Took a trip to Alamosa

Sherri and Kris got up early and we all took a trip to Alamosa. Kris had seen on the WEB that Wally World had one of the most expensive Legos on sale for half price. Kris is a master at building Legos and he talked us into going to buy this particular one.
We saddled up and headed out on our one hour trip. We love the drive through the San Luis Valley. Mountains on all sides and the lush valley in the middle. Some of the best soil for growing things in the state. The one hour drive does not even seem like an hour with all the beauty to look at.
We arrived in Monte Vista on the way to Alamosa only to find that they were having a parade and Rodeo. Plus they were having a carnival and the traffic was unreal. We had to detour around all the goings on but got back on the main highway after a little maneuvering around. This set us back about 15 minutes but we got to see some parts of the town we had never seen before. 
We got to Wally World and Kris found his Lego set he was looking for and decided he wanted to go ahead and spend next months allowance on a X-Box 360 game. OK'd by Mom so he will have to remember this next month...LOL
By the way school starts back up in 3 weeks! Kris will be in the 5th grade and I will be back to teaching Math and Science. How much smarter will I be when this coming semester is over...stay tuned...

Somewhere in Time    

Sand Dunes National Park

We arrived early before the temps got too hot and the storms blew in

Here at the entrance we noticed it sure looked like a long way to the dunes,,,and it was

Kris was already to get to it

Come on Pop give me a push

Pop gave him several pushes 

The cool creek at the bottom of the dunes was so inviting after a hard day of sliding

Sherri got some photos of the dunes

This guy was ready to head home after a day on the dunes

I have been a little lax in posting. I am so laid back up here that I just can't get myself to post. Not that everything I do is worth chronicling in the journal but I am asked sometimes about what happen when I went a certain place. This journal is for my kids to have when I am gone to let them know that there is a life after working. 
I do hope that when they retire that they will have something to do. I really hope that they get to retire! The way this country is going I am not sure what kind of life they will have. 
OK our trip to the Sand Dunes was good. I rented a sand board for Kris to use while on the dunes. I really wanted to slide down but then I did not think that I could get back up the hill if I did. The sand was very hard to walk in. I was really thankful that twice a day I have been walking 1/4 of a mile. Up here with the air so thin that it does not take too much walking to have you gasping. 
Sherri was the one that had a little trouble getting out to the dunes. She wore her open toed slides and the sand gets hot. They said it could get up to 150 degrees in the summer. She did fine walking out there as long as she could stop and let her feet cool off. 
Kris had a ball sliding down the dunes. He did it until he almost collapsed. He got over heated and we were worried that he might have a heat stroke! We poured water over his head and had him sit down until he felt better. I think he got his money out of the rental.
We headed back to the truck from there. The water was still running in the creek at the foot of the dunes so we stopped there and Kris laid down in the cool stream. Sherri soaked her burning feet and all was well. 
We took some photos while there and some while leaving the park. After leaving the main gate we ran into some road maintenance and had to wait about 15 minutes before it was out turn to go. 
We took the route back to Alamosa. It was not that long of a drive and when we arrived it was time to eat lunch at Chili's. Sherri and I shared a salad and Kris had the kid's sliders. He cleaned his plate! He was really hungry after his workout at the dunes.
This was one of our vacation days as we call them. We have many more to look forward to...

Somewhere in Time 

Thank God we are here.

After looking at the weather all over the US I thank God we are here where it has not been over 85 degrees. So many are suffering from the high temps all over. If you look at the map we are in a little bubble here where it has rained and where the temps are so comfortable. This has to be one of the best choices we have made in some time.
I do not mean to gloat over this but I just can't take the heat like we are having where we have our RV Port in Texas. I know that when we arrive back in Texas it will be hot for some time. At least we will miss the biggest part of that heat.
We are planning on going to the Sand Dunes next Monday and I will have some pictures and will post what all we did. 
We did take a trip to Del Norte yesterday where we picked up some needed items. The main reason we went was to just get out of the house for a while. We spend a lot of time just sitting around on the patio and not really getting out. Enough of that sure makes you want to get away. 
We still have to remember that we live here and are not on vacation. Shaking the vacation mode is the one thing you have to do when you live full time. We are slowly getting to that point. We try to plan out things to do to entertain ourselves but they don't have to be planned out everyday. 
Today...well we are planning on doing as little as possible. Being the weekend and with all the local folks off of work and heading to different places we stay tucked away safe and sound...

