June was a busy month, starting with my brother, Joe, and sister-in-law, Jane, visiting from Arkansas. They started their travels on June 3rd flying to Seattle with their daughter, Jenny, to visit with their son, Jeff, and his new wife, Krissi. Jeff is in the Army and is being deployed to Afghanistan in July. The Army held a program for the families of the soldiers being deployed, and J&J&J learned a lot about the services available to the soldiers and their families. They had the opportunity to meet and get to know Krissi, the newest member of their family. Pictures of their trip can be seen on Jenny’s and Joe’s Facebook pages. These are are a few of my favorite pictures of the family groups.

On our way back from the airport, we stopped at the house to unload luggage and get a quick view of the mountains in daylight and say hi to the dogs. We then went to Horn Creek Camp to pick up our niece, Courtney, who is working as summer staff at the camp. She didn’t realize we lived here when she applied for the job. Coincidence or Fate? We found Courtney and brought her to town to meet with Jay at the pawn shop. We had dinner on Main Street at a newly reopened restaurant, Sangritas. When we took her back to camp, we got a tour of the area and got to see where she works: the recreation building. They have ball courts, bowling lanes (4), a rock climbing wall, snack shop, etc. We showed her how she could find our neighbor’s white roof high in the hills across the valley and that our house was just below his.

Joe and Jane got to watch me bowl on Wednesday morning. I actually had a good day, not true of all the weeks following. We visited Bishop’s Castle in the afternoon, always a great photo op. Joe climbed all the way to the top of one tower, he’s brave. He also got to meet and speak to Mr. Bishop, always an interesting experience.

Thursday, we had Sue working in the shop so we could all sightsee. We went west to Salida, driving along the Arkansas River for a beautiful scenic drive. After walking around Salida and having lunch at a local wood fire pizza restaurant, we headed to Monarch ski area and the Continental Divide. Jay, Joe and I took a ride on the tram up to the top of the continental divide. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating and we were socked in by clouds. It had snowed twice already that day up at the look out. Joe tried to take pictures anyway.

We then drove across the Monarch Pass and down to Gunnison, CO. There was a wonderful Pioneer Museum, with multiple buildings covering all aspects of pioneer life in CO. It tried to rain off and on, but we managed to dodge most of the rain. On the way out of Gunnison, we saw the most beautiful rainbow, super thick and wide, crossing from the mountains on the left to the valley on the right. Our drive back across the pass was sunny, but we found out that Jane doesn’t like heights or speed on mountain roads. Jay was happy to keep to a speed that Jane was comfortable with and we still made good time. We stopped in Salida at the Twisted Cork for dinner which was enjoyed by everyone. It has a patio on the Arkansas River, but it started raining again, so we stayed inside and warm.

On the way back to Westcliffe, Jay spotted an elk off in the distance. Joe has a terrific zoom on his camera, and could see that she also had two calves with her. For the distance, this is a terrific shot. I don’t know how Jay saw her while he was driving. Amazing. We then found another herd of Elk a few more yards down on the other side of the road, and Joe got more shots of Elk. Joe really wanted to see the big horn sheep that can be found in Hardscrabble canyon and other spots in this area, but was denied. But he did get to see turkeys, deer, pronghorn antelope, elk, and other smaller miscellaneous wildlife.

Friday was my day to fly to Fort Worth for Molly’s bridal shower. We headed to Colorado Springs, stopped in at two auctions, one to preview and put in absentee bids for the Saturday auction and one to bid on. We had hamburgers from the lunch wagon on site and Joe and Jane got to see me at work at Ross Auction. We drove through Garden of the Gods Park and took a few scenic shots. They dropped me off at the airport and drove back to Westcliffe, via the lookout at the Royal Gorge in Canon City. After meeting Jay back at the pawn shop, they all had dinner in town at The Feedstore.

Saturday was their day to rest. Joe and Jane took the atv out for a spin on our property. If you are their friend on Facebook, that’s their current profile picture…on the atv in CO. They reported enjoying their time relaxing and looking at the view and of course their atv ride. Their time with us was all too brief, because their flight left around noon on Sunday.

I understand the nieces and nephews were talking about having ChrismaHanukah in CO one of these years. We are up for it whenever they are!