June 19, 2013 Garden of the Gods & Manitou Springs

Today we start some real sight seeing! We are going to visit both The Garden of the Gods & Manitou Springs! After breakfast we pack our picnic lunch so we can start out! Garden of the Gods is a park that is truly pet friendly & it's free!

Elliot Perkins,former executive of the Burlington Northern Railroad was the first owner of the property we know as the Garden of the Gods. It was his dream to build his home & make a park on the property. When R.E. Cable visited this area 1859, he remarked,"Why this place is fits for the gods to assemble-a garden of the gods!" Thus the name as we know it now. Unfortunately Elliot Perkins passed away in 1907 before he could fulfill his dream. His children donated the land to the city under the condition that it always be FREE admittance. Today almost 2 million visitors each year enjoy the stately monuments, plant & animal life of the Garden of The Gods!!!

Because it was Pet Friendly, that meant other dogs were walking about with their humans, which makes Otis think he has to act aggressive!?!

I don't know about Otis, but Lennie & I enjoyed walking around this Natural park looking at the different formations!

                      This formation is called The Kissing Camels!
       Rock climbers, with permits can climb some of the rocks in the park.

                    That is if you're brave enough or skilled enough???

Lennie & I had our own level of rock climbing!!!!

                                     Even Otis gets in on the act!!!!

On the way our of the park, EVERYONE stops for a picture of

                                           Balanced Rock!!!!!

We definitely enjoyed Garden of The Gods, but we're moving on to visit Manitou Springs. Manitou Springs is between Garden of The Gods & Pikes Peak. Nine named mineral springs throughout the town are fed by the snows of Pikes Peak. But first before we look this historic town over....it's picnic time!!!                 There's always a park just when we need one!

After our picnic lunch, we went street side to wander the shops. There are benches outside the shops for those who prefer to sit while the other one shops, or like us for the person strapped with a dog!!! There wasn't any shade street side, so real quick Lennie & Otis walked back to the park. There was quite a few shops, but with Lennie & Otis waiting "patiently" I didn't lag too long.

It was a quaint little town but we should have come without Otis!!!

          Okay heading back to the RV Park to relax!

Does this look like a dog suffering!?!

After dinner we start to take Otis for his nightly walk. The sun is just starting to set. I tried to capture the picture but the TRUE colors just didn't show up. The sun was fireball red! I heard later on the news that the sun looked so read because it was glowing through the smoke haze????

Lennie & Otis stopped off at the RV's Dog Park, & I continued walking thinking I could get a better shot of the sun setting. i set out hoping to get a good sunset scene, which I didn't get, but I got a bonus!!!! Walking in the RV Park I counted 8 deer! They were NOT people shy either!

This was the first one I spied, then his "Friends"!

& their Friends!

                   & see what I mean about them NOT being people shy!?!

             This I thought was just as exciting as last night's hail storm!
                               Didn't I say this was a nice RV Park!!!!

June 18, 2013 Destination...Colorado Springs,Colorado!

This morning there was no lingering over breakfast.We've got about a 300 mile  drive ahead of us today over to Colorado Springs! After breakfast I took Otis for his last potty walk here at he Happy Camper RV Park,

while Lennie prepared the RV for departure!

& we're off!

We hadn't gone too far down the highway when I caught this sight out the front windshield. A Hot Air Balloon ride USE to be on my bucket list, till I chicken out1 Starting hearing about too many accidents!!?!

I don't know what the event was, we only saw 2 Hot Air Balloons!!?!

We're driving once again over Wolf Creek Pass it's still smoke hazy, seems to be a little better after we get on the other side of the summit.

It's funny how quickly the terrain keeps changing from mountain scenery

to plains,

back & forth between the two!

Funny how it worked out that we reached our first rest area right at noon time! Even while watching what he eats, Lennie is still always thinking about eating!

So today's "picnic" was in the rest area. Parked next to us was a FIRE CREW bus!

We saw some of the crew members, they looked pretty rough understandably so I can't imagine the hours they've been putting in. There are several wildfires all around us. Hats off to the Firefighters!!!!

We arrive at our  destination, Mountain Dale RV park in Colorado Springs, Co.

I think it's a real nice RV Park, real rustic looking.

but Lennie isn't real happy with our site, & funny it was the only site they had left???? It was real unlevel but we finally got set-up!

We were barely set-up when   storm clouds came rolling in

& then it started to thunder, Otis was not happy with the thunder. Now this area needs rain real bad....what they don't need is lightening without he rain! Soon enough it was raining lightening & thundering, course we went inside the RV!!! Before you know it, it was hailing!!! Just pea gravel size but it kept it up along with the rain for a good 30 minutes. Just as soon as it started it was over & the sun was back out!

