COLORADO SPRINGS

At the end of the day on 19 July 2012 we arrived at the home of Darrell and Linda Badurek in Colorado Springs, where we will be staying for the rest of the summer. It had been our longest drive of the trip, and we hadn't seen our mule deer.

The Badurek's three floor home in Colorado Springs...

and the mule deer was in the back garden!

20 July 2012: We clean out the car, do the laundry, and settle into the "Garden" room. Thom goes shopping in Pueblo for a touring bicycle. Sheila takes a mid-afternoon dip in the indoor pool with Linda and Darrell's visiting grandkids. The house is taking shape as special ordered items arrive to make it a unique home. Here are the new front doors:

There are panels on each side of the doors, and both panels and doors have windows behind them that open separately to let in the cool Colorado air.

21 July 2012: Today we adventured into part of Colorado Springs. We went to Helen Hunt Falls and walked the trail there, and then drove by the Broadmore Hotel, famous for its golf course. Back at the house, we had a couple of visitors you might like to get to know.

Thom at Helen Hunt Falls and trail, North Chayenne Canyon, Colorado Springs.

Broadmore Hotel, Colorado Springs...

And its famous golf course.

Back at the house, the mule deer cools off in the sprinkler water.

Preens itself...

And brings along a little one. You can see from the fallen apples why they like to come here!

22 July 2012: In the back garden we have spotted one of the second year bear cubs (too dark to take a picture) and seen a young cub several times (too quick to take a picture). We promise you a photograph as soon as we have one! Meanwhile, if you would like to check out the bear family (a mother and three cubs) that frequent the area, you can go to Black Bear Cub Party on YouTube, where they are filmed playing on a slide in a neighbors' yard last year. We did have a visitor this evening though, of the two legged variety. Blake West, who we thought we had left behind in Melbourne, Florida, has moved to Colorado Springs with his job. We are looking forward to seeing the rest of the family here soon.

Blake West, Darrell Badurek, Sheila and Tom, and Linda Badurek enjoyed a meal on the deck, the main dining room here at the Badurek home.

23 - 31 July 2012: We have been mixing work, every-day-life, and relaxation here at the Badurek home. Sheila's right at home weeding the garden and Thom has been revitalizing some retro metal patio tables by sanding off some rust and repainting them. We also re-covered the seats for the 12 chairs.

We've found the commissary (grocery store) and registered at the military clinic. We visited the local Family History Center and found it to be very spacious and well equipped - except for some reason you can't print from ancestry.com... Sheila's a trouble maker and will be trying to remedy that! Thom ordered his touring bicylcle from Pueblo and started training for his ride across America - even if it does have a woman's seat by mistake, and needs the gears adjusting.

We have enjoyed the "wild life" in the garden, and we have had some wild weather also. Lots of storms, including two lots of hail, and flooding in the "burn scar" areas of the recent fires.  Thom and I have volunteered to help family members sift through the ashes of their homes for any surviving items. We had to have a security background check, so have not been "on the job" yet.

Sheila collects up the fallen apples and the deer find them.

This fellow is too manly to feed out of a wheelbarrow!

Whatever it is came inside, and we soon escorted him out, tails and all.

On a trip into Colorado Springs we found a running shop for Thom, and a nice park where we can possibly play shuffleboard. Down town has LOTS of art in the streets, very interesting. Also many old and lovely buildings.

In down town Colorado Springs we met "Hank" who is the symbol of the Rodeo here.

As well as the artwork, there are many flower beds that were built by the city

 and kept up by private organizations.

Thom's bike is in at Nick's Bike Shop in Pueblo, Colorado,
but it takes so long for the mechanic to set it up we leave without it.

We are working on steps to the play house from the driveway.

Here's the first one; we'll need another two.

The fawn doesn't like the new step, and finds another way around to the meadow.

Thom has collected his bike from Pueblo and starts his training for his ride across America.

This is the stream at the back of the garden, as it usually looks.

This is the same part of the stream after the storms.

4 August 2012: Finally! The photo is taken quickly out of the kitchen window, since the bear cub was already on the move. The mule deer are much more obliging. Today we took a drive around Garden of the Gods. With it being Saturday, it was packed; we'll bike there one day during the week.

A black bear cub scampers across the back lawn.

We've named them Adam and Eve, since they come for the apples.

And tasty bushes and flowers in the garden.

He certainly looks healthy from the many choices.

