What's Going On Here?

 

In this screwed up, uncertain and confusing world we are living in, I can't answer my own question.  In our personal lives, this summer hasn't been much different from most summers over the last decade or so.  We left Arizona in May and headed north, first making stops in northern Arizona, then in New Mexico.

After our stay at St. Vrain State Park in Longmont, we arrived in the Denver area July 2, spending two weeks at Chatfield State Park and now at Cherry Creek State Park.  We have extremely weak and ify internet access, making blogging difficult.

We had a good visit with our son Eric and his family soon after arriving at Chatfield. 

We hoped to accomplish two goals this summer.  First, we wanted to purchase a monument for our grave sites at Cedar Hill Cemetery.  We don't plan on dying anytime soon, but we wanted to design it ourselves and save our sons the task of deciding what we might have wanted.  The process of design, then creation of the monument, will take several months.  We probably won't see it personally till we return to Colorado next summer.

The second goal was to look for a small townhouse or apartment to purchase as the place we could spend our summers.  We don't know how many more years we will be willing and able to pull a trailer and travel around the country. 

This goal will not be accomplished this summer.  We didn't find anything with a reasonable price. We have decided (at least tentatively) to rent an apartment for next summer and see how we like that lifestyle.  My parents rented an apartment for more than 10 years.  It just might work for us, too.

All of this activity has taken place while social distancing, wearing masks and trying to learn how to establish or reestablish relationships when you cannot be close to people or see their smile.  Thank God, at least we haven't had to personally struggle with any of the violent protests. We are healthy and no one in our family has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.

 

I will add photos to this post when I have good internet access.

Old Friends and a Scare

Since we have lived most of our lives near Denver, when we return we always make an effort to see old friends and some family that live here.

While we were staying in St. Vrain State Park near Longmont, we met our friend Betty for lunch at Goodfellers restaurant in Longmont. Betty's husband, Larry, was on the Boulder Police Department at the same time John was.  He died in March, so it was important to spend time with her.

As you can see, we were seated outside.  A relatively safe way to meet people during this Covid 19 pandemic.  The wind was blowing briskly that day and just as we were leaving the restaurant, the umbrella you see in this photo blew off and tumbled across the outdoor dining area.  Thankfully, no one was injured.

Another day we drove to The Back Porch Cafe in Fort Collins to have lunch with John's sister Cindy.  We had a good visit--and nothing blew away that day.

While out walking our last morning at St. Vrain, we ran into friends Bob and Lindsey.  They were members of St. Gabriel's in Cherry Hills Village when John was rector there.  This is the third time we have just happened to be camping the same place as they were.

After leaving St. Vrain, we moved to Chatfield State Park on the southwest corner of the Denver metro area.  We will be here for 2 weeks.  On our first morning, I noticed a park ranger truck on the road next to our RV with its flashing red lights.  Before I could say anything, someone pounded--very loudly--on our front door.  John opened the door and was told "Evacuate, Evacuate."  I looked out the window and saw smoke.  John turned off our propane tanks and I picked up our computer and two iPads and we hurried to the truck and drove across the road to the group camping area.  This is what we saw as we looked back at our campground loop.

We were watching for several minutes before trucks from South Metro Fire Rescue arrived at the scene.  If you click on the image below, you can see one of the trees in flames.

A couple  of the younger campers had grabbed a bucket and shovel and were going to help fight the fire, but the fire department arrived to do the work.

This is the location of the fire--just across the camp loop road and one space to the southeast of us.  We are glad they put the fire out before any RVs were damaged or people injured.

We will have quality time with our son Eric and his family and with other friends during our time here in the Denver area.  We just hope there aren't any more dramatic events like airborne umbrellas or fires to spice up our lives.