Eastburn Adventures

On Wednesday, we started our day by driving into Rocky Mountain National Park.  Robert and I got engaged in the Park on May 20, 2002, so we found the exact spot where he proposed and did a photo shoot.  I still had the old, ratty t-shirt I was wearing, and also brought along the photo we took in 2002.  It looked just the same.

We saw lots of elk, and mountain goats, but no bears.

We also took a side road to Bear Lake, which surprised us by being still partially ice covered, and we had to hike through a couple feet of snow to get there.  After 90-degree temperatures in Colorado Springs, it was awesome to be standing in a winter wonderland.

Thursday for me began what I was most looking forward to. We timed our trip with the Estes Park Wool Market, and I signed up for a 2-day spinning class with the awesome Maggie Casey.  Ginger took two classes from Galina Kmeleva, and is now addicted to lace knitting.  I really can’t say enough about my class, except that Maggie is a fabulous teacher, and if you’re a spinner, you should take her class, buy her book, and buy her video!

Thursday night we had dinner at the famous Stanley Hotel.  We didn’t see any ghosts, but there was a rather loud, obnoxious person at the bar.

Friday the girls had class again while the boys hung out around the condo, and after class we got a sneak preview of the vendors at the Market.  Saturday was the actual Wool Market and we went back for more shopping and to meet up with some of my Spring Fling Friends – I saw Lynn, Denise, Kate, Lynda, Janet, and Carin.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of time as we needed to hit the road for home.

Hours on the road, a night spent in Hays, Kansas, and several hours later we were home.  Lots of junk food was consumed, and thousands of stitches were knit in the car, and it was a fabulous time.

We also came home to a monster invasion, but you can read that story here.  Thanks for going along on my travels with me!

Only we could turn a 2-hour road trip into an all day event, but on Tuesday of our vacation, that’s exactly what we did.  We left Colorado Springs and headed first to Centennial where I wanted to visit Colorful Yarns.  This is an amazing local yarn shop!  My friend, Lynn, told me they’d recently moved into this new space and it was a great improvement.  I could have spent a lot more time (and money) in here, but we had another place to be.

We next went to Golden where we toured NREL, otherwise known as the National Renewable Energy Lab.  This was mainly for the boys, but I did find some of the information about wind and solar energy educational.

I was more excited for our next stop, which was the Schacht Factory in Boulder.  I didn’t take any photos, but I was very impressed with the quality of this organization, and it solidified my love for Schacht products above all others.  I only wish they would hurry up and build my Sidekick spinning wheel that I’ve preordered from The Loopy Ewe.

After Schacht, we went to Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins were Ginger and I did a little more yarn shopping, and I got to meet Maggie Casey.  They had the cutest dog in the shop as well, although he couldn’t be less interested in the customers. Again, though, no photos.

We finally made it to our destination, Woodlands on Fall River in Estes Park.  Our condo was amazing, right at the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park and with the rushing Fall River right outside our deck.  Absolutely gorgeous.

Time flies when you’re planning for vacation. I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last posted, although to be fair, I have posted on the KTS website, as well as my weekly video podcast.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Robert and I embarked upon our annual vacation with our friends, Steve and Ginger. This year’s retreat was an old-fashioned road trip. We left after work on a Friday and drove to Dodge City, Kansas where we spent the night. I’d been to Dodge City as a young ‘un, but didn’t remember much. There’s not much to remember from this trip, either. We stopped in the Boot Hill gift shop and peeked through the fence, but decided it wasn’t worth the money to pay to see the museum and hit the road for Colorado.

We arrived in the Colorado Springs area where we first drove through Garden of the Gods. It was a lot prettier than I’d imagined, although the smoke from the Arizona wildfires was bothering me.

We stayed in Manitou Springs, and the next day got up early to drive to Canon City and Royal Gorge. We didn’t realize it was like an amusement park at the gorge, but we were there early enough to get a discount. All of us except for Steve were deathly afraid of heights, but we all made it across the bridge and back. That was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience because I have no intention of ever going back there.

Steve and Ginger then braved the rapids of the Arkansas River while Robert and I explored around Buena Vista and discovered Cottonwood Lake. After lunch at the famous K’s Dairy Shack, we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we took the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway up to the top of Pike’s Peak. Again, I’d been to the top before, but had driven it. Ginger and I both got altitude sickness – something that hadn’t bothered me the first time. Again, the smoke and haze from the wildfires really interrupted our view, but it was still pretty.

After returning to a lower elevation, we headed to Focus on the Family. Steve knew a guy who used to work there who hooked us up with a private tour. It really is an impressive organization, and the highlight for me was getting to sit in Dr. Dobson’s chair (now Jim Daly’s chair) in the actual recording studio. I’d like to have a set up like this for my podcast, LOL. The highlight for Robert was eating ice cream at Whit’s End from “Adventures in Odyssey.”

Stay tuned for Part 2.