Cripple Creek Fun

Rayna's birthday gift from us was a trip to Cripple Creek to have "tea" and then to see the melodrama!  Jaime was off the day we decided to go so she joined us also!

I LOVE having tea at Creations Everlasting!  It's not a very big tea area but Edie serves an excellent array of items for the tea!!  And the table is always set to perfection!

As you can tell our table is empty of food because we forgot to take a picture of all the yummy sandwiches!!  Fruit cup first - and then chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber with herb flavored cream cheese sandwiches, stuffed mini peppers with a cheese spread and then ham sandwiches!

The tea was delicious and best of all, the desserts!  We were so full we ended up taking part of them home!  Rayna was thrilled that the torts were served again as that is her favorite!

There's a cute little sitting area now so we moved over there for a quick picture with our tea cups!

Next on the agenda was the melodrama and it didn't disappoint!!  We even got mustaches - as you can see Rayna wasn't thrilled to hold it up for a picture!!

It was a great day with Rayna and Jaime!!

Jill and the Kids

Somehow I forgot to post this blog after the North Pole blog!!

Aleah always get up early when she stays with us - and Tuesday morning she woke up in time to see the deer that arrived wanting some food!  She had no qualms about walking out there and feeding them!

After a while I looked outside as I heard the skidsteer running - Papa had taught Parker how to drive it and he LOVED driving it around!

Not to be outdone, Aleah got in there too and had her turn!!

Perhaps I should learn to run it?   Anyway, the kids had a great time here - Jill and I did some more Disneyworld planning and they headed home after lunch!

Tea Time at Glen Eyrie Castle

What a beautiful setting for a summertime tea - Glen Eyrie Castle!  The choir girls decided to have tea there last week - we had a beautiful day (except for the horrible traffic coming down as road crews are working on the pass) and the grounds looked exquisite as we drove in!

We arrived plenty early so had someone take our picture!!

The tables were beautifully decorated!  One thing about the tea at the castle is it's NOT about quantity but quality!  We had a very small salad like dish and this came next!  It's capressa  - wasn't my favorite but it sure was fun to look at!! 

We had tuna with smashed black olives for our tea sandwich and of course our favorites were the desserts!  Naturally I forgot to take a picture of that but there was a lavender glaze shortbread, a scone, and a lemon, blueberry cream possit!!  The tea and desserts were excellent!

We stopped down at the welcome place and I had forgotten these red rocks were there so snapped a picture!

We sure live in a beautiful state with SO many fun things to do!

Summertime At The North Pole

For their birthdays, I gave Aleah and Parker a trip to the North Pole and money to spend there!  The forecast first said rain all day so we were hoping it would change by morning and it did!!  We had a gorgeous day to enjoy Santa Claus Land!!

We were one of the first ones through the gate and it really wasn't that busy all day long!  The kids had a ball riding every ride they wanted to and some of them twice!!  (I kept wondering how they would compare these rides to the ones they will ride at Disneyworld this fall!!!)

I LOVE this huge polar bear!!  And it's a perfect photo place!

We decided the train ride isn't all that exciting - ha!  Or maybe that was Parker who decided that!!

Santa and Mrs. Claus were on the bridge when we walked in - don't they look cute?

When we walked in, I noticed the sleigh was missing from the front of the park and I was so disappointed because we always take pictures there!  But we found it - over by the polar bear!  And the back drop is MUCH better!

Everyone DOES know that the bottom of this statue is solid ice, don't they?

The kids had fun looking through the "boy" store and the "girl" store to pick out what they wanted to buy!

And there's a new fire pit area where you can actually roast marshmallows and make s'mores!  Of course with the fire ban on that wasn't an option but I'm sure it's more for the fall and winter months anyway!

We had packed a picnic lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the entire day!  No rain either - just nice sunny skies!

The Deer Are Back

It seems like most of the deer disappeared for a couple of months but now they're back in full force!  Glenn isn't so thrilled since they eat everything green in sight but I love to watch them!  We've only seen one little fawn around and him and his mom hang out in our back yard!

All the bucks are in velvet and look pretty darn good!!  Glenn took some feed out to this one and I just had to catch this shot!

Birthdays!!

July is birthday month!  Aleah's 4th of July birthday was spent in Iowa - she turned 9 and sure loved being able to do fireworks back there!!  Jessi's birthday was on the 10th  - her and Gary enjoyed The Melting Pot together!!  Jill's and my birthday were on Friday the 13th this year!!  Jill spent hers camping and I spent mine with Glenn - seeing a movie and eating out at Texas Roadhouse!

