Sea level, seafood and sea views

Most of you know we have made the Western slope of Colorado our summer home for the past three years. We have enjoyed and benefitted every minute of this gorgeous area.

What's not to like................ fishing on the beautiful Blue Mesa Lake, or on the banks of the Gunnison River, drives thru the canyons that can literally take your breath away. A perfect example of that is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  We would ocassionaly like to take a drive over to Lake City, where the views of the many ranches are so beautiful. Once we arrive in Lake City the stop would be either the BBQ joint or the New Orleans Cajun spot that is pretty tasty.  If there was room after a walk down the picturesque Main Street we just might stumble into the San Juan Ice Cream Shoppe.Then there's hiking for a view of the wildflowers and some wild animals that will pop into view from time to time.

I cannot forget the twelve mile trip to the town of Gunnison.  Riding thru the canyons with the mountains to the north and the Gunnison River to your south.  I will forever keep that picture in my mind.

And the people we met we will forever hold  dear in our hearts and lasting friendships were made.

Of course there's the photo taking that I have enjoyed immensely.

I would have added some photos here but blogger seems to be misbehaving, I'm wondering if blogger is related to facebook.

Well we have done all we wanted to do in this area so it's time to move on. I'm a Pisces, I need some ocean near me, Mr Doodles he doesn't care one way or the other.  He says as long as I'm happy he is also. Such a sweetums!!

Between now and April we are going to be in Southern California with family and friends. Possible going to Yuma/Tucson for the Gem show this winter. Come early April 2011 we will be heading to the Southern Washington hanging out for the summer in the beautiful area of Long Beach, Washington.

As always

110 years

That's a very long time  to hold a rodeo, but the very fine folks of Gunnison Colorado have done just that.  Cattlemen's Days is a week long event ending with the rodeo.

                                         My boots need a good cleaning

                                              a patriotic beginning

                                          the Queen of the Cattlemen's Days

                                 and our favorite event...................bull riding

Great weekend, weather cooperated............great job Gunnison!!

Now to the wildflower festival in Crested Butte just up the road a bit.

Star gazing

Sister got me started stargazing when we were in Yuma this past winter.  Nothing like a navy blue sky and sparkling stars shining down on you to get your juices going for more star gazing.  I have a curious nature  so I wanted to learn more.

Fast forward to Gunnison, Colorado where we have spent the last three summers.  Guess what they have an observatory!!  Click here  to see the site.  This place is run totally on volunteers and has been in existence since 2007 I believe.  They now have some fairly fancy telescopes for viewing. 

Imagine the nite sky in the Western Rockies in SouthWest Colorado.  Many navy blue skies I'll tell ya.  And the stars sparkled like diamonds

The local college has some nite classes that they call Wednesday at Western, well one of them was an astonomy lecture and visit to the observatory, fee $5.  When I saw that I checked with some friends here and we quickly made a reserve since I figured these kind of things fill up fast.

Last nite was our lecture...................what a terrific experience.  Professor was a tad geeky but then I kind of expected that of an astronomer. 

The clouds cleared, all but a couple of wisps and low and behold there was Saturn in all its splendor includng the rings.  Everyone that viewed walked away from the scope say WOW!!

If you would like to partake  in some amateur star gazing check out Skymaps.com   You'll print out the map calendar and wander out in the nite time sky and see some pretty amazing  sites.  Best viewed on a pretty clear sky, no clouds, and when the moon is not real bright.

It was a wonderful nite and I will definitely go back because they have public viewing on Friday nites.

Our third summer

Here in Gunnison, Colorado. But when sweet sister and dear bro-in-law visited it was the first time in this area.


No matter how many times I take the same photos the scenery always looks different.
My favorite spot at the Gunnison River.

Sister and I scooted out early one morning, I drove her to my favorite spots


Here we are......looks like we have rocks in our head and pockets!!

They are everywhere

and they are so cute cause they still have their winter coats that is fuzzy, then with their long skinny legs. I would say about half of the group at least are adults and the rest the kidlets.
Not the best shots given the time and location.

There she is again with that damn camera

Your attention PLEASE!!!

Wake me when summer arrives...................OK!!!

One more day

Dear Lord please give me one more day
One more day of getting old
One more day to watch the meadows green
Or to see the aspens turn to gold.

