WoW a whole year has gone by and here I am writing about our Annual Colorado trip. Last year I drove all the way. It was actually pretty enjoyable minus the price of fuel. This year as fuel prices rose I went ahead and bought plane tix. After our day in Steamboat, we packed our kids up in the rented Suburban and headed over the Mountains to made Dad's NEW home in Rangely. My Dad was moving into the new house he had built with his wife Vickie. It was soooo cool to see what they had done all by themselves DEBT free. Gotta love the no mortgage concept. The home is built of straw and is also Solar. I can't tell you how proud of them I am. It is so cool to look over the Rio Blanco river and see the Elk coming in, Coyotes and from time to time a Mountain lion. The views in each direction are astounding. We did a great deal of hiking. I took my sister's kids and my oldest to some petroglyphs, an owl nest and arrowhead hunting. I actually found a scraper. It was cool teaching my sister's kids how to arrowhead hunt just like my Aunts had taught me. I also had the chance to show them some tips on hiking, getting lost and general outdoor safety. When there are hungry Mountain Lions around you should know what to do not do if you come into one. The owl's nest was in the same spot it was 7 years ago when I found it with baby owls. Raptures are known to vomit up their food after they eat it and because the nest is in a cave (rock outcropping) the owl pellets were easy to find. We happily took them back to dissect at another date.   owl pellets  All of my Dad's Sisters and a few cousins showed with their travel trailers and their beautiful children. My Aunt brought some Rocky Mountain Oysters... because they own a ranch in Colorado. For those of you who don't know what that is  click here     Much to my dismay my Aunt decided that they had been in the freezer tooo long. DARN It   My Aunt Mary Lou made an enticing green chili! We had a stock tank swimming pool, cause that is the way the cowboys roll! EVERYONE went fishing down at the river. Lots of Rainbow trout and a few Carp. My girl and my boy cousins can fly fish better then anyone I have ever seen. It is just awesome to see them whip that pole just right. Some of the cousins brought a new weapon and everyone got to try that out. See how right wing our family can be?? hahaha Guns?!! The 4 fourwheelers were kept running as often as my Dad would let them. The day everyone left I went on a long hike ALONE. It was so nice to get out and see some more Petroglyphs and to relax. During this trip we had virtually zero cell phone service. As I was climbing a steep rock face.... my phone rang! I was like uhhh HELLO??? It was my Mom! When I came back from the hike we decided to take the kids out to the reservior. It is tradition in our little town to jump off the cliffs. I had not done it since I was a teen. When I was a teen it did not look so scary and so HIGH UP. The water is from melted snow ...OY Finally I told my sister AFTER our kids had jumped off that if she would do it I would go with her. She said YES and I quickly ..wearing my clothes threw my sunglasses down grabbed her hand and jumped off!! You can see the poor video here but let me tell you we are some screaming women!

Slide show of the trip