First Stop in Colorado—Pueblo

Our first stop on our return to Colorado was Pueblo.  One day we walked a trail in nearby Lake Pueblo State Park.  We loved the trunks on these old juniper trees. 

We also enjoyed some of the spring wildflowers.  This is globe mallow.

If I remember correctly, this is a pasque flower.

The sky was blue so Lake Pueblo was beautiful.

Wednesday we got our exercise walking on the Riverwalk in downtown Pueblo.  There are numerous bronze statues along the way.  This American Bald Eagle is impressive.

This mosaic shows the course of the Arkansas River.  The Riverwalk follows the original course of the river before it was diverted following a flood in 1921.

An island in the river features statues of animals described by the explorer Zebulon Pike, who followed the river into what is now Colorado.  Pikes Peak, a 14,114 ft high mountain, is named after Pike.

This plaque shows the cooperation between the people of the community and the Colorado Fuel and Iron steel plant in town.  That plant has been sold and is now named Evraz Pueblo.

These bronze birds are easier to see in the reflection than the metal sculptures, at least in this photo.

Bronze statues of young children are popular in many places.  Perhaps they are all designed by the same artist.  We found several along the Riverwalk.

There is also this American Indian.

And a cowboy on his horse and a longhorn steer,

 

I love this young boy getting ready to sail his boat.  But somehow, I think this one will sink.

Another of two children.

A massive buffalo.  These animals once were widely present in Colorado and others plains states.  They are the mascot of the University of Colorado—John’s and my alma mater.  Our son Eric also received a degree from CU and our granddaughter Kylie is a student at CU.

An interesting artistic wall along the Riverwalk.

Iris and other spring flowers.

A mare and her newborn foal are depicted in these statues.

We had been on the Riverwalk before, but we enjoyed it just as much this time.  Originally we planned to travel in Texas this Spring and would have seen the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Instead, we got to enjoy the one in Pueblo.

Whittington and Shooting

We spent a week at the Whittington NRA Center near Raton, New Mexico, one of our favorite places.  They have a nice campground with full hook-ups and large sites.  It must be early in the season because there campground was only 1/2 or less full.

The center has numerous ranges.  We prefer shooting in one of multi-purpose bays.  These are small canyons or breaks in the hills.  Ours had two target stands and we could determine how close or far away from the target we wanted to be.

 

We had planned to spend the Spring in Texas after leaving Arizona but May 5, we turned back north to Colorado because John’s brother, Tim, died.  The death wasn’t unexpected—he had been fighting colon cancer for over a year and he was ready to be reunited with his late wife, Diane.

The funeral was held in Canon City at the Mountain View Community Church.  

Following the funeral the family follow the hearse to Mountain Vale Cemetery where he was entombed near Diane and his parents, C. Douglas and Helen Velin Andrews.

The cemetery had been owned by his parents and the mausoleum was built at that time.  Tim had worked in the family mortuary and cemetery in Canon City.

 

John is pictured with his sister Cindy Walker Gilbreth and brother-in-law John Abbott, husband of the late Kendal—the 4th of the Andrews children.

Here are the 3 Johns in the family—brother-in-law John Abbott, our grandson John and my husband John.

Here Cindy is with Chuck Bowman, a friend of Tim’s since they grew up in Castle Rock.

Tim’s oldest, Mark, is seen here with his son Eion.

My dad always said the only time families got together as he was growing up was at funerals and weddings.  That was our experience last week.  Here John is talking to his brother-in-law John and  John Abbott’s friend Nancy Kovalcik

Scott Fawaz, Cindy, and Kim Bolton and Jennifer Fawaz—the daughters of sister Kendel.

John and Nancy are with Alex, Tim’s grandson, and Megan, Tim’s daughter.

Tim’s son Mike is in the blue shirt.  He is talking to a friend.

In the background are Megan’s husband Gabe’s father and sisters.  Closer are Megan’s son Jared, the mother of Faith, Megan’s son Andre’s wife.

Our son Eric, his son John and Gabe, Megan’s husband.  He was grilling hamburgers for our family BBQ following the funeral

This gathering was to share in the family grief and to renew relationships with the remaining family members. We were grateful we could be there.

Old Town Albuquerque

Many old cities across the country have an old town where the first settlers congregated and sold or traded goods.  Few in the west are as old as Albuquerque’s old town.  If you look closely at this sewer cover in one of the downtown streets, you see the city celebrated it’s tricentennial in 2006.  Colorado, where we were born, celebrated it’s 130 birthday that year.

 

Old town has numerous old and beautiful adobe buildings.

This is the Church of SanFelipe de Neri, the oldest church in Albuquerque.  It has continuously served the community without interruptions since 1706. 

 

The bandstand most likely is the center of many community events and weddings.

The covered walkways around the square provide protection from the sun and from rain.

We saw this colorful display of blankets and rugs in one store.

 Old Southwestern towns always seem to have walkways that draw us in to see what is available there.

 

As we left Old Town we saw this sign.  I think someone from England labeled this structure.