When Jill's came down on Sunday, her and I decided to go out for dinner while Glenn watched the kids!  We had a nice dinner at Carmen's and enjoyed our chocolate cake for dessert!

We always try to take a picture together so I have one to put on our annual calendar!

Jill also brought my gift down from the 3 girls - a new game which I can't wait to play AND the device that goes on the back of your phone plus a phone holder for the car!  It's nice to put my phone in the holder so I can see it as I'm driving!

We're all another year older - and YES, I am on Medicare!

High Chateau Fire

Although the High Chateau Fire is completely contained at this point, we are still very low in moisture and fire danger is still extreme!!

The fire started on June 27th while we were in Iowa - we received notification through our phone that subdivisions were being evacuated and we were anxious to get home on Saturday night!  For the next few days, we were on pins and needles not knowing if the fire would spread enough to evacuate us or not!  Smoke was in the air as there was another fire over by Fairplay and the windows needed to be shut during the day to keep the smell out!

Our county and the county next to us went to a Stage III Fire Ban - we've never been on that in all the years we've lived here!  Basically it means no outdoor fires, no charcoal OR propane grills, no ATV's or chainsaws or lawn mowers and no smoking outside.  The 4th was in the middle of the fire and I'm sure people were disappointed that they couldn't grill outside but the oven worked just as well for our ribs that day!

The morning of the 4th we went into Florissant to eat breakfast - the news channel was parked in the parking lot and as soon as we got out of the car, they came over and asked if they could interview us - we said yes and the gal asked us a lot of questions about the fire.  I taped the news that day as we had friends coming over for dinner and later on we watched the taped news to see if we were on.  Yes - 3 different times!  It's sure weird seeing yourself on TV!!

The night of the 5th Woodland Park got a great rain and we got a shower which was nice - the annual outdoor symphony was cancelled due to the weather - which was fine with us!!  We were relieved a few days later when we found out the fire was 100% contained!

We're not out of the woods yet - we still remain on a Stage III fire ban but are getting short showers in the afternoon - let's hope this rain continues!!

Destination - Soldier!!

We decided to do one quick side trip besides all of the Freedom Rocks so we stopped in Kalona - what a cute town!!  Of course we HAD to stop at the Kalona Chocolate place so we could buy some chocolate for the road - and yes, samples were given!!  I bought some dark chocolate caramels - they were delicious!!  And we had some fun with the frames!

We were fortunate to see a horse and buggy parked on a side street!  It's definitely an Amish community!

We had a long list of freedom rocks to check out on the way home.  First we headed to What Cheer (I  have never heard of this town before!) which is in Keokuk County.

Our next stop was Oskaloosa which is in Mahaska County. 

Next on the list was Knoxville which is in Marion County!

The sky in Knoxville got really dark and we knew there was a storm coming!  We parked the car for a few minutes by a park and then decided to go for it!  WOW - what a storm that had went through!  For the next 30 miles there were trees and branches down everywhere you looked!!  Debris and leaves and plants on the highway and just a lot of damage!!  We did hit some rain but luckily the wind was ahead of us!!  One town was dark as the electric poles were down and everywhere you looked there were uprooted trees and broken branches!

We were glad to get to Winterset where we had went last year but the freedom rock wasn't painted at that time.  This year it was done and we were excited to see John Wayne on it, even though he wasn't a veteran!  The rock sits on a corner where the John Wayne museum is.

We decided to eat lunch in Winterset and we ate at the same place we did last year!  The food was just as good too!

 Our next freedom rock said it was in Menlo but we searched the tiny town and it wasn't there - so we plugged it in our phone and sure enough it was one that is out in the country!  Unfortunately there was a closed road so we had to take the LONG way around on gravel roads!  This rock is the ORIGINAL freedom rock painted in Adair County.  It is repainted with a different scene every Memorial Day!!  All the previous pictures of the rocks were displayed in an area where you could read about the artist and sign your name!  We were surprised that since June 1st, there were 6 pages of names!!  WOW!!!

Our final rock was in Manilla, Crawford County!  So we knew we were getting close to home!

It felt good to be back in Soldier and connect with the guys!!  Glenn had a good time fishing and camping with his boys but they sure didn't catch many fish so that was disappointing!  He was itching like crazy as the chiggers got to him once again.....................

Friday morning Patty and I headed up to Charter Oak to see Don and Nadine - always fun to do when we're back!!  We had a great visit and also got to see Becky and Craig as they arrived from Des Moines!

