Rocky Mountain National Park

We just spent 4 days in Rocky Mountain National Park. Every day we discovered new treasures. The first day we ventured out on our favorite hike. We got a nice and early start, packed a picnic lunch and took off for the Bear Lake trail head. From there we hiked up the mountain past Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and our final destination, Emerald Lake where we had planned on having our picnic in front of one of the most awesome vistas in the world. Unfortunately, it started to rain before we reached the top so the sandwiches stayed in the back pack and we ate them in the car on our return. Only pictures can tell this story, but we are very proud of the three children, especially our 5 year old Elise for their stamina and appreciation of God's wonders.

Nymph Lake

Jack always strives for the highest place he can attain.

Dream Lake

That smile on Jack's face made it worth every game of war I had to play to get here.




















Not to be daunted by the rain for the rest of the day, we turned the heat up in the car and headed up Trail Ridge Road which ascends from about 4,000ft to 12,000 feet high above the tree line to the land of the tundra and the Alpine visitor center. Ella kept saying she wanted to touch a cloud, but couldn't quite get it that she was in the clouds. The highlight of the drive was the herd of big horn sheep we spotted at the top.

 

 

The next day while Amy and Jack were trying to get a place on the YMCA zip line, we took the girls over to Moraine Park and let them play in the Big Thompson River for awhile. There is another lovely hiking trail along the river leading up to a small water fall.

 

 

Grand Lake

We met up for lunch then all piled into Don's mini van and headed, once again up Trail Ridge Road in the rain. This time we went all the way across and down the other side to Grand Lake Village. We had an ice cream in the town and headed back stopping along the way to hike a trail to the mouth of the Colorado River. It is just mind boggling that this tiny mountain river is the same one which carved so many canyons on its way to the Pacific Ocean, including the Grand Canyon and Glenwood Canyon which we would soon visit.



 

 

We spotted more wildlife but the best was the moose.

 

All the way back down to camp Don and Amy were sizing up the road and their plan for the next day to bike the entire Trail Ridge Road up to the Alpine Visitor Center where Amy had already spotted a shirt she wanted badly enough to motivate her to complete the feat. They left at dawn, nearly froze to death, but returned triumphantly shirt in hand. Meanwhile, the rest of us were just returning from a lovely breakfast. 

 

After they recovered, cleaned up, and fed themselves, Amy and I took the kids horseback riding.

They were quite the equestrians it turned out, especially Elise who unexpected put her horse into a trot a couple of times and sat it out very well. It was yet another beautiful way to experience this park. I decided I wouldn't have minded being a cowgirl if I had such an interesting environment in which to do it. We learned that all of the trail horses are turned loose in the fall to winter as wild horses in the mountains, then rounded up in the spring and retrained. I thought that was an exciting job for someone.

 This group really knows how to stay on the go, because next we piled into the car and went up Fall River Road to a place called the Alluvial Fan. This is a pile of rocks forming a water fall which came down the mountain in 1982, when a dam burst forming a fan formation. The Parents and kids climbed the rocks to the top of the falls while us old fogies stopped a short ways up. These kids see rocks they climb, they see water they have to get into it so we spent quite a long time enjoying the first great day of warmth and sunshine.

 

Last day in Rocky Mountain Park and would you believe we took one more ride to the top? My husband wanted to see the sites from Trail Ridge Road in the sunshine while my sun was itching to take the Fall River Road (a dirt road) to the top and Trail Ridge Road back down. I am fortunate to have a son who loves to drive and is not inhibited about taking a dirt road the way his father is. So here we were on another adventure exploring a part of this park we had never seen in all the times we have been here.

 

 Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot resist putting my feet in any body of water I encounter and this seems to be an inherited trait. And this is one of the many that we spent time playing in.

This was our Blackhawks shirt day

Near the top and almost back at the Alpine Visitor Center there was a trail which ascended about as high as you can go at this point so of course we had to ascend it. It was quite steep and at 12,000 feet it took me more than a little effort to get to the top long after the younger ones had reached it. However the children were all proud of their Grandma and tried to show it.

Thus ends our stay in Rocky Mountain National Park still a favorite place of ours.







Colorado Here We Come

Here we are in Estes Park Colorado on what has become our annual trek with our grand children. What started out as Jack's adventures has become now "The Adventures of Jack, Ella, and Elise.

French Canyon at Starved Rock State Park

We arrived at our destination late this afternoon after 3 days on the road and stopped a few places along the road. We got the children on Wednesday morning earlier than expected so we left late in the afternoon to put a few miles and the Chicago traffic behind us. That is how we unexpectedly found ourselves arriving in Utica, Illinois very close to Starved Rock State Park while there was still enough daylight hours for a good hike. We only intended to take them to the top of the rock but we somehow just kept going out to one of the many canyons the park is noted for. The children were fascinated with the legend of the Indian tribe which starved to death rather surrender to another warring tribe. I discovered that Ella is very interested in people of  "the olden days".

