First up – this is us…love it here and what we are doing! All the wildlife, which as it gets hotter is moving upward so the numbers of sightings have diminished, the scenery is beautiful, the hiking great and being a camp host is entertaining to say the least (plus it is pretty easy work). Day begins with 1 mile hike up to the “happy place” then it just gets better!
There was a fire (actually 3) scare in the middle of month, however, they were a good distance away, more than 20 miles and 2 mountain ranges to climb over but it did make us stop and think how we would handle the emergency of a fire. What put our minds at ease was Estes Park was an evacuation destination – so the powers that be must have decided it was safe. Hwy 34 was closed due to Alexander Mountain Fire, and as of this writing is still closed. EP and RMNP are open and not impacted.
Many Spotted Tiger Moth deposited eggs on camp office screen – this will be fun to watch.
Amy Update
It took awhile for her to get back on her feet as she then came down with CDF and it took another antibiotic to cure that, but she is now her bouncy self.
Tessa (Granddaughter) Update She has her grandparents’ wandering genes
After taking what she called a “gap year”, Tessa decided to go to college in Santa Barbara CA. I am really proud of her following her plan to travel right out of high school, checking out potential places for college. She went to NYC, Oregon, Washington State, Texas and California – deciding on Santa Barbara. She only knows one other woman her age there – but that is what she was looking for as she stated she knew she didn’t want to go to Colorado U and wanted to branch out, meet new friends and explore a whole new world. I say “Good for you, Tessa!”
Lots of Family Time and Friends
It is good to be relatively close (hour and half down the mountain to Boulder) to family. Briefly see the kids as they are all consumed with their friends whom they are not in college with. But that is ok and it is fun to watch them play and grow up which in only one year away from the nest they are maturing quickly.
Tyrus the grandson and I get to golf occasionally. Wish it was more.
Dave and Kristin Rossi came up to Estes Park to see how we are living.
My nephew Fred and bride Martha stopped in on their way to Texas (home) from Yellowstone, always good to see family and we have seen many Anthem folks. Cards with the girls is always a treat.
Sadness in my heart….Denise McGuigan
I met Denise while in college and we hit it off right away. Thru the years we lost touch but was reunited on our first year of the adventure down in Fort Myers Beach. Her and Kit (husband) wintered there too. It was the type of reunion that despite the years of not seeing each other, we picked up right away. Every winter since we looked forward to our time together – going to La Ola’s, playing cards, dancing, singing just having a good time. But my heart was broken when Denise passed away on July 18. What a woman she was – funny, caring, industrious, beautiful dancer, truly a wonderful person and I am so lucky to have known her, told her that I loved her, learned from her and had her as part of my life. I will miss you, Denise, save a seat for me in heaven.
Stories from East Portal Camp Host
This is a tiny campground…only 50 some sites – most tents. The few sites that can accommodate a trailer/motorhome are only 22’ long – which is not a big site. So here are some of the “tricks” people play when registering for a site.
Mr. Chinese Man – very proud of his heritage – pulls up with a 25’ foot trailer. Too big. I say “Mr CM – you are too big for this campground. I see when you registered you said your trailer was 22’…how big is your rig?” Mr. CM “Oh it’s 25” but I thought I could just squeeze in.” What worried me most about this is as he was trying to pull into the campground, he had to turn so sharply he knocked out his rear lights. There is one camp site that will fit a larger rig (used just for this purpose) and lucky for him it was open.
5 Men 1 Women on Motorcycles with little tent trailers pull up. Hmmm “I see you have 2 tent sites reserved, but you have trailers so you need to be on a RV site, plus only 1 trailer per site and you have 5 trailers” 5M1W “No these are tents” Me “Ok, so will you be putting the tents on the ground?” 5M1W “No, they are attached to the trailers” Me “Ok, so that means they are trailers like a pop up trailer, correct?” 5M1W “ Yes, but they are tents” Me “Well, our policy is if your camping unit is on wheels, then technically you would be a RV, therefore you need a RV site.” Much grumbling by 5M1W, but again when I showed them the reservation description that they said they had tents (not trailers) which if they had put trailer the system would not have let them book that site. Anyway, bent a few rules, found the only double site where tents or trailers allowed and put them in there. Again lucky for them site was open.
Walking Chet up to my happy place one morning and he is off leash, of course, running happily ahead of me when all of a sudden, I hear a woman yelling “BEAR BEAR”, I start to panic calling for Chet. When I get up to this woman, there she is petting Chet and she says “I thought he was a baby bear!”
We are violating camp host rules by having a hummingbird feeder attached to our window of the rig, but we take it in every night and when our manager shows up.
It is very entertaining to watch. Some mornings and evenings there are 3 on feeder and others lining up to swoop in.
40 More Days To Go
What we are discovering is that we like to be stationary for a bit and Ty is most happy being stationary here. The mountains, hiking, temperature, family – what’s not to like. However, the wandering lust is in our blood and we are now looking at routes that will take us South to Florida for our annual winter hiatus. We have destination spots in MN, WI, KY and SC; open to any suggestions of what to see along that route!
I for one am quite happy to have you stationary in proximity to Broomfield for awhile. And will reluctantly wish you ‘Godspeed’ again come September!
awww – wondered if you were just humoring me!
I love to read about all your adventures. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you read them! Thanks – did you have a birthday recently?