Where Have We Been Walking?

    Walking has been a major part of our regular exercise for years and years. I walked and John ran in Boulder when we were first married.  We walked in Castle Rock during the years we owned and operated the funeral home.  In fact, during the end of that time, when we were deciding whether or not to sell the funeral home so John could attend seminary, we walked daily on a gravel road east of town called the CCC Camp road.  (It had provided access to a CCC camp in  Douglas County following the Great Depression.)  While we lived in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where John attended seminary, I walked daily, even on the coldest and snowiest days of the Wisconsin winters.  John ran during his lunch hour at the seminary with two other students.

    We walked--rain, snow cold or sun--during our years in Granby.  We walked daily from our various homes in the Denver area before retirement.  

    During our years of RVing, we walked in circles in RV parks, along the roads leading to the parks and in every destination we explored in our travels.  Our granddaughter Kylie started running during her early school years and I was inspired to begin running.  That ended several years ago, but our walking continued.

    Now we are in an apartment in Lone Tree in the Denver area.  We have been walking on the streets around the apartment house and also looking for other places to walk.  We have taken the light rail to nearby Park Meadows Mall and walked there.  Earlier this week and once a couple of weeks ago. we walked in the nearby Bluffs Regional Park.

    This week, we went somewhere new.  We drove to Aspen Grove Shopping Center and walked to the nearby Carson Nature Center and picked up the Platte River Trail.  

    These beautiful flowers are in the Aspen Grove parking lot.

    This is the area along the Platte River--dried grass and lush trees.

    Finally the trail came close enough to the river that we could see it.

    We spotted a snowy egret sitting on a rock in the river.

    We first saw roundabouts when we first traveled to Europe.  They are becoming more prevalent on our roads in this country, too.  But a roundabout for bikes and pedestrians?  That was something new for us.  We made sure to walk correctly when we came to them.

    This attractive sculpture is located at the entrance of the Carson Nature Center.

    Today, we drove to the Lone Tree Recreation Center, part of the South Suburban Recreation District.  Using our Silver Sneakers memberships, we set up accounts at the rec center.  We can now sign in at any South Suburban facility with our membership number.  We can use the facilities for free but may have to pay for classes we attend.  Today we walked on the indoor track.  I miss being outdoors since the weather here is beautiful now.  But the track surface is cork and much softer and easier on our feet and knees.

    Before retirement, we used the Goodson Recreation Center near our house to do weight training and to walk when the weather was too hot or too cold.  Goodson is also part of South Suburban.

Our apartment house has a fitness room where we can weight train.  I don't know whether or not we will use the weights at the Lone Tree Center.

Not a wasted morning, after all

 Since mid-August my right knee has been hurting--not bad enough to go to urgent care somewhere, but enough that when we got settled here in Arizona, I  made an appointment with our doctor to see what is wrong.  With orders for an MRI, this morning we drove to the Banner Gilbert Imaging facility.  Guess what?  I forgot to bring the doctor's orders and since it is Saturday, they weren't able to get it directly from that office.  I have rescheduled for Monday.

We decided to try and make the best of the situation so we went walking at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch, a place we have been many times.

The preserve was packed with families with children and others but we still saw a lot of birds.  With no wind, I was able to capture some amazing reflections.  

The biggest surprise was seeing this roseate spoonbill.  Since it likes to feed in salt marshes, Arizona is not it's normal habitat.  We weren't sure how it got here.  A couple of women birdwatchers said it must have gotten lost.  It belongs in Florida or along the Texas Gulf Coast.

We saw many black-necked stilts.  They look like they are wearing a tuxedo, don't they.  

There are three stilts in this photo--or is it 6?

We also saw Canada geese and some egrets.

Could you ask for a more perfect reflection photo?

We enjoyed our morning walk, that is for sure.

Walking in Gilbert

Our daily routine includes walking 10,000 steps, which is about 5 miles.  Most of the time we walk around our resort but sometimes we want a change of scenery.  One day we ventured out to the Gilbert Water Ranch.  There are several ponds where the water district stores their water.  In a desert, the water quickly attracts birds and other water-loving wildlife.

We saw these turtles sunning themselves on a log.

There are numerous varieties of ducks and other water birds, including the long-legged stilts in the upper right of this photo.  Their colors make them look like they are wearing tuxedos.

We enjoyed this egret.  It was standing still, waiting for a fish to swim up for dinner.

Once in a while, we will look for more interesting places to walk.

Trail Walking in Missoula

While we were parked in Missoula we took two really good walks along two of the trails in the town's extensive network.

The Bitterroot Trail started in town.

First we passed by a beautiful mural on the side of a building.

This interesting shelter caught our attention.  It is a creative way to used unmatched boards.

 These signs were posted along part of the trail and used "Hal's Words."  Hal Fraser was an active member of the community and his love of riverfront strolls are part of  the inspiration for this trail. This one says "commitment."  Others included perseverance, patience, vision, enthusiasm, selfless and courage.

The trail crossed the river

.
and followed it

The next day we walked on The Milwaukee Road Path which follows the old bed of the train's route through town.  The Milwaukee Road was one part of the Great Northern Railroad which brought rail transportation all  across the northern tier of the U.S.

