Mount Evans

Our afternoon drive the last Sunday of June took us up above the tree line to the summit of Mount Evans at over 14,000 feet.

It is the highest paved road in North America.

We had driven the Pikes Peak road several years ago on vacation, and this one was every bit as dramatic, with no guard rails!

We learned that originally this highway was meant to connect three "fourteeners"-- Longs Peak, Mount Evans, and Pikes Peak-- but according to the brochure it "proved unfeasible at the time" so they gave it up. That would have been really cool, though.

Since it was a hot day in Denver we hadn't thought about taking along jackets. It was breezy and in the 40s at the summit.

We walked around a bit, but didn't take the time to hike the additional 100 or so feet to the actual summit.

The park entrance fee was $10 per vehicle... a bargain compared to the $40 fee for Pikes Peak! Besides, it's closer to home... so I expect we'll be buying a season pass for $25 next year. 

It's only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but it's a great Sunday afternoon drive destination!

Spring Break Staycation

This past week was my dad's spring break (as a school bus driver) so he and Mother brought Rebecca home and spent the week with us. Regrettably, I had to work most of the time they were here so we didn't have time to do a lot of sight-seeing during the week. Mostly we just enjoyed visiting in the evenings. They headed back home on Friday morning.

As it turns out, Lyle and I both had Friday and Saturday off, and the weather was beautiful, so we decided to do a little sight-seeing with the kids. On Friday we decided to visit the Garden of the Gods outside Colorado Springs.

It was a beautiful, sunny day but the breeze was a little chilly so this turned out to be a good choice, as we could see a lot from the car.

We stopped at several pull-outs to take pictures.

We did go on one short hike. 

The rest of the family even climbed on some of the rocks for a better view. I was content to stay on the trail and snap pictures.

We are thoroughly enjoying exploring our new home area. We have a long list of things we'd still like to see and do, and as the weather warms up I'm sure we'll manage to fit in a few more.

Camping in the Fall

 Late summer and early fall seem to be when we get most of our weekend camping trips in. I love the weather this time of year. Sunny days with brilliant blue skies-- warm in the sunshine, but jacket-weather in the shade-- and crisp evenings once the sun goes down. Just perfect for enjoying a campfire.

 My favorite part about the campfire, though, is the man who does the cooking. Come to think of it, that's one of my favorite parts about camping. He just assumes he's in charge of cooking. Laura and I aren't stupid enough to try to convince him otherwise. We won't complain about relaxing by the fire watching him.

 For our family, camping is all about getting away for a day or two and just relaxing. And yes, the electronic devices usually come along. We realize we aren't truly "roughing it" but if we don't care, I expect no one else does either.

 Over the years, we've made a lot of great family memories on camping weekends, even when we don't do much but just sit around and look at the trees. It's a good opportunity to chat and laugh and read...

 ...and take pictures...

...and then come home and blog about it.

Late Summer Camping

Setting up camp. 

The highlight of the weekend:
4-wheeling with friends.

My view:
Looking over the shoulder of my Driving Man.

Deep woods creek. 

Our camp site at night.

Camping on the River

Our camping season is off to a late start this year due to all the traveling we did in the spring, but we were finally able to get away for two nights this past weekend. We stayed at a lovely Forest Service campground on the Moyie River up near Bonners Ferry.

 Our campsite was right on the river. It was relaxing to just sit and listen to the water. We enjoyed cooking over the fire, playing games at the picnic table, and good conversation with friends. One afternoon we drove further up the mountain to pick huckleberries.

 Sometimes we just need these times of refreshing. Don't you agree?

Friday Fragments

I've been threatening to do it for awhile... and as it turns out, this week has been so fragmented that it seems like a good time to join in Friday Fragments along with my blogging buddy Keetha @ The Eclectic Company. The idea is to post little fragments from your week that don't warrant a whole blog post just by themselves.

***

Speaking of blog posts: I subscribe to a social media tip email thingy... where I get tips on making the most of social media. Some of the tips are helpful, some don't apply, some I already know about... but I found the latest one down-right insulting-- "You should only blog if you have something important to tell the rest of the world." Really?? I wish someone had told me that 10 years ago. All this time I've apparently been committing a faux pas by blogging about unimportant things right along. But you know what? The "rest of the world" is not obligated to read my unimportant posts, now are they? Therefore, I shall continue to blissfully blog about whatever comes to mind, regardless of it's importance. Thank you for understanding.

***

We got home from vacation on Sunday evening. We left the coast on Saturday morning, and had planned to visit Mt. St. Helen's on the way home. However, she wasn't receiving visitors that day. It was snowing heavily when we got to the visitor's center and the mountain was fogged in. I don't think that was very nice of her, do you? After we drove all that way to see her. Guess there's a reason most people don't go on vacation during the off-season.