Thom at Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, with his new Surly touring bike.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs.

Balancing Rock at Garden of the Gods

Back at the Badureks we have kept busy in the yard and house. We finished the steps and have been working on the play house. As you can see it is a big house, and it has a large yard and meadow with it.  We also enjoy the indoor pool.

The finished steps we made from left over rock and slabs.

Working on the play house this week.

This is a photo of the play house from last October -

 mother bear is close by while her three cubs play at the play house.

The back of the house - our room is on the bottom right corner.

Sheila in the indoor pool.

Sheila (far right) and Linda (far left) at the Red Hat ladies luncheon in the back yard by the stream.

 

The first week we were here, Thom and Blake West climbed "The Incline" - it is the old cog railway track up the mountainside of Pike's Peak. As you can see from the photo, it's an almost vertical climb!

 

We took a trip to Seven Falls, close by where we are staying. When you reach the top of the falls, there is an hour hike further into the canyon.  

Before we make the climb, we watch a display of Indian social dances, including the Eagle Dance. When a feather needs to be replaced in this costume, an application is made to the Federal Government, and it takes 10 to 15 years to get one!!

 

The Native Americans come for the summer in Colorado from Oregon, Oklahoma, New Mexico, etc. They raise money for further education.

 

Doesn't look much of a climb from here....

 

But there are more steps around the corner!

 

We survive the steps and go on the hike...

 

and see a lovely view of Colorado Springs.

This past week we have been working on a scooter for our granddaughter Jax. It goes on cross bars and rockers, so it is the modern day rocking "horse" (it is disassembled for shipping). We used mirrors for the headlights that are normally used for drivers to see infants in the back seat, and we used a pen holder for the "basket." We got the gentlest sounding bell we could find, so mom and dad will let her keep it!

 

From the back.

 Go Jax!!

UTAH and WYOMING

11 July 2012: We take a scenic road south rather than the Internet into Utah, and as we arrive in Utah we head west to Promontory Point, where the railroads met from the west and the east.

The entrance to Golden Spike National Historic Site.

Thom and Sheila stand where the golden spike was driven;

the spike is now at Stanford University in California.

Sheila with the original trains that met in 1869.

 Park workers and volunteers take good care of the trains.

The one from the west burned wood, and the one from the east burned coal.

As we headed to SLC, the salt residue from the Great Salt Lake

could be seen 15 miles from its shores.

ATK and Nasa work together in the desert here.

But just five minutes down the road, crops of corn, onions and wheat are abundent.

Once in Salt Lake City, we drove a few minutes south to West Valley City to Sheila's sister Cathy's home.

12 July 2012: After doing our laundry and Sheila giving Joseph and David haircuts, we all had fun at an outdoor swimming pool. After supper we went to the movies, six of us for the princely total of $10.50.

Sheila gives David a haircut.

Cath is surprised to find us on our laptops, but Thom is checking on the

 Tour de France results, and Sheila is catching things up on the blog.

13 July 2012: Thom and Sheila called in at the Family History Library in SLC and got some needed family history supplies. Our church group is helping to index the 1940 Census, and we bought some goodies as incentives and rewards. During a special "push" day on 2nd July, volunteers indexed over 10 million names. The project is ahead of schedule and should be completed ahead of the September target. The 1940 Census is searchable on www.familysearch.org for free, and is unique in that it covers the time that will link people we remember to those who are unknown to us. Take a look for your grandparents and greatgrandparents! Once completed, the indexing will mean you can type in a name and candidates will be listed at the touch of a button; digitized images of the original records will be attached.  

This afternoon we went to the Air Route Air Traffic Control Center in Salt Lake City and met with our son Lee. He has completed training in all sectors and is now fully qualified at the Federal Aviation Administration Center. There was a nice presentation and his trainers and supervisors spoke very highly of Lee and Eric, who "graduated" with him. They started training together in Oklahoma City three years ago before both being assigned to SLC Center. We were happy to be there to share this special occasion with both Lee and Eric.

Lee and Eric with their trainers and FAA Center managers.

Happy son and father Air Traffic Controllers.

Thom, Lee, Sheila and Lee's friend Eric at their presentation ceremony;

they received their Certified Professional Controller cards.

14 July 2012: Today we arranged to meet Sheila's nephew Jordan from Wales, who is visiting the area. He has just finished a Math Degree in Britain, and is thinking of taking a Masters course in the US. We took him to check out the campus at Brigham Young University in Provo, and then Cath had supper ready for us all, including Lee.