There were old railroad lights along the trail.

It took us along the river and next to the forest and mountains around Missoula.

We saw these beautiful flowers on the side of the trail.

It was very easy to get our daily 10,000 steps in Missoula, not to the mention  getting a good view of the area's beauty.

Walking and Birds

Every day we try to walk 5 miles--that means 10,000 steps. We each wear a fit bit to keep track of those steps. Most of the time we walk around our resort. The steps we take shopping at Walmart also count. Yesterday, John suggested we drive over to the Gilbert Water Ranch to walk and look at the many birds that love the many ponds there. It was a good change of scenery. We hadn't been there all winter.

We saw a lot of egrets and cormorants.

Sometimes they were in groups.  Other times, they were more solitary.

Here is a cormorant and her babies.

We spotted a large group of turtles.

I love the black-necked stilt.  They look like a bird in a tuxedo, I think.

These branches make an interesting tangle on the edge of one of the ponds.

John caught me taking pictures of the real birders taking photographs.

We really enjoyed yesterday's walk.

Silly Mountain

Silly Mountain is really kind of silly. It isn't what we would call a mountain in Colorado and it doesn't have interesting trails. Everywhere you walk on it you can either see US Highway 60 or nearby housing developments. That doesn't mean no one goes there. Every morning, especially, and throughout the day we see cars in the parking lot. We did hike on the mountain once--that is the reason I can tell you about the views.

This is what the mountain looks like from the west.

What is good about the mountain is the fact it is very near our resort. Since we try to walk at least 10,000 steps a day we are always looking for new places to walk. We quickly bore walking the roads in our resort. Last week we decided to walk to Silly Mountain, not on it. We were able to get about 8,000 steps walking to and from the mountain.

Obviously, there were some recent rains. Just look at the green grass along the path we walked.

Our four days in Great Falls, Montana, were filled with walks in Gibson Park and along the Missouri River and visits to two museums. Sometimes we get our 10,000 steps a day walking around our RV park. It is always nice when the towns we are visiting have developed walking and biking trails. We found trails in Butte and Great Falls that made our daily walks very enjoyable.

Paris Gibson helped found Great Falls and a park in downtown, near the Missouri River, is named in his honor. We walked there twice. There is a lake with lots of birds which attract people who feed the birds, which in turn attract more birds.

There is a beautiful garden, built by the CCC in the 1930s, in the park.

There was also a skateboard park nearby. I'm glad they hadn't been thought of when our two boys were growing up. If they had gone to one, I would have had a heart attack, I'm afraid.

The Great Falls History Museum had very well-done displays, mainly of artifacts from the early 20th Century. That means it included items from out childhood. We remembered some of the telephones on display.

As a teenager, John worked in a grocery store that kept customer accounts in a system like this.

We also visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. What a great museum. Here you can see a statue of the Newfoundland dog Seaman that traveled with the Corps of Discovery. You can see the Missouri River in the background.

Can you imagine canoeing up the Missouri wearing a uniform like this?

Portaging the dug-out canoes around the great falls they found here was arduous work.

I was amazed to find the Native Americans had sunglasses. They cut slits in shells to protect their eyes from the sun.

We love the art of Charles M. Russell. He lived and worked here and we visited his museum. Photos weren't allowed inside but here is a picture of the retaining wall around his home and studio. He used the skull outline in his signature.

An Almost Grand Day

Saturday, we rode the train to the Grand Canyon. The shuttle from our RV park left at 8:30 to take us to the station, where we picked up our tickets and then we were directed to the wild west show, put on by the Cataract Creek Gang. It wasn't long before the fellow who had 5 aces in his poker hand faced the six-shooter of another player.

While we were walking to this show, we heard an announcement that the steam engine that was supposed to pull the train was broken down. Darn! The train was pulled by an ordinary diesel engine.

We learned later that the engine's dynamo--a generator--failed and the engine can't operate without it. We would have loved to see the steam engine in use, but it didn't ruin our day. Today we checked the weather and it turns out yesterday was the nicest day at the Grand Canyon of all the time we are here in Williams.  It was good we made the trip yesterday, even without the steam engine.

After the train was underway, we had some entertainment by a cowboy singer. Note, he plays the guitar and also has a harmonica.  There was another singer during the return trip.

After a two-hour ride through open fields and ponderosa forests, we arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Our first stop was the El Tovar hotel dining room. Our view during lunch was sure nothing to complain about.

You really have to visit the canyon to grasp the grandeur of God's creation there. Here are a few pictures that hint at what there is to see.

We had plenty of time to get in our daily five-mile walk before it was time to board the train again. But first, we watched a Native American dancer.

During our south-bound trip, three members of the Cataract Creek Gang rode up next to the train and made the engineer stop.

The bandits went looking for money and jewelry to steal from the passengers.

You certainly see all sorts of people on a tourist train. I really wondered what this fellow (yes, it is a guy) was about with this fancy hat.

Also during the return trip, we spotted elk and pronghorn. We had also seen a California condor souring above the canyon rim.