The next day we just road all day in the RV playing games most of the time.
Friday was very fun. We have taken I 80 out west many times and along the Platte River, there is an overpass touting a pioneer museum. We have always been curious about what this was so since we had the children with us, it was the perfect time to satisfy our curiosity and break up the trip. What a great surprise. It was a wonderful sight and sound experience demonstrating the crossing of the continent for the early pioneers and how the trip has changed over generations with the evolution of transportation. Outside there was a genuine wigwam made of mud and straw which we could walk into. Last but not least, they had a maze we could explore. Jack and Ella found their ways through
going way ahead of the older and youngest of our party and fortunately they wound up on a lookout platform where the could coach us out or we might still be wandering around in there.

Picture by Ella Chilson

We had a long drive today, but once we started to see mountains in the distance, the excitement built up for all of us. Don and I went to Rocky Mountain National Park on our honeymoon 43 years ago, we brought our boys here at least twice, and it has always been our dream to snatch up our
grandchildren and share this place with them. When we entered Thompson Canyon, their eyes popped out, in much the same way mine did 43 years ago. That was the first time I realized that such places really existed in the world.

We arrived at the campground a few hours before their parents who are joining us for the first week of our journey. After a quick dinner, we were treated to entertainment by a John Denver singer. What an appropriate way to begin our stay in the Rocky Mountains.

The Joys of Summer

This week we will be starting out on what has become our annual adventure with the grandchildren. We are so looking forward to this with the same anticipation as Christmas.

In the meantime, I thought I should review what has been happening to us the first half of our summer. Each season has its own personality regardless of the changes in weather. Anyone who has lived in the Midwest understands that you cannot define seasons merely by the weather. Summer in Chicago can be hot and sultry (thank heaven for the air conditioning age), dry and arid, or chilly and damp, but nonetheless it is still summer. A combination of lazy days blended with outdoor activity. It is that strange season when you dress warmly to go inside and lightly to go outside. It is also that time of the year for road trips both short and long.

Since arriving home from Florida, we have gone to Green Bay, Minneapolis, Shipshewana, and New Glarus. We have spent quality time with friends and family on each trip and even had a few events at home renewing relationships and friendships.

In Green Bay we visited Don and Amy in their new home and celebrated Elise's 5th birthday. Our niece, Beth, joined us there which made it extra special. Now that they have sidewalks in front of their home, Elise wanted something for her birthday she could use outside so we gave her roller blades. The first time she tried them on I thought this was a big mistake, but I understand that after a few tries she was soloing like a champ. Of course, no trip to Green Bay is complete until you have been to a hockey game or two. Grandpa Don almost did not survive the cliff hangar which brought victory to Jack's team.

May gave us and opportunity to join our friends in the Fox Valley Winnies on one of our monthly campouts to Shipshewana, Indiana. It was great to see them again. Having our friends and relatives spread out so much, it is hard to make many of the outings. The people we have gotten to know in this group are some of the most comfortable and welcoming we have ever met. from the time of our with them 8 years ago, they made us feel instantly connected with them. Later in the month we saw them again as we helped one of the members celebrate their 50th anniversary.

Memorial Day gave us the opportunity again to Bike the Drive. A thirty mile trip along Lakeshore Drive in Chicago. What a great day. 20,000 or so bike riders converging on the drive on a Sunday morning enjoying the beautiful lakefront and a common interest. This year we were joined with our niece, Beth who enjoyed the experience enough to look forward to repeating it. She also got to become acquainted with many of our Silver Spokes friends who welcomed her as one of their own.

We spent Father's Day week-end with Bob and Gretchen in Minneapolis. It was the first week of potty

training for Robbie and Jake and no bike ride was undertaken without the potty chair in the back of the burley.  It was still cool and rainy in Minnesota that week, but nothing deters those 3 year olds from a swim in the pool.
One year on a camping trip to Michigan, when the temperature never made it quite to 70, Don and I concluded that people in the North determine the season by the date and weather has nothing to do with it. If it is July, you run around in shorts, tank tops and swim suits. These children are true northerners. They stayed in the pool even as they were turning blue and shaking so hard they could hardly speak.

Our children and some of their cousins have been getting together every summer for the past 12 years or so. We are so happy that they enjoy each other's company so much that they want to spend time together and stay connected. No one from our generation is invited to this gathering, but now the new generation (their children) are a part of all this and they are learning valuable lessons about the importance of extended family. We were thrilled that Mike and Elizabeth were able to make it in from Georgia this year and put us on there itinerary for a day and a half in Woodridge before proceeding to Minoqua, WI. to meet the group and another evening on the return trip. We had such a great time hanging with them and the boys, Ollie and Drew. The best moment happened, when the parents were packing up to go home and Drew gave me a big hug and whispered in my ear "I miss you already, Grammy."

