Making Prgress

A week ago, we moved in to our apartment on the south side of Denver--in Lone Tree.  It has taken a lot of work, but things are beginning to come together.

Before we could go to sleep that night, Eric and John had to put these pieces together to make the bed.

The lamps also came in pieces.  I put four of them together for the bedroom and living room.

We have a table and chairs, an end table and two recliners.

And a bookcase.

Eric gave us a TV.  For a few days, these empty boxes served as a TV stand.

Here is our dining room, just off the kitchen.

After assembling the chairs, we put the side table between them.

Of course, John had to assemble the two night stands from IKEA.

The TV stand from Walmart also took assembly.

Much better looking than the empty boxes!

 After hours of assembly and numerous trips to various stores, we are getting comfortable.  It has been 7 years since we set up a new home, rather than moving our furniture and other belongings from one place to another.  We aren't  done yet, but we are getting there.

We plan to stay here for 6 to 8 weeks, then drive to our winter home in Gold Canyon.  We will spend our winters there and summers in Lone Tree.  We still have the Airstream for occasional trips.

Bryce Canyon Hiking, Scenery and Visitors

After our week near Capitol Reef National Park, we continued south and west to Bryce Canyon National Park. This is probably our favorite national park and we became very familiar with it in 2005 when we volunteered here for three months. That was 15 years ago and we are still enamored. The scenery is spectacular. 

 We have done three major hikes and walked the rim during our stay. First, we hiked Navajo Loop to Queen's Garden and came up Wall Street. Bryce is not really a canyon, it is an amphitheater. You can look at it from the rim and it is beautiful. But hike down to the bottom--700 to 800 feet--and the experience is very different. Just remember, if you hike down 700 or 800 feet, you have to hike up the same amount. We have gotten lots of exercise!

This is a view looking up from the bottom. 

The bottom of Navajo Loop and the hike up Wall Street is like a moderately wide slot canyon. The light is filtered and everything has a red cast.

There were quite a few people enjoying the same experience we were.

These are views from the Rim down into the amphitheater. The rock formations and fascinating and the rock colors range from red to to pink to white.

After our walk along the rim, our niece, Tina, and her husband Vance came to visit. They have been traveling around beautiful Utah this month, as well. We had a really good visit. 

Bryce Point is the highest place along the rim of the Bryce Amphitheater. Saturday we rode the park shuttle from the Visitor Center to Bryce Point, then hiked down into the bottom and hiked back on the Peek-a-boo Trail to the Navajo Loop and hiked up to the rim on the Two Bridges Trail. We logged 13,438 steps that day. We were really exhausted.

Here you can "peek" from one area of the canyon to another.

Some people choose to see Bryce from the back of a horse. We were glad we met the horses at a wide spot in the trail.

At the end of a long summer, the trails in Bryce are very dusty. Just look at my legs at the end of our hike.

There were lots of people along the rim when we hiked out of the canyon. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the fact our week here extended over the Labor Day Weekend. Whatever was I thinking? Bryce is very popular. There are lots of tents in Ruby's Inn Campground, where we are staying. There were also lots of trailers until this morning. Now it is almost empty. I guess summer is over.

On the Road Again

For the past six months, this is where we have called home.

Most of the time, we lived in the house. We love the space and the decor, our workshop and our neighbors and all that is available in Gold Canyon and nearby areas. We especially love Epiphany Episcopal Church in Tempe.

When company comes to visit, we move into the RV, where we lived full time before buying the house a year a half ago.

This morning several people came by to say good bye for the summer. Then we headed out to travel down the road. This is where we landed for a few days, at Homolovi State Park in Winslow, AZ. We have been here before and it is a good place to get into our vacation mode for the summer. Look at how our environment has changed.