***

I did thoroughly enjoy the fall colors as we drove through the mountains, though. Here in the Northwest our forests stay mostly green year 'round (being evergreens, you know), so the trees that do change colors really "pop" against the dark green.

***

I've spent several hours this week working on my last homeschool co-op class for the fall trimester. Our co-op has three 8-week trimesters per year. The fall trimester is September and October. Then we take a break until after the holidays. I've taught a class on Eastern Hemisphere Cultures this trimester. It's gone by fast. My last class will be on Russia. I'm always amazed at how much I learn when I teach! I've had fun putting together a Power Point presentation each week, and I especially appreciate the cute educational clip-art from Phillip Martin.

***

Another "catch-up" project this week was getting some new items listed on my Etsy shop, including mug cozies, Regency-style reticules, and flower clip bookmarks. Everything I currently have listed is my own design, so if you're looking for a unique gift, check it out!  I am happy to accept custom orders as well.

***

One more thing on my to-do list for this week was to dig out my old menu plan files and try to come up with a current plan we can stick to. I did a search online for a menu plan template and found the coolest meal-planning spreadsheet for Excel (or whatever spreadsheet program you use). And it's free! It was easy to figure out and customize with the tried-and-true stand-by dishes that my family usually eats. No fancy new recipes with obscure ingredients or anything like that (though you could certainly add them if you like). Looks like they have quite a few practical spreadsheets. So far I've only play with the meal-planning one. I guess I could start doing Menu Plan Monday posts again, couldn't I?

***

On the writing front, NaNoWriMo is coming up. I've committed to going to the kick-off party in my area tomorrow... and I hope to make it to a few of the write-ins. I am not committing to writing 50,000 words in November, but I am anxious to see what I can get done.

***

The weather has finally turned chilly. And my mums are blooming their little hearts out! I planted them in the fall of 2010, so this is my third year to enjoy them. Last year the yellow ones bloomed first and were nearly done before the orange ones bloomed. This year they got their act together! I love how they just bushed out, too. It will be fun to see how many years they come back.

***

Thus concludes my first Friday Fragments post. 

Thank you for making me feel important by reading my blog.

Visit Mrs. 4444 @ Half-Past Kissin' Time if you want to read more frags.

Sea, Sand, and Sky

We stayed at Turtle Rock RV Park.

We practically had the beach to ourselves.

Becky turning cartwheels on the soft sand.

"Log Henge" constructed by our kids.

Rainbow -- Monday morning.

Sunset -- Tuesday evening.

Sunset -- Wednesday evening.

Sunset -- Thursday evening.

Redwood Forests

 It's rainy and damp today here on the coast. It's supposed to clear off tomorrow, I think. Rather than spending the day cooped up in the trailer, we decided to drive south about 50 miles to see the redwoods of northern California. As always, the trees are majestic and beautiful. I loved driving through the misty forests in the off-season. The crowds are gone, and the visitors' center is closed, but the trees were glad to see us!

Camping in September

We got off to a late start with our camping this year, due to a really wet spring and a busy homeschool convention season. However, we've been making up for lost time this month, with the gorgeous Indian Summer weather we've been having. Believe it or not, we've been camping for the past 3 weekends in a row. Well, Lyle and the kids have, anyway. One weekend I was gone to my writer's retreat, but Lyle and the kids went camping. So that counts, right?

Three weeks ago we went camping "up the North Fork" (of the Coeur d'Alene River) with some friends. The river was quite cold but the younger set braved it anyway. I do admire their courage. Or their determination. Or whatever it is.

 The campground is close to one of our favorite short hikes to Fern Falls and Shadow Falls, which we did Saturday morning.

 And then we went mountain climbing! Okay, I have to admit... it was in the truck. Cougar Peak is another of our favorite spots... a mountaintop accessible by road. We ate our lunch on the rocks and admired the view. Fires in the area have made the skies hazy for the past few weeks.

 Last weekend we camped at Farragut State Park. The highlight of that camping trip was the hike we took along Lake Pend Oreille.

During World War II, Farragut was actually a military base. We had fun exploring the remains of a building from that era.

 Laura was taking a close-up shot of the stones in the chimney...

 ...when I noticed how well her hat blended with the stones.

I wonder if the military personnel wore camo like that back in the day?

The weather is still holding, with beautiful sunny days and crisp nights, but I guess we'll be staying home this weekend. We do plan to go to the buffalo round-up in Montana next week... and then in two weeks, we'll be going on vacation to the Oregon Coast.

You know how we are... always ramblin' somewhere.