Hail on our doorstep!

Our camper neighbor to the right of us

our camper neighbor to the left of us

The rain was a real gully washer & we could see rain ruts everywhere! I was worried about our car shifting since there were now ruts under the car that weren't there when we parked!



Sooooo, it was a interesting first day at the RV Park!!! The only thing I'm not happy about is once again we are without cell phone & Internet service!!!

Next time we come into town I'll try to get another day caught up, in the mean time......stay tuned!!!!

June 17, 2013 So long to Pagosa Springs.....

This morning as usual Lennie was up long before it was necessary!!!! I can hear him on the phone making future RV Park reservations. He has us booked all the way through the end of August! Otis is back in the bed with me hoping we never have to get up! Sorry Otis, we have to start our day!

Today is our last day in Pagosa Springs. We linger over breakfast because there is not that much left for us to do here. Sometimes our last day in a location is either a loaf day or a work day. Today it was a work day, but not too much work!?! After breakfast we defrosted the refrigerator! But we didn't pack a picnic lunch even though we were going back to Dr Mary Fisher Park!

      Today was my favorite kind of picnic day!!!

this doesn't happen often enough for me!!!!

After our lunch I leave Lennie & Otis on the banks of the San Juan River,

                         While I go streetside to check out the shops!

                            There wasn't a whole lot of shops to look in,

This town is more about tubing down the San Juan River or the natural hot springs!

When I returned from the main street I found Lennie & Otis back under our picnic shelter. They must have gotten too much sun. It was pretty warm out today!

                         We walked back over to Dr Mary Fisher Park,

                            one more time to watch people & their pets

                                    or just tubers, enjoying the river!

Now we go back to the RV Park & what a surprise we see! When we checked in, we took site #1 & we were the only RV on the front lot. (The back of the RV Park had a small creek & all those sites were taken.)Tonight every site was taken!!!           We kind of liked being the only RV on "pit road"! 

           Good-bye Happy Camper RV Park, though our stay here was short,

                                 we had a good time visiting your area!

June 16,2013 Father's Day in Pagosa Springs

Before we left Florida for our summer road trip Lennie & I jointly bought a new camera. We agreed it would be a Mother's Day/Father's Day gift for each other.I basically take all the pictures, even when strangers ask us to take a picture Lennie always says, "My wife will take it." Not that I'm a great photographer, he just doesn't want to bother with it!?! But today being Father's Day.....I had to let him use the camera!!!!

Today we have a scenic drive to Wolf Creek Summit planned.We head out after our regular morning routine. Otis is excited to go. It's not going to be a lot of driving so I break down & let Otis ride on my lap but.......Otis must realize I'm not crazy about him riding on my lap, so he traded laps!?!

        Trust me that didn't last long & all too soon he was back on my lap!!!
It was real hazy when we started our drive, & we could smell the smoke from the wildfires.As we drove up the summit it did seem clearer.

We talked to lady later who's camped on the other side of the summit & she told us the smoke was real bad at their RV park.....

After we left the summit we had our picnic lunch in mind! But first we stopped to view Treasure Falls.You could see the falls from the road as you drove by, but I wanted to borrow "Len's" camera & take an actual picture!

Okay...picture taken, now we can go have our picnic! We drove back to Dr Mary Fisher Park, this time we ate on the opposite side of the park, where more picnic tables were.

But we went back over to our original spot to watch the people having fun!

There didn't seem to be as many people on the river today, I suppose they were busy elsewhere with Father's Day festivities.
  Back at the RV I start HIS Father's Day meatloaf!

Now I LOVE meatloaf, & I always thought my mom made the BEST meatloaf, but we haven't eaten any beef since Feb. I made this meatloaf from ground turkey, soooooo I don't know how it's going to be!?

 Lennie & Otis relax outside while I get dinner going!

Don't spoil the dog, Len!!!!

Hey surprisingly the turkey meatloaf was pretty good!We also had sweet potatoes(always good, even without butter!)& corn, NOT as good without butter!

We talked to two different people about the wildfires. They both had the same attitude about the fires. They said if you're from the area, you just learn to accept the fires as a way of life, like the people on the East Coast & hurricanes. They also said these fires are good in a way, because there is some type of beetle that can destroy the forests faster than the fires & now the fires were killing the beetles????

We got ready to take Otis out for his potty walk, the sunset still looks like a fire might be going on???

Tomorrow is our last day here in Pagosa Springs, not sure what we're going to do. Sometimes on the last day we just loaf, but we didn't stay in this Colorado location long enough to need a LOAF day!!!!