buzzardnotes

The Orange High Panther crew met at Dot’s house for a second time. Some of us flew and others drove to Murrieta. This is Diana and Trish on the airport bus.

Dot, our gracious hostess, and Rocky met us at the door.

Lexi was there, too.

It wasn’t long before we were settled in the living room, testing a glass of wine or two and chatting like we saw each other yesterday.

You’ll notice Rocky in several pictures. He is very social and loves to have someone hold his bone while he gnaws on it.

Our first dinner of delicious pasta, homemade bread, salad and brownies. Dot’s an excellent cook!

Mike prepared a delicious bath of waffles for our first breakfast.

Chatting before breakfast.

We went out the next morning to look around downtown Temecula and do a bit of shopping.

Shoo is exploring one the many shops we visited. This shop has quite an array of goods, both practical and impractical.

After all that shopping, we felt it was important to be nourished in a healthy; grand style at Soro’s, a Mediterranean grill. That was an adventure also because there was some construction going just outside of where we were sitting. It was tough to hear conversation once in a while.

It’s time to take off the shoes and relax. It’s hard work shopping and having lunch!

Hard to believe, but we needed more snacks and a tad of wine. Trader Joe’s was our shop of choice.

Time for more conversation & vittles.

Dot is an accomplished quilter who has several of her quilts on display in the house. This one was inspired by a display at the Mission San Miguel, just north of Paso Robles. She and I visited the mission one year while on our way to Pajaro where we had some fine adventures during Prime Time.

Susan won the long distance trip, coming from Virginia.

Our house gift to Dot was a set of Thanksgiving placemats…enough (we hope) to have a place for each member of her visiting family for the holiday. Thanks to you, Dot, for all your preparation and work to get ready for us. You are the hostess with the mostess!

The Crew just before Shoo had to leave. We were minus Mike who had to leave prior to the photo. We missed her as well as those who were not able to be with us.

We loved being with you both!

We drove out to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, a 15,000 -acre expanse of short and mixed grass prairie located northeast of Denver. More than 300 species of wildlife live there. This is the closest I got to a bison. We did see some, though.

This prairie dog greeted us as we drove by him. You can see how he blends into the background and how we had hard time seeing them in the camera viewfinder.

Black-footed ferrets are supposed to help keep the prairie dogs under control, but I think they have fallen down on the job.

We drove around a designated road and were able to get out to walk up Rattlesnake Hill. Jerri is using the telescope to espy a distant herd of bison.  Check out how flat the prairie is in the background.  It goes on for miles!

We headed out the next morning to try to see some fossilized Sequoia tree stumps with a stop off at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

The Visitors’ Center has wonderful photo opportunities depicting past and present critters with whom to pose. We don’t look too scared do we?

We had a lot of fun at the Center and by the time we got out to drive through the Garden of the Gods, it had begun to snow a bit.

The Garden features a massive 700-ton balanced rock that Jerri and Jolee supported very well! It was snowing more heavily when we headed up into the higher elevations to see the Sequoias, so we elected to turn around and have lunch in Manitou, a cute little city with springs and any cute shops.

It snowed a bit in Aurora that night and was our view the next morning. The snow was a light dusting and had partially disappeared by the time we began the day.

Uncle Bev had hurt his hip and needed to see a doctor about his pain. With their urging, Jolee, Jerri and I went to the History of Colorado Center while they went to the doctor. We felt guilty leaving them to do the doctor’s appointment.

They had a fun exhibit on baseball and we each had our picture taken for a baseball card.

We had so much fun with this that the security man was laughing with us.

JoMama!

Zoom In was my favorite exhibit depicting 100 artifacts of Colorado history from beginning to present.

This 35 star flag because it was carried in 1862 by the 1st Regiment of Colorado Volunteers. It is displayed in a backward manner because to remove the backing would have destroyed the remaining fragments of the remaining fabric. The flag was torn by Confederate grapeshot during a battle at Glorietta Pass. Nevada became a state in 1864. Thus, giving the U.S. flag 36 stars.

Peach crates from Mesa County where farmers began developing irrigation systems and successfully growing peaches around the town of Palisade and the Redlands of Grand Junction in the 1880s. They have and continue to win prizes at state and national fairs.

Mining is a part of Colorado’s history and the Center has a mine with several displays. One of them is interactive that allows you to set explosives in a certain pattern to blow up a certain area. Click on this picture to see how Jolee and Jerri did.

Jerri and Jolee in an old car crossing the prairie.

While sitting in the car, we watched a movie that showed us that these cars could go just about anyplace!

Click on the picture to see what this little house is and what an oldtimer had to say about it.

The Center even has a cow where you can learn to milk it. Jolee was the fastest and got her pail to light up first.

The Bear Trap

There is never a dull moment on our trips.

Those who watch pro football might remember the Denver guy who wore a barrel to the Broncos’ games. We learned that apparently he didn’t wear much under that barrel…even in the winter!

Colorado’s Capitol is just a block or so from the History Center.

The engraving on the step shows that Denver is really the mile high city!

The next morning a stag with his does (a harem?) were in the same area where the snow picture was. Uncle Bev and Nancy told us they have seen does give birth in the same area.

What a great time we had with Uncle Bev and Nancy. We are happy to report that his hip was some sort of muscular problem with no hint of a fracture. That might be why he’s smiling but it’s probably because of those babes around him. 🙂