Rocky Grass 2009

 

 

This is our third year attending Rocky Grass, in Lyons. We love it! I think my favorite performance this year was Del McCoury. He's 70 years old -- and still kickin' butt. Very cool.

fishing at Gross Reservoir

 

Has Tom mentioned recently how much he loves fishing in Colorado??

after the catnip...

 

Sable still enjoys playing with her "eek" in the yard -- particularly after some good catnip.

Tom's garden

 

 

 

 

I took these photos about a week ago. As you can see, Sable's been enjoying the fresh catnip. I've also been loving the lettuces, and the tomatoes have been taking off... in fact, tonight we had a tomato-basil-feta cheese-salad. YUM. It looks like this year we'll have some very large pumpkins to carve at Hallowe'en.

Middle St. Vrain

 

 

We decided to leave RMNP, and went from the N. St. Vrain to the Middle St. Vrain Creek. We enjoyed the scenery; Tom fished, and I took photos of the Rocky Mountain Blue Columbines. We liked that area for future camping.

Lumpy Ridge

 

 

The following day we explored yet a different (new-to-us) portion of RMNP: Lumpy Ridge. It was rather a steep hike, and in the end Tom was disappointed. Even though the destination was Gem Lake, Tom declared: "There are no fish in there." (The lake was a tiny pond at best...) However, I liked the views...

mmm... s'mores

 

 

What would camping be without a proper fire, and (of course), s'mores?!

after the recovery of the rod

 

 

 

 

Even though Tom forfeited a lot of his fishing time, all was not lost...

uh-oh

 

 

 

Tom nearly lost a rod (I was recently educated by a neighbor -- it's not a "pole," it's a "ROD") in the St. Vrain. Fortunately, he recovered the rod, and commented that the reel was awfully clean....

oh yeah, the real destination...

Ouzel Falls

this one's for you, Lane!

I thought this sign was interesting... Until I got to the "destination."


Yep. One of the coolest, most primitive "outhouses" I've ever seen. Three 1/2-walls, and a pit-toilet. Didn't smell at all!

Wild Basin, RMNP

OK, I'm having serious blogger issues of late. Sorry for the delays...
A couple of weeks ago Tom and I explored a part of RMNP we hadn't been to before: Wild Basin. We hiked along the St. Vrain (where of course Tom did some fishing); this is Calypso Falls.

Heil Ranch

Yesterday I went hiking with some friends at Heil Ranch. The overlook is always a wonderful place to stop for lunch...
Since we've had such a wet spring, the flowers are still blooming and everything is still green. It's awesome!

Frozen Blue Margaritas

It's funny how these things get started... First, I picked a bunch of lettuce from the garden. This prompted Tom to decide that we should have taco salads for dinner. So of course, we decided that we should make margaritas to go with the taco salads.
Hmmm: we had tequila, but no margarita mix. We did, however, have limes. Uh-oh: we were running low on Triple Sec... but wait! There was blue curacao... Hence, blue frozen maragaritas. With Mexican music, our dinner was complete!
And yes, we served the margaritas in martini glasses (Tom recently decided that he disapproved of our margarita glasses, so they went to the thrift store....)

4th of July in Westcliffe, CO

Our friend Wendi was here in CO for the 4th, visiting her parents. Her father & stepmother live in Westcliffe -- which is about an hour west of Pueblo. We took the scenic route to get there (and was it ever scenic!), which took us about 4 hours. Of course, as soon as we got there, Tom went fishing...
The Drummond's house is wonderful -- on several hundred acres. They still have Wendi's childhood horse, Graffiti, who is about 30 years old now. As soon as we got there, Taran told me, "I rode Frafitti, and I fell off!"
We took Wendi and Taran back to the airport today on our way home. Taran was very happy to have Donkey for the ride.

the Grand Finale

4th of July on July 3rd

Tonight we went to our friends' house to watch fireworks. I tried the now-famous fruit tart -- 3rd time's a charm! The custard actually set up....
We watched fireworks from their back deck. It was spectactular -- I have never been so close to the fireworks display before. It was LOUD.