The next week we found ourselves in New Glorus, WI. with our Silver Spokes biking friends. These are all of our best friends both on the road and at home and we have so much more in common than biking. This is our Woodridge family and in light of the fact that most of our family, both nuclear and extended live in distant cities, we treasure our surrogates. We packed a lot of activity into 3 days; a golf outing, two bike

rides and a miniature golf tournament. In between, there was the swimming pool and a couple of lovely dinners. The Spokes had been up there since Monday on their annual bike riding trip and this year made arrange for the Spokettes (that's what they call us girls) to join them on Wednesday for the above mentioned activities. It is such a great thing and, I believe, rare for men,  that my husband has such a great band of guy friends to spend time with. Therefore it touched my heart when they joined the accordian player, who was the dinner entertainment, in front of the diners to sing their theme song to the tune of Edleweiss. Yes, the Silver Spokes have a song. No fraternity brothers ever had a better bond.

Another big part of our lives in Woodridge is our Small Christian Community, a prayer group we have belonged to from our church for many years. Many of the silver spokes are part of this group, but there are many more who are just as dear to our hearts.

Finally yesterday, I was able to spend the afternoon celebrating with my nurse friends from Mt. Sinai Hospital the birthday of one of them. Again this is a group I have grown to love with all my heart as my sisters.

Between road trips and special occasions, we spend the summer days on the golf course, fixing up our house, reading books and just living life. Not a bad life.

It's All About the Music

Dateline: New Orleans, Louisiana

This was actually our second visit to New Orleans. The first was during our second winter in Florida about 18 months after Katrina had devastated the city as well as towns all along the gulf coast of Mississippi and Alabama. We took this route home that year in order to volunteer our services for a short week helping to rebuild homes in Waveland, Mississippi. I mention this only as a tribute to the resilience of human beings in overcoming any disaster.

We took a Sunday afternoon off (actually they didn't work on Sundays) and went to New Orleans for the day. While we found enough music in the streets and inside Preservation Hall to make the trip worthwhile, the French Quarter was noticeably depressed and the number of tourists was very small.

This year it is very evident that the city has returned to its original character.

We were so fortunate to pick the week of the French Quarter Festival which highlights musicians from all over Louisiana and only from Louisiana. We went into town the first evening we arrived and even before the festival did not begin until the next day music was everywhere. We ate dinner at an outdoor café where a jazz band was playing, in the streets we were treated to a band of young street musicians as talented as any professional band we have heard. We had desert at the Music Legends Park, Café Beignet, where a jazz combo regaled us with rhythm and blues. Walking down Bourbon Street, music was emanating from every other door where you are welcome to stop and listen whether you go in and buy a drink or not.

The next day the music festival began during a horrific rain storm which lasted until late afternoon. We waited for the rain to stop then went into town for the evening shows. We found ourselves perfectly timed to get a great standing view of the stage for the New Orleans Nightingales revue. One after another, lady blues singers graced the stage with mind blowing talent. After that show we found a place to eat some shrimp and jambalaya, and another stroll down Bourbon Street. Friday was a beautiful day and we arrived at the Festival earlier in the afternoon and spent the day drifting from dixieland  to blues to Cajun to Zydeco. My ultimate conclusion: the music is alive and thriving in Nawlins.

The Garden at Laura's Plantation

We also found time to explore some of the other cultural and natural treasures of Louisiana.

We spent one morning at Laura's Plantation. This was a Creole plantation as opposed to an American one i.e. Tara. The Creole people are a combination of Europeans, Africans, and American Indians. Their primary language was French and they did not consider themselves Americans. The guide gave us an enlightening presentation demonstrating how the Creole culture was so different from American and also how the cotton plantation business was run.

Another morning we took a swamp boat trip into the Louisiana bayou. They took us deep into a romantic cypress swamp and passed a fishing village on the swamp in which one home was only accessible by water and another home was actually floating on pontoons. Nothing as spooky as in the Blues Brothers movie, but maybe that's because we were there in the daylight.

The Long Journey Home

We left Lakeland 2 weeks ago and since then we have either been in the middle of nowhere with sketchy internet access even on 3G or just plain busy.

Rainbow Springs River

Our first stop was Rainbow Springs State Park in Dunnellon, Florida. As it was Holy Week we spent some time at the local Parish church of St. John the Baptist, and while there was no sunrise service on the ocean as in St. Augustine, the parish was so welcoming and the pastor so enthusiastic about the services, we thoroughly enjoyed the worship community there.

We took our traditional bike ride on the Withlacoochee trail to the McLeod House eatery in Inverness. Where we had a very relaxing lunch on the back deck.







We rented kayaks one afternoon on the Rainbow Rive which is a beautifully clear spring fed river, and we had our Easter celebration with our winter travelling buddies, the Russells.

