Summer's End / London

Sept 21 –

Since our last installment, we returned from Arkansas and camped near the dealership, got more warranty work done and went to San Antonio where I worked a trade show.

We returned to Dallas and packed for our trip to London.  We left the RV at the dealership for the two weeks we were gone, which meant we had to completely empty the fridg so Brian got some food items he didn’t even know he needed. 

We spent a wonderful two weeks and two days with Chris, Angie, Caleb and Hannah.  We went to the Natural History Museum, played wiffle ball outside behind the apartments introducing a six year old boy (he told me he is more than 6 and a quarter and more than 6 and a half, but not 7… Imagine that in a little boy British accent) who lives in the apartment complex to baseball, went to the park and played games inside when it rained. Did you know that Chutes and Ladders is Snakes and Ladders in England?  We also got to walk with Caleb on his first day of school starting year 1.

 Playing in the dirt is so much fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baseball (wiffle ball) in the back garden

 

 

Gram & Hannah dancing

Mmmm a milk shake

 

 

 

First day of school

 

 

 

 Hannah in her Princess Sophia shirt


                           Grampa & Caleb wrestling

This is one handsome boy!

 

 

            Gram & Hannah enjoying each other's company

 

 

 

We got back and prepared for our trip to Colorado Springs.  We spent a night in Amarillo (by the way, Jane drove for a couple hours.  It was her first time to pull the house down the road and she was great.  Not only do I have a woman who can drive a one-ton dually, but she can pull a trailer too!  What a woman.) and got to Colorado Springs the following day.  We had a great week up in the mountains.  As we got closer and closer to the mountains, it made me realize how we overuse the word awesome.  The rockies (not the baseball team) are truly awesome.  When I look at God’s creations, I realize how awe inspiring his handiwork really is. 

We took in Garden of the Gods, Seven Falls and went to the top of Pike’s Peak and of course, made it to Coors Field to see the Rockies and Padres.  At Seven Falls, we walked up about a million steps to the top of the falls and found a large water pipe.  What??  Turns out they recycle the water that flows from the mountains down the falls so that they can be open all year without worrying about the water freezing.  Seven Falls Park is now owned by the people who own the famous Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.  Also at the top of the falls, we were told to smell a tree.  Well, the bark of the Ponderosa Pine smells just like sugar cookies!!  If any of you already knew that, why did you never tell me?  At the Rockies game, we were waiting in line to buy our tickets when a nice couple approached me and asked if we needed two tickets.  I said yes we do, and she gave me two FREE tickets.  Their boys had stayed home to watch the Colorado vs. Colorado State football game and, being season ticket holders, they had two extra…..18 rows up from the Rockies dugout.  Well, that was really cool! 

We saw miles and miles of train cars carrying coal in Colorado.  It is the 7th largest coal producing state in the U.S.

 

The Rockies have a really nice park.  Yep, had to take a sweatshirt to this game.  Got a bit chilly.

 

     Oh, yeah did Jane mention we had really good seats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden of the Gods

 

 

 

 

Seven Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

                          Wind chill below freezing at the top

 

 

We had dinner with Zach and Katie (can’t believe we forgot to take a picture) to catch up on their recent move to Denver and how things are going.  The kids are fine.  Zach has already bought skis and Katie is studying hard. 

We also caught up with a friend, Chris, from my previous job, and his wife Julie at the 16^th Street Mall, which is a really cool place in downtown Denver with great shops and restaurants and huge pots of gorgeous flowers all along the streets.

We left Colorado Springs and spent a night just outside Albuquerque.  We arrived in Surprise, AZ, just northwest of Phoenix, where they were forecasting monsoon rains and flash flooding.

OK, now we know it’s us.  In Illinois, we had two or three bad storms with tornado sightings.  In Kansas City, we had flash flood warnings off and on for a week.  When we came back to Texas, more flash floods.  In Arkansas we had to evacuate the campground because of rain  and now in Phoenix, which gets less than 6 inches of rain a year, more rain and flash floods.  The rain, however, never happened here in Arizona and the weather has returned to its customary HOT.  You know, they say it’s OK because it is a dry heat.  Well, 100 degrees is 100 degrees, dry or wet.  But the desert and mountains are beautiful.  The view from the passenger seat of the F350 was spectacular on the drive from Colorado to Arizona. 

Except for an Indian reservation in northern Arizona, the state does not “spring forward” or “fall back”.  For some reason, this time change has really messed with our minds. 

This is an “over 55” park and has amazing amenities.  Jim and I have frequented the fitness center which is huge and very well equipped.  Not sure one week of fitness will help but it won’t hurt either. 

No trouble finding the TV satellites in the southern sky at this park.

As you can probably tell, Jim and I “tag team” the writing of this blog so some of it is from his point of view and some from mine.   But he gets to choose the pictures so now it is his turn again.

 

 

 

We'll spend two more weeks here in Phoenix, then a month in Tucson before heading back through Texas to Arkansas where we'll get some work done on the vacation house, spend Thanksgiving with the family and then down to Florida Dec. 1 to spend the winter in Ruskin again.