Oh Those Beautiful Aspens

 Our next day riding was wonderful!  Glenn did have to change the tire in the morning so we didn't get an early start but that was OK since it was plenty cool out!  I enjoyed my coffee in the sun while he worked!  Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

I had noticed the night before when I went to do the dishes after dinner that the faucet was sputtering like there was air in the pipes - we soon discovered the reason - the tank was dry - no water!  Glenn had decided not to completely fill it since we usually ended up dumping most of it out after our camping trips and I guess he thought he had put enough in - NOT!!  Besides flushing the stool, I had only done dishes a couple of times!!  Oh well - we're camping - dishes can wait till we get back home!  We did have plenty of drinking water so we used that when we needed it!

Today we were heading up Marshall Pass and then on to Sargents - one of my favorite places to take aspen pictures!

On top of Marshall Pass is O'Haver Lake - Glenn said he would like to camp there one day in the campground so I suggested we stop there on the way back - only we took a different route so didn't come back by it.....

We found plenty of color, although there were just as many patches of aspen that looked awful - I'm sure the freeze got them as the leaves were brown and falling off!  

We went to my "favorite" spot to camp when we had the pickup camper - the 5th wheel doesn't work to get back in here but it's always fun to stop and see the site - there are aspens surrounding this campsite and it's gorgeous!! 

As we climbed higher and higher, this view was magnificent!

I had told Glenn I wanted to eat lunch at the spot where I always take a lot of my aspen pictures - so he made it work!  But how disappointing when we got there and saw the leaves were NOT spectacular at all - the freeze must have got them - oh well - we did have a nice lunch there!

One more awesome picture before we head back to camp!

Glenn went in to take a nap in the bedroom and I always lie on the couch and read - imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw a chipmunk looking at me from below the TV where Glenn had pulled out the radio set which had issues!!  Immediately the chipmunk went back behind the console!  I told Glenn about it and he really thought it was just one that had come in after we parked there.  But then during dinner, Glenn noticed a MOUSE running on top of the counter!!  YIKES!!!  We'd had mice in there before but Glenn thought he had caught them all!!  DARN!!!  Sure enough when I checked the oven where I keep the chips and bread, something had chewed into the hamburger buns!!

I was paranoid that the mouse was going to come up into the bedroom (even though it's a step up into it) so I opted to read in bed that night and Glenn rigged up magazines with duct tape to strap to the bottom of the slider door that closes the bedroom from the other part of the 5th wheel!!  I knew I'd never sleep good thinking a mouse could climb up in bed!!

We headed home the next morning with lots of dirty dishes to put in the dishwasher!!  And Glenn set up a trap and caught a mouse that night!!

Fall Trip #1

 If you're not a fall fan, you might want to skip the next few blogs!!  I absolutely love taking photos of the aspens, even though many of them are probably the same every few years!  We knew the leaves might not be great this year, due to the snow and 3 nights of  freezing weather, but you never know until you get on the trails and start looking!

We decided to camp this last week and save our couple of "cabin" nights till the next week since we knew fall was running about a week late for peak leaves!  I always love doing Marshall Pass and over by Sargents so Glenn decided we would just camp over on Poncha Pass!  We found a great spot in the trees that wasn't too hard to get to and took a ride that first evening!

I always like going through the tiny town of Bonanza!  There's not much to see there at all but it's a quaint little town and it always make me wonder if there are people that actually live there year round!

We stopped at Mosquito Lake - and remembered why it's called that!!  Yes there are mosquitos there and it's really not that pretty of a lake!

After we left Bonanza, we stopped so I could take pictures of this view which turned out to be my FAVORITE picture of the trip!!  I love the way the storm clouds look with those aspens in the middle of the picture just set it off!  We even ate at our lunch there just so we could stare at the view!

We'd had a tire issue on the Razor a couple of weeks ago so Glenn had patched it and hoped it would hold - it didn't!  When we stopped once, we could see the tire was almost flat!  Luckily he has a small air compressor that he carries so he got it pumped up and off we went!  Little did we know that we would have to stop about every 1/2 hour to pump it back up!!

We had a great day riding and the last 1/2 hour was in the rain!  By the time we got back to camp, it had rained quite a bit and was actually muddy out!  But we sure didn't complain because it's so dry over in that area!!

