Beginning of Our Summer Travels

Yesterday we locked up our home in Gold Canyon and pulled out with the Airstream just after 9 am.

About 180 miles north we pulled into a very different parking place. There isn't a stucco-covered building in sight, just a few rvs and lots of open space. We are staying at Homolovi Ruins State Park for 3 nights. This is the 4th time we have stayed here. What a spacious, quiet campground. We have water and electric, not sewer.

The park protects the remains of several early villages of the Anasazi people from the 1200s and 1300s. The villages were located along the Little Colorado River and may have been abandoned about 1400 because of frequent flooding. The people may have moved on to Hopi Mesa to the north.

On our walk today, we visited the ruins of Homolovi I. Here is evidence of a building on the hillside.

Potsherds, broken pieces of pottery, have been moved together to show some evidence of everyday life back then.  Some of the pieces show texture that indicates pots made with coils of clay.  A few pieces have been painted.  Archaeologists can look at evidence like this and learn about local practices and trade with other communities.

We are really in the wide open spaces here. Look at the view from the road we walked between the campground and Homolovi I.

Look at our sunset here last night!

It feels good to relax and not have anything we have to accomplish right now. Preparing for travel and making arrangements for our trip to England have dominated life for weeks--maybe months. It is good to just be.

Relaxing

After two and a half busy months, we have had two weeks of doing little or nothing.  And have we ever enjoyed it!  We may have full hookups with 50 amp electric, but this is camping.  Way back when we were working, a trip out with our RV was usually just a time to relax.  That is what we have done during our stay at St. Vrain State Park.

We visited John's sister Cindy at her new home in Fort Collins.  She had a small home built in a senior community there and we enjoyed seeing the house and the "big house" where there are apartments, a very nice dining room and other amenities.  We then drove to the Back Porch Café for lunch.  We had a good visit.

John has been working on two diamond willow walking sticks that needed cleaning and sanding.  They promise to be really attractive.  I brought along a bowl I had turned that needed sanding and a scroll saw project that needed sanding and assembling.  I completed both of those projects.

We have both been writing.  I am putting together stories of my life.  John is finishing up a future book about his ancestors.

Other than that, we have only left the campground for groceries and visits to the laundromat.  Each day we walk five miles, enjoying the ponds in this park.  I could post the many, many photos I took here this year and last.  I could take pictures of reflections and birds all day long.  I will spare you all the photos, but here are three I took this week.

There are several pelicans that spend most of their time on one of the ponds.  They often float around in a group, looking like a small island.  They are impressive when it flight when the bottom of their wings are tipped in black.

This blue heron liked having it's picture taken, I guess.  It posed for us in this tree for over 6 minutes before we walked on.

We saw these logs in one pond this morning.

One of the fields hadn't been mowed before we passed it last week. The sun really showed off the flowers that were going to seed. They looked like a really large dandelion flower but they are probably some plant I don't recognize.

John almost always gets up before me, often getting out of bed before first light. Yesterday he woke me up before 5:30 (I usually get up about 6), telling me there was going to be a spectacular sunrise. Was he ever right! It was definitely worth waking up a little early.

Tomorrow we move on to Chatfield State Park in southwest Denver.