Checking Out Sisters

Our next stop was Terrebonne, Oregon.  We stayed several days at Crooked River Ranch RV.  On my birthday we drove to nearby Sisters to shop and have lunch.  The town is named after 3 mountains nearby, called the 3 sisters.  This is a photo of one of them.

We looked around an amazing clock store.  They sold about every kind of clock you can imagine, as well as repairing clocks and watches.  Just look at some of what we saw there.

At the Sisters Saloon and Grill, we both had a French dip sandwich and sweet potato fries and a beer.  Really good and I love sweet potato fries.

We saw this one-of-a-kind truck camper.  The man standing behind it had built it.  We commented on it and he said, "well, it hasn't fallen off yet!"

Sisters is full of large evergreen trees.

Along the road near our RV park we saw this field of alpacas.  In Sisters we stopped in the alpaca store.  They had some beautiful clothing.  I would have bought something if we spent our winters where it is cold.

Times Square

My 74th birthday was this week and I wanted to go to New York City for lunch.  John said he was sure we could find a Burger King somewhere.  We drove about 7 miles from our campground to the Metro North Train Station in Beacon.  This is the sign next to the track.

The train took about an hour trip to Grand Central Station at 42nd St. and 7th Ave.  The station is impressive.

We walked through the canyons that are New York City streets.

Walking 4 blocks, we came to Times Square.  The traffic, the neon and LED signs, the people are all really almost overwhelming.

We had two options visible for lunch, the Hard Rock Café and Bubba Gump's Shrimp.  Since we watched the movie "Forrest Gump" recently and since John isn't wild about sea food but I enjoy it once and a while, I don't suggest such restaurants normally For my birthday, I chose Bubba Gump's.

As we walked through Times Square we saw the New York Police Department substation.  In the current terror environment, Times Square is a prime target so the police presence is everywhere.

In case you don't remember Forrest Gump, he could run very fast and he ran clear across the US.  If you don't need any service at your table you leave this sign out.  There is a red sign reading "Stop, Forrest, Stop" that asks a server to stop and help.

My coconut shrimp and fries were good. John enjoyed his fried chicken and fries.

On our last day in Canon City the focus was on the funeral of our sister-in-law Diane. Because she had lived in the community almost all her life and was active in school and civic affairs, the family arranged to hold the service in the largest church in the area. John was the officiant. After the service and entombment in Mountain Vale Cemetery, once owned by his and Tim's father, we drove to our trailer in Pueblo West and headed to Cherry Creek State Park near Denver.

There were some interesting and really attractive cloud formations during our time in Pueblo West.

While at Cherry Creek, we celebrated our daughter-in-law Liz's 50th birthday. We took dinner to their house. She had a special birthday wine glass and there were 5 candles on the cake we brought.

We also saw a beautiful sunset while at Cherry Creek.

The park also has a few mule deer.

At the end of the week we headed north, hopefully headed to our major destinations of Glacier and Grand Teton National Parks.

Talk About Celebrations

Not only have we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary during our time here in Colorado, we had two more celebrations this past week. Our grandson John had his 10th birthday Saturday. Since we couldn't be with him that day, I brought dinner to their house on Thursday and we celebrated with him and his family. And no, he wasn't drinking what you see in that bottle or glass. They belong to his mom.

After dinner, we had chocolate cake. Since he was going to have another cake two days later, we didn't have 10 candles, only one on his piece of cake. Somehow, it was very difficult to blow out that one candle.

We had a really fun evening with our family. It will probably be the last time we see them this trip.

Saturday, John's sister Cindy and her husband John celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary and we were able to be with them. My husband John (as you can see, we have lots of John's in our family) gave a blessing to the couple.

Cindy and John were both single parents at the time of their marriage. They have successfully blended their two families--Cindy's four children and John's two--and everyone was together for the celebration.

I was also able to get a photo of Cindy with her sister and brothers. Here are John, Kendal, Cindy and Tim.

This month has provided wonderful opportunities to spend time with family and friends that we rarely see since beginning to travel full time six and a half years ago.

La Fonda Celebration

The La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe is a place we really enjoy and where we go to have lunch whenever we are in the city. Yesterday, we went there to celebrate my birthday. The actual date is today, but we didn't know how many Santa Fe stores would be open on Sunday, so we drove there yesterday.

For lunch, I had chili rellenos.

And John ordered beef enchiladas.

The restaurant is right off the hotel lobby and you can look down on it from the mezzanine.

This a view from looking in from the lobby.

There are great windows around most of the space that have each pane painted with a different design.

Earlier in the month we toured the La Posada hotel in Williams, Arizona. The La Fonda, too, was once a Fred Harvey hotel owned by the Santa Fe Railroad. It isn't as old as La Posada, however. There has been an inn (or "fonda") on the Santa Fe Plaza since 1607. But the current La Fonda was built in 1922 on the site of previous inns. In 1925 is was acquired by the Santa Fe and leased to Fred Harvey. In 1968, it came under local ownership.

We enjoyed looking around the hotel. This is the front desk.















Seating next to the bakery has these copper pans hanging from the ceiling.
















Here is a light hanging over a stairway.




These paintings are found in a hallway.















A beautiful fireplace.



Even the restrooms are lovely.















What a great place to celebrate turning 72!

Birthday Celebration

This has been the year John and I turned 70 years of age. That was impressive to us. But even more impressive and important is turning 80 years old. John's older sister, Kendal, hit that milestone this past week and our family gathered last Saturday to celebrate.

Her cake had a sparkler candle for every decade. (They were very hard to blow out.)

Every time we get together as a family, there is the mandatory photo of the brothers and sisters.

And here is one of just the two sisters.

It was a warm, sunny day as Scott cooked the hamburgers. Kim wanted to make sure he did them right. Tim, Diane and Jennifer also came out to check on the meal-in-progress.

Over the years, we have all brought our pets along to family gatherings. This time, it was just Kendal's dog Bailey and Jennifer and Scott's dog Rosie.



Sarah loved playing with the youngest member of the family, Benjamin. His parents are Nikki and Brian.



Mike was there with his two sons, Alex and Kody.



Megan and Gabe and four of their five children--Andre, Jarid, Victoria and Jordan--were able to come for the party.



Scott and Cindy's husband John had a serious discussion about the food that was being served and Scott also spent time with Ed and Dorothy and their friend from Scotland.

We are a family of Johns.Two more, Kendal's husband John and my husband John chatted with Kim.

It was a good time with family before we left Colorado until next summer.