We relaxed in the afternoon and Patty fixed a great dinner for us that evening!  Glenn and I headed out early the next morning for home!  I think the highlight of the way home was finding Caribou Coffee in Kearney!!

Friday we had got notification that a fire had broken out near us!  It was between Florissant and Cripple Creek but until we got home, we didn't really know how close the fire was...................I had Brad on stand-by to get into our house and get things in case we got word of an evacuation!  But the fire was about 9 miles away so we were fine...............and the fire is another blog!

Sightseeing/Back Down The River

The shuttle picked us up at the church and our next stop was the Fenelon Elevator!!  This elevator came about in 1882 when a banker who lived on top of the bluff and worked at the bottom, decided it just took too much time to take his horse and buggy around the bluff to get to the top!   So he hired an engineer to design and build a one-car cable car, modeled after ones over in the Alps!

The operator is at the top of the elevator - when you go into the little building, a loudspeaker comes on and the lady on top tells you to get in and then to pull the cord when you're ready!!  Trust me, it's a TIGHT fit!!

We pulled the cord and the little car started moving up the tracks!

There were 8 of us in the cable car - and we all laughed the entire trip up the hill!

When you got to the top, you unloaded and then paid the $3.00 fee!  The views were outstanding!

The elevator actually burned 3 different times and was rebuilt each time!  It was opened to the public in 1884 for a nickel a ride!

The Fenelon Elevator has been described as the world's steepest, shortest scenic railway, 296 feet in length!

We hopped on our shuttle one last time and went to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium - the admission was included in our riverboat cruise so that was nice!!  We didn't spend a lot of time there as a lot of it was things Patty and I had already seen!!  But we did enjoy strolling through it and the outside exhibits were very nice!  We had to stop and visit with Mark Twain!

We walked back to our hotel and grabbed some yummy frappes and then just watched the river for a while before we headed back to the river boat!   Here is one more piece of art along the way!

Our trip back down the Mississippi was just as relaxing!  We sat along the side of the boat this time and moved around more!  Our snack in the afternoon was fresh baked brownies with ice cream!  SO GOOD!!!

This is my favorite picture from the entire trip!!  I grabbed a guy when there weren't many people up front in the rockers and asked him to snap a few pictures of us - they turned out great!!

When we departed the boat, all of the staff were in a line so we could thank them and shake their hand!  As we went by the bartender (who we really enjoyed) he handed me a long package and told me it was for "us" and to open it when we got to our car!  It actually looked like a loaf of french bread but it was light!!  When we got to Patty's car, we opened it and found 2 wine glasses with the insignia of the Riverboat Cruise!  A perfect remembrance of our trip (along with the Christmas ornament I bought!!)

One last stop - the American Pickers building in LeClaire!!  Luckily there was someone else looking at the old car so they took our picture as it was way past regular hours!!

We stayed in Davenport that night at a very nice motel - and were pleasantly surprised at breakfast when there was a lady making fresh omelettes!!  After packing up the car and grabbing coffee, we were on the road again for our final journey to home!

Fun In Dubuque

The Riverwalk took us right up to our hotel which was next to the Mississippi - and this was our view as we walked by the restaurant into the hotel! I LOVED those purple flowers!!

After getting checked into our room, we headed out for a walk!  The desk lady said to check out the convention center next door as there was a glass room that was really cool looking!!  She was right - it was!!

Here's a picture looking at it from the river walk.

What a peaceful scene!  We loved walking along the river and enjoying the "art" that was displayed!

This is one of the pieces of art - pretty unique and yes it was large!!

The next morning our stay included breakfast at the restaurant!  We got there plenty early as we wanted to catch the first shuttle - our breakfast was great and we noted they had frappes for later!

We DID catch the first shuttle for our sightseeing and the first stop was St. Luke's United Methodist Church!  This church has quite a history behind it and a parishioner gave us a short presentation before we checked out all of their windows!  This church has 8 large Tiffany windows and nine small ones - they are absolutely gorgeous!!

This window is Christ and the Children.

This beautiful window is in the balcony and depicts the unknown author of the Book of Job.

This is of David, King of Israel.

I love these this grouping of 3 windows - imagine sitting in church and looking at them every Sunday!

Of course Patty and I had to check out the organ (since we both used to play for church) and this one was enormous!!!  I can't imagine playing on 3 keyboards!!  But one of the ladies in our group is a current organist and she gave us a sampling - gosh, was she great!!

This is outside the church waiting for the shuttle to come for our next stop!  Patty and I raced down the street as we thought we saw a coffee place but it was just a tea store!

And then we were off to the Fenelon Place Elevator Company!