Of course we couldn't have a campfire and haven't been able to have one all summer - that's disappointing.....But we still got to enjoy the great outdoors!

A Relaxing Weekend

 I was so surprised when Jessi wanted to know the last time they had been to our house so I looked back in my blogs and it was JUNE!!!  OH MY GOSH!!  The kids had been here after LVR camp but not Jessi - so it was definitely time for her and the kids to come down for the weekend!!  Gary has switched schedules so was working the weekend!

Of course they hit bad traffic coming from Denver but that's to be expected on a Friday!  I had dinner all ready (I love it when they request a certain item to eat - makes my job a whole lot easier!!) when they pulled in!!

Coffee on the deck in the morning was on the agenda!!  But first Kenzie made some cherry crossiants!

Gwyn almost always has a smile at our place - she's so excited to see us and just hang out - makes me just smile to look at her!!  She's one happy kid!

Kenzie decided she wanted "special coffee" that morning - usually we say no but her mom said OK so I ended up making 3 coffees!!  She was thrilled!  Yes, that's me in the background playing barista!

Glenn and Evan had a full day planned - first they went to an estate sale - then on to the neighbors for a while - and then off to do some ATVing in the razor!!  They had a fun day together but of course neither one took their phone so I don't have any pictures!!  But Jessi did snap this one - am I getting shorter or is he getting taller?

We played a LOT of cards over the weekend!!  Gwyn is usually happy to do something else while the 3 of us play, and sometimes Evan joins in!!  I had researched a couple of new card games online which we did try out!  Both were fun and will be added to our list!!

Jessi got some special time to read which she enjoyed!  And the girls played on the swing a lot!  It was beautiful weather out and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend, weather wise!

Jessi and I both commented on the fact that when all of the kids were little, we never had any spare time to do any reading or personal time!  Now it seems we have all the time in the world!  Both Jessi and Jill are just content to "hang out" when they come, sneak in some reading when it's quiet and just enjoy being at our house!  It's a nice relaxing time and I'm always sad when they leave to go home!

Labor Day Weekend With The Savages

 How fun to have company over the long weekend since we never go anywhere on holiday weekends!  The traffic started on Thursday as that's the day I went to town to get groceries and run errands - I couldn't get home fast enough!

Jill's decided to come in late Friday night after the bad traffic and made it in about 11:00 that night!  I had the beds all ready so we talked a little bit and hit the sack for the night!!

Papa always makes fun pancakes for the kids - Aleah wanted the United States - well, he attempted at least!

I'm not sure what Parker wanted but I think he got a rocket!  And yes, Parker is half asleep!

Aleah helped me make cherry turnovers for our morning snack!

We all went into Bev's for a great lunch on her deck while Robby stayed later to put up some garage lights.  Cards were on the agenda for the afternoon before happy hour on the deck!

The deer came by and Aleah made it out there to feed them!

Parker had fun driving the skidster!!  Robby also brought his drone and Parker's large remote car for outside so they had fun with all of that!

Jill and I were content to do a little bit of reading in between card games and fixing meals!  Sunday morning coffee on the deck - it was downright HOT out there!

We played some corn hole on Sunday (luckily there were clouds so it wasn't so hot then) and ate an early dinner so they could head out by 6:00!  Unfortunately they hit some horrible traffic due to an accident but eventually got home to Ft. Collins!!  It was a great weekend!

Shortest EVER Camping Trip

 Glenn really thought he had the razor fixed!  Luckily we had decided to just go to Buffalo Peaks which is only a 45 minute drive!  And we found a beautiful spot in an area we hadn't camped before which was nice and flat and plenty of room!  We set up camp, ate a quick lunch and headed out to ride for a few hours - but after about an hour the darn noise started up again....

We finished up the trail we were on and Glenn said we better get back home in case it decides to not go any further - what a bummer!

The evening was beautiful and we had a great steak dinner!

Glenn said we could take a quick ride in the morning before heading back home so we did!  It is SO DRY over in that area (the entire state is in a fire ban) but the mountains are still beautiful!

So we headed back home and Glenn tore apart the razor trying to find the problem - I DO appreciate his mechanic skills and he found that it needed rings and pistons - the parts are ordered but as we all know, shipping is NOT what it used to be so it will be next week before the parts even come in!  There goes camping this week and next week.....but hopefully he's gotten to the bottom of the problem!