A few highlights of 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye to 2013 ~ Hello to 2014 !

2013 was a year full of adventures for us.  As usual, we spent time in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona doing all the things we like to do ~ hiking, mountain biking, camping, backpacking and spending time with lots of friends. 

In addition to our usual trips, we flew to Florida and drove Amanda's car back to Colorado.  We drove home the southern route, so we were able to see some different places.  In June, we flew to NYC to visit our daughter, Rebecca.  We saw much of the city and had a great time exploring another new place.

The two biggest changes for us this year were deciding to close our office in Estes Park AND sell the house we owned in Cottonwood, AZ.  Our office is now only in our home in Longmont. It is working out well.  

We sold the Arizona house and decided to really try and pursue the plan that we have always had.  We love to travel in our Lazy Daze motorhome.  Now we plan to spend any spare time we have, traveling and exploring.  Instead of spending most of that time in our favorite states ~ Colorado, Utah, and Arizona ~ we are hoping we can expand the travels to more places.  

I am anxious to see how many places we can get to in the coming year.  We already have several trips planned in the motorhome.  Our next backpacking trip will be to Salt Creek Canyon in Utah in May.

Other "adventures" in 2014 include my 60th birthday in May !!!!! and Amanda & Josh's wedding in July.  I think it will be a good year!

  

Changes, Changes

We have had an amazing time in Arizona!  Mesa, Apache Junction, Cottonwood, and Sedona are all incredibly beautiful in the Fall.  The weather has been spectacular.  The trees are really starting to show their colors, especially in Cottonwood and Sedona.  We have had many days of hiking and biking.  I am always amazed at how many trails there are in and around the Cottonwood/Sedona area.  You could hike for days and still not even come close to hiking all the trails. We have spent lots of time with friends. 

We are starting a new "phase" of our lives.  Since one of us (not Steve) is turning 60 next year, we have decided that we want to spend more time in the Lazy Daze, traveling to many different places.  As much as we LOVE Arizona and our place in Cottonwood, AZ, we have decided that we want to be able to move around more and spend more time in our RV.  We listed our home in Cottonwood a month ago, and it is now under contract.  We will always spend time here.  We have made friends here, that we will continue to hike and backpack with.  We have definitely "fallen in love" with the Grand Canyon, and plan to spend much more time there.     

So, as a very good friend told me, "our lives are evolving"!  This is a good thing!                             

Arizona Time

Steve & I are spending a few weeks in Arizona.  We love to spend time in Cottonwood ~ so much to do and see!  Lots of hiking and mountain biking.  I like being able to extend summer.  It is still warm enough here to wear shorts and tank tops.  Yes, the older I get, I must confess, I love the warmer temperatures. 

The flowers are still blooming everywhere.  I think that Arizona really was pretty rainy this summer.  Even now, in October, I am amazed at how green everything is!

             

A Hidden Gem ~ Curecanti Creek

     September 11, 2013


Steve & I are on another Lazy Daze motor home trip.  The plan was to spend a week in Creede and Lake City, Colorado.  After watching the weather and seeing how much rain was predicted for the beginning of the week, we decided to change our destination. 

We are staying at Elk Creek Campground on Blue Mesa Reservoir!  Great campground and we have Loop A all to ourselves! 

Today, we decided to hike the Curecanti Creek trail.  Definitely, a great choice!  We were the only ones on the trail.  The trail goes down 800 feet and eventually meets Morrow Point Reservoir.  Beautiful trail, green moss on the rocks, two bridges to cross the creek, waterfalls, bushes covered with rose hips. 

Steve is really starting to take many of the photos with the camera.  I take lots of pictures with my iPhone ~ Instagram.  I have been posting many of those pictures on Facebook.

The only mishap on the trail is when I "propped" my hiking poles on the bridge and one of them proceeded to fall off the bridge down into the creek.  It was quite the adventure climbing down "carefully" to the creek to rescue my pole.  All turned out well and we hiked on down.  We then got caught in quite the downpour.  Then the sun came out and Steve got some great photos of the rain running off all the rocks. 

Lovely day/lovely hike! 

After the hike, we spent time at the trailhead, totally enjoying the incredible views.                       

                   

SO many adventures!

OK.  So I haven't kept up with the blog, like I thought I would.  I have been reading many other blogs, lately, and I really do want to try harder to keep a blog of all our travels.  My biggest issue with the blogging "thing" is that you have to sit down to write, and most of you know I have a hard time sitting!

Very briefly, we have had an amazing Spring and Summer of travels and adventures.  ~

The raft trip down the Colorado River in April was just the beginning of many wonderful adventures!

We then flew to Florida in June to pick up daughter, Amanda's car so we could drive it back to Colorado.  We are SO happy that Amanda and Josh decided to move to Colorado.  We now have three of our four kids living close by.

The end of June we flew to New York City to visit our daughter, Rebecca!  A very different type of trip for us, but we had a great time in "the City", seeing all the sights with Rebecca.

 
 
We have spent the rest of the summer traveling in our Lazy Daze Class C motor home and/or tent camping and have been to many different places in Colorado, Arizona, and Utah.  I know most of you know that I post tons of pictures on Facebook!  I truly am going to try harder to write the blog and post pictures to the blog.  I just need to learn how to post quicker and faster.  I know how to post very quickly to Facebook, so I have chosen the easy way out.

I hope that someday, as Steve & I travel more and more (which is definitely the plan), that I can have a travel blog that people will follow and get to see all the wonderful/special places that we love to go visit!

PS... to all you fellow bloggers out there:  If you have any hints to how to quickly add pictures to your blogs, please share with me!  I need to know!  Thanks!