Just one more day to visit with friends we've met
Another day upon a mountain top
Breathing air that's fresh and sweet.
Good Lord you know I truly love this life
Although I seldom pray
And I thank you so that I've been blessed
To live it day by day.
But, if you had just one more precious day
That I could beg, steal or borrow
I'd live with appreciation, zeal and pride
Then I'd ask again tomorrow.

red scrub oak and golden aspen with a few pines mixed in

This is a portion of a poem written and
read by John Nelson at an afternoon of Cowboy Poetry at a local book store. Too bad I couldn't get any photos but they weren't permitted. So having just recently heard this poem, Mr Doodles and I decided OK one more day.............we'll go to the mountains. Oh my word, picture this.............. a twelve mile trip up a gravel/dirt road to what is called Rainbow Lake. That gravel road is lined with sagebrush, scrub oak, those stunning golden aspen and some of the tallest pine trees we have ever seen. Around every bend on the grimy dirty road were many ooohs and aaahs, some of which I'll share with you here and on my photo blog.

We'll be packing up here and heading south in the next couple of days. We will miss the friends and the area a lot.

Please enjoy the photos I have taken while spending the day on the mountain..........oh did I tell you when we were up there on top of this mountain some 10,300 foot elevation it SNOWED!!! Now ya know why we are headed south?!?!



See SNOW!!!

My view

When I drive to town I see this barn.
I absolutely love old red barns. When Mr and I would drive to see his parents in Canada when we lived in Connecticut, we
would often count red barns or silos, one reason was it was a very long boring trip. Let me tell you there are a lot of red barns
and silos on the New York thruway.

I wasn't into photo taking that much back then, I should have been cause the scenery
was quite nice, with rolling hills and very pretty cows, probably milk cows cause they were all black and white. You can tell I know a lot about cattle and breeds huh! ha!!!



This dude resides on the property of the pretty red barn.

Is this guy sticking his tongue out at me.................

as always click on any photo to get a better view

Meet our new neighbors...UpDated

I received several emails from readers telling me the name of these sweet looking steers........they are called Belted Galloway. My readers are quite versed in breeds of bovine....thanks.


The most unusual looking steers I have ever seen. They have a name I just haven't found out the name of the breed yet. But they look like oddly formed yet fuzzy pigs.







These big boys may be good neighbors to us but they have neighbors that they aren't real fond of, in the same pasture are two female bison that I'll tell you more about later

FYI

Please don't think I have abandoned y'all. We are acclimating to work, social stuff and something good a possible new connection that would allow me to visit with ya more often.



For now just a photo out my window.

There is just something about the range of mountains that surround this small but beautiful Blue Mesa Lake. I wrote a lot about this area last year because it was quite new to us. When you look at the mountains at this time of the year they appear to resemble a water color painting. This was yesterday a.m. after my walk. Click on any photo to enlarge.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Well we finally made the trip and I can tell you it certainly was worth waiting for. The reason we waited was the crowds.........fewer visitors this time of the year.

The day started out wind free and crystal clear blue skies...........was hoping for a few clouds cause it makes for better photos.........but I'm not complaining. The trip was lovely. Black Canyon of the Gunnison is just stunning.........no other word to describe this place. We took the Morrow Point Boat Tour. The walk down to meet the boat was 232 vertical steps and a three quarter mile hike.............that was fun...........and remember when getting off the boat you must walk back up the steps. Just make sure you have plenty of water...........and a camera. Park Ranger Norm and boat Captain Orville gave us a wonderful trip and provided great insite to the area with a super history lesson all accomplished in a couple of hours.

The photos posted below were all taken by Mr Doodles with the exception of the Big Horn Sheep...........which were all females by the way.........or very young babies that were probably born in the Spring.

earlier in the spring they said this waterfall was quite large cause of all
that white stuff they had in the winter

cute little white butts on these guys

don't know if you can see the tracking collar on the larger animal

Rainbow Lake

A trip just a few miles down the road from us but some 4000 + feet in elevation higher than where we are right now.



Just off highway 50, Gunnison County, Southwest Colorado , we turn onto a gravel road that turns into dirt and gravel fairly soon. Travel on this one lane dusty, twisty road is about 15 miles and a little longer than an hour.



We had a lot of time as we were expecting company but not till mid day. Nice when your company brings their home with them.




A site to behold when we reached the top....................breathtaking views. And even a tad bit of snow remained......so yes the weather was a bit cooler at the top of the mountain. There again I am missing having a wide angle lens .....it's going on my wish list and I won't gripe about it anymore.....I promise.


The above photo is of the beautiful Aspen trees......this particular bunch is schedule for cutting in the next couple a years. They do this about every fifteen to twenty years. So we were figuring this particular group is probably near a hundred years old. I don't know if we will be here when the leaves start to turn but from what I hear Aspen's are just a gorgeous color. I think I would like to enlarge this photo.