Lee and his cousin Jordan from Wales.

Siblings Moriah, Joseph, David and Anna with their cousins Lee and Jordan.

Note Joe's Welsh Red Dragon tee shirt.

15 July 2012: We had a camp out in the back yard for the boys today. We cooked supper on our camp stove on the back porch (though Sheila cheated and baked shortbread in the kitchen) and then we played cards in the tent till bed time.

Lee cooks supper on the camp stove

David, Lee, Joseph, Cathy and Sheila (taking the photo) play "Queenie," a British card game.

16 July 2012: This morning we went to our friends Herb and Eileen Tabert's home in South Salt Lake to see their Model A taken out for a drive. Herb brought the car to SLC from the Panama and restored it. While Herb and Thom drove the car across Salt Lake City, Sheila, Lee, Cath, Anna, David and Joseph went for a hike up Bell's Canyon. In the evening we went to Alpine to visit friends we knew in Connecticut.

Anna, who is learning to drive, loves the Model A.

Herb and Thom are off to get the car inspected. It can go 50 mph.

Anna, Joe, Cathy, Lee, and David at the lake at the end of the hike in Bell's Canyon.

Lee and Sheila at the lake.

It was fun to watch the ducks and ducklings.

We enjoyed our visit in Alpine with Erik, Claudia, Alison, Tyler and Troy. Claudia is SUPER at cutting hair; if you are anywhere near the area you need to see her! Sheila has been mostly cutting her hair herself for the last 3 years because she can't seem to find a hairdresser that knows how she wants it cut, so it was fun for her to get a haircut from Claudia today.

17 July 2012: Today we went to go bowling at Hill Air Force Base but the bowling alley was closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Our other endeavor went well; we went to the Air Museum there. There was Thom, Sheila, Lee, Cathy and Cathy's friend Daryn. In the afternoon we said farewell to Cathy, and after dinner at the Taberts we said goodbye to Lee. He is back to work tomorrow.

Lee, Daryn, Cathy and Thom; there are aircraft outdoors and indoors at the Hill AFB Air Museum

Lee and Thom have a laugh at an old ATC scope (that Thom was very familiar with!)

It was a Utah man who started dropping candy for the children of Berlin after WWII.

Thom and Sheila once flew on a KC-135 refueler like this from Germany to Albuquerque NM.

Thom, our wonderful hosts Herb and Eileen Tabert,  and Lee (with a new hair cut) after dinner.

We say goodbye to Lee for the time being.

18 July 2012: We drove the Alpine Loop to Brigham City and then drove on to Dinosaur National Monument. We visited the Visitor Center and the Quarry, and then drove back to Vernal to stay with friends from New Jersey, Bob and Anita Clayton.

The Alpine Loop took us over 8,000 ft and past the ski resorts.

Dinosaur National Monument, Utah

Thom at the Fossil Bone Quarry

Fossils in the quarry wall

Thom and one of the best skull specimens.

Sheila and Thom get to touch the bones that have turned to rock.

Then back to Vernal; the town spends $165,000 a year on flowers

and last year won an award for them.

The Vernal Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

an historical building in the town.

Anita and Bob Clayton, our gracious hosts in Vernal. The clock was made in the 1760s by John Wood of Philadelphia, and was once owned by Anita's Quaker ancestors.

19 July 2012: We left Vernal and headed north to Flaming Gorge and the dam there. We had a tour of the dam, and then visited Red Canyon. We then drove north into Wyoming and then headed east to Cheyenne and south to Colorado Springs. We arrived at the Badureks at 8 pm. It was our longest drive of the trip.

Flaming Gorge Dam, Utah

Sheila at the base of the dam, where a lot of rainbow trout live happily in a No Fishing area.

Otherwise, people come from all over the world to fish for rainbow, brown, and other trout.

The dam controls the water and also generates energy for 96,000 homes.

Red Canyon in Flaming Gorge National Recreational Area.

Wyoming is desolate for most of the route we took,

but we have been promised a sighting of mule deer, so we keep looking.

And became even more inhospitable at Chester's Fried!!

We take a chance and take the Internet through Denver rather than taking the ring road. This is the former Mile High Stadium, and note the ozone warning! We are a bit more than an hour from Colorado Springs.