heck of a motorcycle parade.

Four quick days in Canon City then north 100 miles to Leadville Colorado.  Leadville's only claim to fame is that it is the highest city in the US.  That is altitude- wise not medicinally.  We are at 10600 feet above mean sea level.  We were at the lowest place in Death Valley a couple of years ago, now to the highest city in the country.  Look at us we are adventurers.  So today we will be observing a 90% solar eclipse from the highest city in the country.  I made myself an eclipse viewer from a graham cracker box last night so my e-yes are safe.  Over the next few days we are planning to go to town to look around, hike around Twin Lakes and have a picnic, blow up the kayak and float on Turquoise Lake, meet Fred and Claudia for an anniversary ( we share Aug 23 as our anniversary date) dinner (trout of course) and finish doing my income tax for last year since my extension is running out.

 I know it sounds like a vacation, but we have to remember, this is where we live.  Next week we just live somewhere else, make some new friends, see some new things, and relax in between in our little Nest. Until then, these are just some ramblings from an old Rockin' RoVer rocking and roving on. Thanks.