The Keppys Arrive

 With no plans for fall break, the Keppys decided to come down!  And Evan would be with them since he was on fall break from college!

I had the beds ready for them when they arrived on Friday night - it was fun to see Evan and catch up with him about college life!!

After breakfast casserole the next morning, Gary and Evan took off on their bikes to go riding for the day!!  The girls and I had NO plans at all - just a relaxing weekend talking and eating and reading!

Kona LOVES coming to our house - she runs around outside and USUALLY comes back when called - there's just so much to explore out there!!

We played a LOT of games and cards - Kenzie wasn't happy I was taking her picture here!!  Jessi and I enjoyed coffee one morning on the deck and cinnamon rolls the next day!

Evan is loving college - and it was fun to hear about some exciting possibilities for next year!  Gary and him had a great time riding their bikes and even rode on Sunday!

Jessi ended up driving the two girls back home in the car as the boys decided to ride the bikes!  Sure wouldn't be my choice going home with traffic on a Sunday but I think they took some back roads!  A fun time with them all!

Homecoming 2025

 This year we had 4 grandkids head to Homecoming at their respective schools!  Beautiful girls and handsome boys - they all had a wonderful time!

Kenzie who is a junior and goes to Eagle Crest High School in Centennial.

Kylan who is a senior at Woodland Park High School.

Aleah who is a junior at Fossil Ridge High School in Ft. Collins.

And last but not least, Parker who is a freshman at Fossil Ridge High School in Ft. Collins.

A Perfect Day Trip With Carrie

 Such a decision to make on where to go on a day trip with friend Carrie from Pueblo!!  We both finally decided that we would just head to Buena Vista with a trip up Cottonwood Pass AND a stop at Cottonwood Lake - and it turned out to be one perfect day!

Carrie arrived by 8:00am and we were soon on the road!  We made a quick stop at Wilkerson Pass to walk up the path and the leaves were beautiful there!!  Right then we knew we picked a great day!

When we reached Buena Vista, we decided to go ahead and eat an early lunch so we stopped at Jan's and ate - always good and always pretty darn quick!

And then we headed up Cottonwood Pass!!  The leaves were magnificient!

We stopped several times and then turned around and headed back down!  Took the turnoff to Cottonwood Lake and although very bumpy, the road was lined with beautiful aspen trees!

I don't ever remember being at this lake before - it's not very large at all but extremely beautiful!

And then we headed down to a private lake - luckily the gate was open 1/2 way so we went in and parked just so we could take a few pictures!

And last but not least, Carrie took this picture of me on the pass!

A wonderful day with one last look at all the leaves!

September Photo Dump

 It was SO SAD to see September gone - my favorite month always goes WAY too fast!

So here's a few random photos that didn't make the blog!

I needed a new fall decoration for the top of my cupboard and I LOVE the one I got!

Joleen was in for 4 nights one week in September!  She flew in from KS this time so I picked her up at the Co. Springs airport!  One night we had her son Zach, grandson Trent and friend Lindsay over for dinner!

Kylan and Irene were over one evening and they made a cabbage dish in the oven - I can't say I would ever make it but they enjoyed it!

Jessi gave me a gift when we were up that way - a plug in mat that keeps food warm!  I'm SURE it's supposed to be used to put hot food out of the oven on to stay warm but I have been using it daily for my OWN use!!        I'm a very slow eater and even though I use place mats on the granite, my food is always stone cold by the time I'm done eating (high elevation cools the food much faster!)   So now I just plug in my mat a few minutes before it's time to eat and it keeps my food nice and warm till I'm done eating!!  It's perfect - thanks Jessi!

Glenn has been bringing in tomatoes from the garden to eat so we've had plenty of BLT's lately - this one reminded me of a heart!