On a lighter note.........look at the dirt on Mr Doodles truck.........

fuel prices

are certainly not affecting the business here at this RV park we are staying for the summer.

The place is hopping and keeping us all on our toes. Many long time guests keep coming back year after year. But then the folks that were going to travel the country in their RV are now rethinking that and coming to an area near their home. Gunnison, Colorado is a destination for fisherfolks, lotsa hiking and walking trails coupled with events many, many upcoming events, like the Cattleman's Rodeo, Wildflower Festival, Quilt Show, Art's and Craft's Festival just to name a few. Oh and the weekly Farmer's Market starts this Saturday..........that I am really excited about.

Being that we have the weekends off, how the heck did we get so lucky, we will be able to attend many of these events if not all of them. Mr Doodles is really excited bout the rodeo cause he just loves to take photos of the cowboys and cowgirls.

So get ready for some pics of bulls and horsies, wildflowers and some food I'll find at the farmers market I'm gonna cook up for our PBE food blog...........stay tuna'd.

Well things have calmed down a bit

here at the Gypsy Caravan, as my sweet sister refers to us. We are located at a wonderful RV spot and that includes great owners of this RV park. Like I said before things happen for a reason and we are happy it did. And I might add the owners are happy we are here too.

The fridge that died because of electrical problems was repaired today YAY!!! The inverter that died because of electrical problems will be replaced Monday or Tuesday.....so yep life is good.

Now about Gunnison Colorado - we are eleven miles from town situated on Blue Mesa Lake. Gunnison is a funky old mining town with nothing but mom and pop stores. Oh there is a WalMart but it's probably the smallest one WalMart has in it's chain of stores, I mean it's really small. But the town of Gunnison is fun, during the summer months they have all kinds of activities like a music festival, arts and crafts shows, quilt shows, rodeo woo hoo!!!. The lake we are on has tons a fish and boating for us to enjoy. So lot's for us to entertain ourselves, we won't lack for something to do for the next three months or so.

Now there are some things I really miss ...........................Trader Joe's, Costco, WalMart....cannot believe I said that,
Panera Bread and of course family......BUT.........I can keep in touch with them by phone and emails.
But Trader Joe's cannot email me my favorite things....dang!!! Also I miss going to the movies cause the closest one here is fifty miles away. We'll travel to see a movie once in awhile but not often. In the town with the movies is also a super WalMart as well as some good shopping so one can only hope I will get Mr Doodles to drop his fishing pole and venture that way once in awhile.

Don't think I'm whining cause I'm not, but occasionally I have my Princess moments.

I also should update y'all on Buudy our cat. He has an appointment at the local vets office (pray for them) for a blood test to follow up on the one he had a month ago in Southern California with regards to his hyperactive thyroid diagnosis. He takes his meds and seems to be feeling better and actually adjusting to the altitude here as we are. He is drinking his water and keeping well hydrated.

Just thought ya should have a bit of an update now remember photos are to follow when time permits. Mr Doodles is into bird watching as there are some quite pretty species living in this area.............stay tuna'd

Good News and

this could be any town in the USA......we saw this display of US flags in many small towns we drove thru

some not so good news.....nothing earth shattering tho so not to worry. We landed in Gunnison, Colorado Memorial Day late afternoon. That was after a very long day of traveling. Poor Mr Doodles had to fight side blowing wind for a few hundred miles....not fun and quite tiring when you are dragging an RV behind ya. But the scenery along the way was quite nice so it was not all that unpleasant. The RV park we are in sits on sixty acres, on a hill overlooking Blue Mesa Lake. The owners are wonderful and quite laid back just like us. They have supplied us with full hook up, which consists of sewer, water (good water too) and perfect electric. Couple a drawbacks one of which no cell phone service, I guess due to the mountain range here of 7500 feet. Lord only knows where the towers are. The owner is a retired guy from the phone company so he knows phone connection and how to get around the problem. Their wifi service her is not too bad but as always not secure. Owner has installed a huge antenna on the roof of the office so if I sit on the front porch I can use my phone and probably my computer with the aircard.......we'll see. Now to the not so good news.........our fridge died.......due to the on going electrical problems we incurred in Montana. CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!!! I say but all things can be fixed and it's not the end of the world.

Following are some photos taken along the way.

A nice warm welcome to the gypsy caravan


The last of the snow capped mountains.......melting quickly

Lots a mesa's in this part of Colorado