Somewhere in Time 

Something to do

The loggers were out in force

Kris takes off on his own adventure

Kris also enjoyed watching the loggers but not as much as the bubble ride.

There was a good crowd and the sun was very warm.

We had to get our pictures at the local displays 

Sherri was thinking about taking this fellow home with her.

Sherri made some good tasting enchiladas when we got home. 

The other day I said I was going to wait and post when we had something to do. Yesterday we had something to do that was fun. They are having the logging contest for all the local loggers here in South Fork. We decided to walk down and see it again this year.
It was three years ago when we saw it last  and so we headed that way to see what was going on.  
This year unlike the last time we attended they had some things for the kids to do. Kris wanted to take the bubble roll in the pool. It was fun to watch him walk around in the plastic bubbles while floating across the pool. It was not too long and we could tell that he was pooped! That is allot of work to keep moving like that. He did not want to give it up but finally he did...but was ready for another try later.
We walked around and saw many of the exhibits they had. One of the vendors was Native American Flute Music...which by the way I love! The artist was very good and I would love to have bought one of the CD's but I did not. Maybe I will venture back today and buy one.
This coming week we are planning on going to the Sand Dunes. I wanted to rent a sand slide for Kris so he can slide down the dunes. I know he will have a blast doing that. I will post those pictures after we get back...

Somewhere in Time  

Upper 40's this morning

Memories that a family create 

Every morning so for has been in the upper 40's. Now for most of the days in the winter this would be our average mid morning temp. A warm day would reach the 50's. Here we have 40's in the morning and 80's in the afternoons and no humidity. I just can't ask for better temps than that.
Yesterday was another laid back day. I sat on the patio and painted until about 10:00 am. I did my walk and then came home for lunch. We sat around and watched some TV and planned our trip to the Sand Dunes outside of Alamosa. We plan on staying the day there and finishing up with diner in town. 
We have a whole list of things that we are planning to do up here. Our main objective is to stay cool and enjoy this wonderful climate. 
 We will be doing about the same today. I have to get my walk in and I think I will finish my painting. I do have a few chores around here that I can do and that will just be about it.
One thing I forgot that I did yesterday. I re-filled my reels with new fishing line. I am now ready to hit the waterways and catch some more fish. It has not been as good this year for me but the fun is still there. 
I guess that is about it for now. I think I will cut back on my entries so that I can build up some subject matter. I really need to take more pictures so that I can have them for my memory tours. It helps me remember better when I have a picture attached to my journal. That is one thing I will have latter in life that I can read about all the fun times we have had as a family...

Somewhere in Time 

Absolutely nothing done today

Yes we did nothing today...I mean nothing at all. We did eat lunch and dinner but other than that we coached potatoed the whole day away.
We have been watching the news networks allot. We have no local channels here so we spend time catching up on what is going on around the world. 
My computer charger plug end got bent the other day so I have not been able to charge it up. I am using Kris's to post my journal and read some Facebook post. I have to do that before he gets up or I would not be able to rip it from his hands.
The mornings here are still in the 40's. We do not get to the patio until the temps reach the upper 60's. In Texas we can get right up and go outside but we retreat when it gets in the upper 80's. That would be the high here.
Today we plan on doing something. We can't just sit around all the time...even though it does feel nice not having to hit a lick. 
I am still on my diet. I have lost 10 lbs since I started it a month ago. I have cut my portions down considerable and I walk and exercise every day that I can. I hope to lose 40 lbs in the next 3 months. I already feel so much better just losing what I have. 
That is about all I have to write home about today. We plan on getting out and going somewhere. Not sure yet but I will post the tell all story tomorrow...

Somewhere in Time

I have to be honest

Yesterday I went fishing with some friends of mine here in South Fork. This is the first time in 4 years of coming to this area of Colorado that I have not caught a fish! I know! What kind of deal is that. We got to  Road Canyon Resevour a little after 6:00 am and sat there for 4 hours and did not reel in one fish.Yes I did get some nibbles but that was it. You can't cook nibbles so we came home empty handed. 
I'll have to say we had a good time and the weather was OK. We did have a front blow in which we later blamed the bad day fishing on. The lake had some white caps on it and the temps dropped. I will not let this keep me from trying again.
Sherri had a crock pot of pulled pork going when I returned. That would be our dinner and let me tell you it was good.
We have had so much wind here that sitting out on the patio has been limited to the early morning and late afternoon. There is still snow on the mountains so as soon as it all melts we should have some calmer days...

