August 2016 - More meaderings and wanderings

Things continued for us throughout August like June and July.  Lots of work and trying to clean, organized, and repair.  We did have a great day out at Eliza and Brett's for Jeremiah and Kalliope's birthdays.  Those pictures will be here next post.

It was International Geocaching day on August 20th.  We had to find a cache on that day to receive our virtual souvenier.  Since we were both home, that might involve a bunch of driving we didn't want to do.  We have found just about everything fairly close to us in our area.  On the map, I found the closest caches we hadn't found yet, were in the town of Whitman, ND.  Whitman is on highway 35 directly north of Michigan, ND.  That put is about 10 miles north west of us. There were two caches listed and we, after 10 years, had never been up that way.  Off we went.  The write up on the caches tells of how the cache owner had fond memories of growing up in the area and specific memories of the town itself.  We arrived at the very small town and quickly found the first cache.  The second was a few blocks away on the other side of the town.  Traveling over there, it seemed to us like nobody lived in the town.  It appeared deserted, save for a mobile home near the first cache and the town's Baptist church where the grounds looked well cared for.  We found the second cache and as we left, I looked up the town on the internet.  Apparently, the town has a population of 2.  Yes, just two people period.  The local church holds services every Sunday and is attended by people living in the area.  The town itself is listed among the North Dakota Ghost towns. What fun.

In order to pull our newest camper, we had to have a fifth-wheel hitch installed in the bed of our truck.  I drove the truck to EGF where they spent 3 hours or so installing the hitch.  While waiting, I took a walk around the area.  There is an area of grass where there are statues of deer being stalked by coyotes. 

Welcome to Whitman, population 2

Hitchcock would have loved this.

Old fire engine at the American Legion hall

Our Bighorn arrives home.

June 6th. Later that day.. and June 7th.

France had an appointment, so Laurie, Francine and I drove to downtown Golden.  It is a beautiful little trendy town straddling Clear Creek.  We went to a cute restaurant and ate and sampled local beers.  The girls wanted to talk and I wanted to see more of the town, so I walked around and took pictures while they waited for it to be time to call France. 

Down at the river front, the water was rushing pretty good as it was the early spring thaw.  In a lot of places there are walks down to the river.  These were closed off below a certain point for safety.  A girl in  kayak was traveling down the river.  I noticed a place where there is a small park with a playground.  There is a slide that empties down on the edge of the river where some barriers make a shallow wading pool for kids.  This was closed at this time, but it looked like a fun place.

In the distance, stands the Coors brewery.  We didn't go there.  We met up with France and went home to dinner and some heated games of Rummicube.

JUNE 7th

Golden is just west of Denver.  We should have taken I-76 northwest to where it connects to I-80 in Nebraska.  However, by going straight north on I-25to Cheyenne, we had the opportunity to get a find in Wyoming.  When we left, they led the way up 25 to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  Since we now get into National Parks for free, we thought it a good idea.  O the way, they stopped us at a stone church somewhere in the mountains for some sightseeing.  The Church is St. Catherine of Siena Chapel.  Also called the Chapel on the Rocks.  Here's a link, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_on_the_Rock . It was pretty amazing. There is a statue up on the hill above the parking lot.  We looked around and took pictures of course, Then we proceeded to the park.  The weather wasn't going to co-operate, but we went for a short walk down a path.  This is early June in the Colorado Rockies,  A little cold still, and lots of snow in places.  We had a good time while we were there.  A little rain, thunder, hail.  As we were leaving, it got warmer and we came across some elk in a field who seemed unaffected by the throng of visitors talking pictures.  Finally, we said goodbye to our friends and with good directions, continued on our journey.  We stopped in at Fort Collins Brewery and had dinner and sampled their line of crafts. 

The rest of the trip home was uneventful.  We stopped in a number of states for geocaches, Wyoming, Nebraska, where we stopped to see Laurie's recruiter at the medical travel company, Then up I-29 catching finds in Iowa and South Dakota. We landed in Fargo at Eliza's and spent the night.

The next day we finally arrived home to our home in Petersburg.  It was good to get home and I had spent that little time here before Memorial day to get the house ready for us, so we had water and electricity. 

Arts theater in Downtown Golden.

Many cool statues adorn the downtown area.  Love this one.

We had lunch here.

Nature Park and walk ways along the river.  Parts are restricted during the spring thaw.

A local kayaking down the river.

Shallows area for kids.  slide from park up top dumps down here.

Plaques along both sides of the bridge tells the story of early Colorado.

Stone Church.

The ladies.

Rocky Mountain National Park.

Warm day in Golden, up here it was snow on the ground, rain and hail.  Nice walk, though.

Elk

Curvy winding roads.  Lots of high cliffs.

March 23rd - Mount Soledad

It was Wednesday morning the day before I had to fly out.  We went to Ocean Beach for breakfast.  A little restaurant called Margarita's serves some great breakfast dishes.  I had my usual Texas Benedict.  Eggs benedict made with regular bacon, a chipotle hollandaise, and fresh avocado.  Laurie had Huevos enchiladas, made with eggs on top of cheese enchiladas/  Incredible as usual.

From there, we drove up Interstate 5 to La Jolla.  Specifically, Mount Soledad.  The mountain is a state park except for the very top of it which is now owned by a local non-profit group.  At the top is a white cross.  It has always been a veteran's memorial.  In the early 2000s they added stone walls which are adorned with plaques to commemorate servicemen.  There is no particular qualification, other than having served.  We found one for a man who served in the Union Army during the Civil War.  Notable plaques are Gen. Patton, Glenn Miller, Audie Murphey, And a group of twelve, one tells the story that a couple had 11 sons and they all served in the military.  There is a plaque for each of the 11.  It's beautiful up there.  It was windy and a bit chilly from the high ocean breeze.  We looked around and sat, and just took it all in.

When we left, we drove down to Chula Vista.  This would be our last chance as a couple to see Francine and France.  They have a fifth wheel parked by the Chula Vista Marina at the RV park.  At the end of H street, and just off the beach of San Diego Harbor.

We had dinner at their site, and then walked to the beach for a beautiful sunset.  Once again, I had a view of the hills of Tijuana, but this time it was because we were so close as opposed to just being on top of a mountain.  To our north we could see downtown San Diego and the Coronado Bridge.

It was a great day and we had a great time.

Looking east 

Our volunteer tour guide.  She answered all our questions

Looking North

West

Highway 52

Pretty visitor

The park at San Diego bay

Synergy statue

North towards downtown San Diego

Tijuana at night