THE FINAL DUCK WAS FINALLY FOUND ON OUR FALL CAMPING TRIP!!!   Remember when we came home from Mexico in 2024 and the girls had hidden 100 tiny ducks all over our house!!!  Well, Glenn discovered the final one when we were camping - he opened up the match box that I had put in the camper from the house and there was the LAST little duck!!!!  Gosh, it only took us 1 1/2 years to find it!!!

And that's it for September - on to October!

Fall Trip - Sargents

 We headed out after breakfast and only had about 45 minutes to get to Sargents - since we were only staying the 1 night, we just parked the 5th wheel in an open area right off a main road - easy set up and easy to get out the next day!  While we were setting up, Brad went by (son-in-law) who was over there hunting!  We waved and he turned around and came back to visit with us!

After a quick lunch, we headed out to the aspens!  Sargents has always been one of my favorite places to take pictures and this year was no exception!  Between our first day there and the next morning of ATVing till about noon, I got all the pictures I needed and was smiling from ear to ear!

When we would climb up high, it was really hard to capture the beauty that far away but at least the pictures show all the "gold" on the hillsides of the mountains!

As we came into my favorite spot which seems to go on and on with the aspens, I got out and just walked so I could just snap and snap pics!

One of my photographer friends told  me that to get the PERFECT picture, you might possibly have to take up to 375 pictures!!!  THE ONE BELOW IS THE PERFECT ONE I TOOK!!!!  And you can bet I will be blowing this picture up to put on my wall!  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

What a joy it was to ride around in those mountains and see all the beauty!!  But it was time to head back home on Friday and this was Marshall Pass as we drove by!

What a wonderful fall trip to both places - a fall I won't soon forget!

Fall Trip - Pitkin

 It's my FAVORITE trip in Colorado - the annual fall trip to see the leaves!  I thought and thought about where I wanted to go - and with the weathermen saying it was going to be an early fall, I was just hesitant to book a cabin anywhere as sometimes we actually miss the fall colors because you have to book so far ahead!  So I FINALLY decided that this year we would just camp - and that way we could go when the colors were perfect - and that's exactly what happened!

We left on a Tuesday morning, headed for Pitkin - it's one of my favorite spots although not Glenns' because the road to get there is SO bumpy!  But oh well!!  We do have a favorite wilderness spot so we parked the 5th wheel and unloaded the razor to check and see if it was available - of course it wasn't!  But that didn't bother me because I LOVE the campground in Pitkin - they have wonderful drive through spots so there's plenty of room and there were only 2 campers when we arrived!  Spot #8 has always been taken when we've been there in the past but it was open this year so that's where we went!

The only bad thing about the campground is it is set in SO many trees, that not a lot of sun even comes through during the day so it is colder there - unfortunately not long after we arrived, it started raining - so Glenn took a nap and I hunkered down with my kindle and we were both happy!  A little later we headed out, all bundled up as it was darn chilly out!

As it was still rather dreary out, I waited to take pictures the next day!

It was DARN COLD that night and the furnace ran a lot - but we stayed toasty warm and ran the generator in the morning to charge the batteries up!  And then we were off to see the leaves!

I can't tell you how many pictures I took and then deleted because I had SO MANY!!  But I just couldn't stop snapping them as it was so beautiful out!

We saw more orange aspens this year than we ever have!!  And oh gosh, they were so pretty!

What's a camping trip without seeing a moose?????  Always special in my book!

It was a fantastic day of riding through the leaves!!!  And a nice evening, although very cold again!

We took a walk down to the stream the next morning before packing up and heading to Sargents for the 2nd 1/2 of our fall trip!

Bear Encounters!

 I can't forget to post the bear pictures!  During the first week of September, we must have been camping or something because I checked the camera one morning and this is what I found!

This is on our front porch and if I would have been sitting at my computer, this bear would have been about 4 feet away!!!!!!!  We have large windows in our office that look out on this porch!

Apparently he was looking for a hummingbird feeder and thought the flower planter was it!  I am VERY good about bringing in the feeder every evening as it hangs out in the tree in front of the porch!

The bear hasn't been back - which is a good thing!!