Somewhere in Time  

Shopping and Sightseeing

Rainy weather has kept us indoors for some time now. Now that the rain has slacked up and we have some sunshiny days we have been able to go and do things.
Yesterday we left out and went to Alamosa to shop for some grocery items we needed from Wally World. Boy was that a downer. We spent way too much money which in the end will curtail what we can do with our remaining funds. One nice thing about being up here is that we don't spend a lot of money sightseeing so we still are able to do something.
After unloading all the groceries we headed over to the park community center for some pulled pork and all the trimmings. It was delicious and Sherri did not have to clean up the mess. They have these special treats for us at least once a week and we take part in them. We supply the sides and the park supplies the meat. 
 Today the sun is out once more and we are going over to look at a side by side UTV. No we wont buy one today but all the folks around here have them and they enjoy riding up in the mountains. We use to have our Jeep but now that we don't have it we don't go off road. There are some trails that we can take the truck but I don't really want to take the chance of tearing up my truck. You know I will need it to pull my house to the next location...

Somewhere in Time 

Rain came and the 4th is over

View out the back 

Clouds roll in on the 4th

Our patio is nice even when it is raining

If it warms up we may have some blooms

You know the 4th of July is really a great celebration in our country. We pulled away from a suppressive government and made a country that we can all be proud of. One of the greatest countries in the world and we are all a part of it. 
This brings me to say that I was so sad to see some of the people in our midst that do not know who the founding fathers are. Some do not even know what country we won our independence from. How can that be. Watching some of the interviews on TV that have asked the questions and these folks don't know the answers. We should all know a little about our history. I mean some did not know who we fought in the Vietnam War??? Come on please tell me this is a put on. I know most of the folks asked the questions are young college kids that are more interested in partying than history. But then someday they will be the ones running the country. It is really kind of scary to say the least. No wonder these politicians can say whatever they want to and people believe them.
We had a real good 4th here in Colorado. The fireworks off the mountain were out of this world! They had a great show here and we could see it all from our patio at the park.
Yes it rained here the biggest part of the day. Which caused us to miss the parade in South Fork and Creede. Oh well we still had a good time. The RV park here had a luncheon and we took a side dish. Everyone there enjoyed the time together and we squeezed it in before the thunderstorm hit. 
Being the 4th of July week we decided to stay in this week and head out next week. Besides the crowds the weather is suppose to be clear. We will be taking Kris to the Sand Dunes outside of Alamosa. I told him that I will rent him a sand board so he can slide down the dunes. I think after a few trips he will be worn out...and then again maybe not. It will be fun and something to store in our memory banks...

Somewhere in Time 

Mega Thunderstorms

I woke up this morning to beautiful blue skies. The mountains had a few low hanging clouds passing across their slopes but other than that there were no clouds in the sky.
This was not to last however...Soon the black amonous clouds would appear over those mountains and with the darkness came the lightning...thunder...hail and rain! Not just a little rain...but to use the old saying it came down in buckets.
So we spent most of the days sitting on the patio until the wind starting kicking up and/ began to blow the rain in on us. Then it was time to retreat to the inside. 
We love to sit outdoors when we are in a climate that allows that. When the weather gets too cool or too hot then we have to go where we are comfortable. This is why we like living in Colorado in the hot summer. 
We are up a little more than 8,000 feet so the temps up here are about 30 degrees cooler than 600 hundred feet. Where it is 90 at the lake where our RV port is we are sitting here in 60 degree temps.
Today we are heading up to Creede Colorado to see the 4th of July events that they are holding up there. Last night South Fork had their fireworks celebration. After the rain had moved on we heard what sounded like 105 Howitzers firing down range! We went outside to see if we were under attack. That is when we saw the beautiful fireworks display coming from the mountains to the southeast of us. What a show they put on. 
Kris wanted to get his own fireworks but that was not going to happen. He would just have to settle with the county approved shows going on. 
What a wonderful time we are having with the cool temps...the 4th celebration...and being together as a family...

Somewhere in Time