Manatees in the wild

We also took about an hour's drive down the coast of the gulf to Homosassa Springs in search of a Sugar Cane plantation and it turned out to be just a ruins of a sugar cane processing thingie. However, while down there we discovered a treasure of a place, the Homosassa Springs State Park. Not only were the gardens lovely, there was a wildlife zoo of sorts, and a deck on the river where the manatees gather in the wild. By the way we also had lunch with a view of Monkey Island. A story for another time.






The bike trail on St. George Island

Next on our homebound tour was another state park, St. George Island. Now we were really in the middle of nowhere, but what an awesome nowhere it is. Dunes along the seashore in Florida no longer exist except in the State Parks as commercial builders have such a need to be as close to the water as possible without falling in. Unfortunately, we all know that sometimes they do fall in. It was a bit cool and rainy for swimming or sunning, but that doesn't stop us from enjoying the park. There was a 5 mile road out to the point of the island accessible only by bicycle or special permit. Only 19 permits are issued a day mostly to fishermen. The ride was through the dunes to the beach. The beach was lined with fishermen and their families creating a Rockwellian scene of Americana.

I also realized our first evening on the beach that the sun was setting behind our backs. Wow, that would mean that it is actually possible to view a sunrise on the Gulf of Mexico from Florida. So the next morning we got up and trekked down to the beach to behold the miracle.









On the rainy day we packed up the car and took in the quaint little town of Apalachacola, immortalized in a song by Tim McGraw. The most distinguishable characteristic of this time is the number of shrimp boats docked and moving in and out of the waterways.









Further into the Florida Panhandle we arrived at Henderson Beach State Park in Destin, Florida. Last year we had chosen this route home in order to stop in New Orleans and travel north via the Natchez Trace. In the meantime, my brother, Bill bought a home near there and we now had the added attraction of visiting them while in the area. We had a wonderful 4 days with him and Debbie his wife. We golfed two of the great golf courses which are a part of the resort in which he lives, and went on a great bike ride, culminating in the city of Seaside. Seaside is a quaint little beach town with its own special type of Florida Architecture. By the way, they also have a great ice cream parlor which gives meaning to most of our rides.















The beach is lovely surrounded by sand dunes with a boardwalk across them to reach it. On the last day we were there it was extremely windy, the red flags were flying in warning of the undertow, and the surf was powerful. That's the way I love my beach.

We're on the Move

We have just left Sanlan RV Ranch our home away from home for the past 2 months and are headed north again, not too quickly though. We have quite a trek planned for the journey home and will be almost a month more before we get there. For anyone interested we planned to set down in Woodridge April 19.

I have not written during our stay in Lakeland as there was nothing very new to report. We spent the time doing the things we have enjoyed for eight winters now and none of it has gotten old.

• The hiking trails. I have mapped out a 5 mile route which doesn't seem so long when the environment seems like a magic garden.

• The Frasier Bike Trail. This year we discovered a fun BBQ restaurant near the far end of the trail aptly named "The Curly Tail"
• The Circle Bar B preserve. One of our excursions was in mid morning and it seemed as if all the wildlife in the preserve were out and about; white pelicans, roseate spoonbills, woodstorks, sandhill cranes, and great blue heron to name just a few of my favorite birds, wild pigs, river otters, and of course the usual assortment of alligators.

A family of sandhill cranes

• The golf course. This year the price went up 40%, from $5 to $7 for nine holes and double that for 18.
The annual St. Patrick's Sanlan Gala.

• Visits with our Woodridge friends both in residence and transient

• Weekly visits to the Auburndale flea market. The array of fresh produce, particularly grapefruit, oranges, and strawberries as well as a few found treasures.

• Excursions to Fort Desoto beach and bike trail

• Our annual visit with Mom and Dad at Florida National Cemetery
• Bike ride on the Withlacoochie Trail and lunch in Inverness.
• Our annual spring training baseball game. Braves beat the Tigers. Does that make you happy Atlanta?

Requiring more that a bullet is the spring break visit from Bob and Gretchen and their boys. They arrived a few days after the twins third birthday so we extended the annual St. Patricks Day Gala to include a birthday celebration. The heart of the day was the two of them singing "Jesus Loves Me" for our Grace.

There is nothing more exciting than watching two three year old boys loose it all at the site of fake dinosaurs, the waves in the ocean, feeding the swans and ducks on Morton Lake, or the biggest play park they have ever seen. Even the cool temperatures could not deter them from swimming in the ocean or the inadequately heated swimming pool and, of course, Grandma had to join them or miss out on the fun. The marvelous thing about being three is that any one of these adventures holds as much excitement and fun as Disney World.

 

 

Thus ends another chapter in our 2013 winter adventure. We have a few more places to see and things to do before we alight for the summer. So stay tuned.