Merry Christmas From Our Home to Yours (December 24th, 2018)

Merry Christmas from our home to Yours!

With the help of our new Christmas Tree lights, and the great spirit of our small town, we have had a really fun time getting into the Christmas Spirit this year!

The boat parade of lights.

We all sat around the camp fire and watched the parade.



Toys For Tots comes through town each year, bringing toys to Main Street, and the whole town is there to celebrate!

This photo is compliments of Rick POW Photography...borrowed by me.

Our Side by Side Club hosts a great Christmas Party, complete with dinner, drinks, music, dancing and a photo booth.  Such a fun night with friends.

We hope that this Christmas season finds you all happy, healthy and enjoying time with friends and family.  Wishing you many blessings in 2019.

Lafayette and Louisville CO History (Sunday, December 23rd, 2018)

Today we asked Steve's parents for a local history tour.  Steve's family has been in the area for many generations, and his dad is so knowledgeable about it.  So we headed to the towns of Lafayette and Louisville, two towns in the area with a lot of history.  

We started out in Lafayette visiting some of the old homes and hearing stories of the families that lived in them.  And drove down Main Street, where all of the old businesses are so well preserved.  Many of them have been remodeled and brought up to date, but the old external architecture still remains.  

Then we made our way to the Lafayette cemetery to look at graves of friends and family.  Many of the graves in this cemetery are for people who were born in the 1800's, and many of them immigrated from other countries and made their homes here.

This is the Lafayette war memorial, containing the names of many of the Lafayette residents who fought for our country.

Lafayette and Louisville were both coal mining towns in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and their mining history is still a large part of both of the cities.  Both of the cities are located in Boulder County, which in recent years has become very popular among young families.  Housing prices in these areas have soared, and the cities have been revitalized.  It is fun to see the mix of old and new, and to see the appreciation for how these cities were founded.

We visited the Lafayette Public Library to see some of the artwork that is a tribute to the coal miners that started these cities.  

This is a mosaic mural on the side of the library. Three of the miners were relatives.

As you get closer to the mural, you can begin to see the individual tiles that make it up.

At the entrance to the library there is a fun modern statue depicting everyday life in modern day Lafayette.

Another indication of the changes in Lafayette is a small wind turbine that stands outside of the library.  It has this sign that talks Lafayette's energy production changes over the years.

When we left Lafayette, we made our way west to Louisville.  Our first stop was the Louisville historical museum.  It is a Sunday, and it was closed, but this little museum contains a lot of artifacts from the coal mines in this area.

We then visited a few of the houses that Steve's dad remembers from his childhood.  He had a hard time finding them, and said that they hardly even resemble the houses from his childhood.  They have changed a lot over the years.

And our final stop was the Louisville cemetery.  It's always fun to see what you can find in an older cemetery.

When our tour was over, we stopped at the Post brewing company for lunch.  Steve's dad remembers that this used to be the Lafayette VFW.  He remembers attending several events here over the years, so it was a very fitting lunch stop on our morning history tour.

The Post specializes in gluten free fried chicken, so of course we had to try it.  The sides we selected were green chili mac and cheese and collard greens.  It also came with biscuits, gravy and some spicy home made pickles. 

Steve and I don't eat a lot of fried chicken, so this was a real southern treat for us.  A huge thank you to Steve's parents for sharing their morning with us and sharing some very interesting history as well.

Buena Vista, CO (Saturday, December 22nd, 2018)

Our youngest daughter's boy friend has family property near Buena Vista, CO.  He invited us up for the day.  The weatherman called for 4-8 inches of snow, so of course we were hoping for 4 inches, but knew that it would probably be closer to 8.  

We headed out at 7:00 this morning and met our oldest daughter where she is staying with her in-laws.  We moved all of our stuff to her car since she has a much more sensible snow car than we do, and started our way up toward Buena Vista. 

There are two ways into the town of Buena Vista, one goes through Fairplay, CO, and the other goes through Leadville, CO.  Since it was a Saturday morning, we decided to avoid the ski traffic, so we went through Fairplay.

As we got to Buena Vista, we made a quick comfort stop at the City Market before making our way to the five mile driveway on their property.

Once we were on their property, they told us to stay to the right each time the road branched, and they would be down to meet us.  So down the driveway we went.

Before long, our daughter and her boyfriend met us in the side-by-side and began leading us through the property.

There is a portion of the driveway that is fairly steep.  They were concerned about our oldest daughter's car making it up (and even more importantly back down), so we parked the car at the bottom of the road, and we all rode the rest of the way in the side-by-side. It was a fun ride up!

We made it up the five mile driveway, and as we came up on the property, we couldn't believe our eyes!  It was some of the most amazing views!

As we made our way into the house to warm-up a bit, the snow stopped, and the clouds began to clear.  The views from the front window were stunning!

The animals that you can see in the distance are yaks that they raise on their property.

Our youngest daughter decided to put one of her favorite Havasu beers out on the deck for a picture.

It looks pretty good in a mountain setting!

We had a chance to warm up a bit, then we headed back out for a hike to the overlook.  

It was stunning!

Oh, you probably didn't want to just see pictures of us, so here are some pictures from the overlook as well.

Then we made our way back to the house, for a tour of the barn.  This place is amazing!

Then back inside for some warmth and puppy love.

The kids put together a nice pot of elk chili so we could let it simmer until our daughter's boyfriend's dad and brother made it up.

We all took turns watching the yaks and enjoying the beauty of the mountains!

Arrow loves walks.  I think he's hinting.

He loves texting his friends too.

Once the kids got the chili put together and simmering, we headed out again for a walk to the fishing pond and the yurt.

Arrow was looking for a rabbit, but he never found it.

Is this incredible or what?

When we got to the pond, our girls somehow got inspired by their past and decided to do a synchronized skating routine.  It didn't seem to matter to them that the pond was covered in snow.  There now seems to be a small battle on whether the pond should be used for ice fishing or ice skating in the winter.  It'll be fun to see who wins!

Then we got a quick tour of the yurt.  It was built by a friend of the family, and lined with insulating cloth to keep it warm.  Even without a fire, it was probably 20 degrees warmer in the yurt than outside.  They enjoy staying in the yurt in the summer, and using it in the winter for ice fishing.  

As we left the pond and the yurt, our youngest daughter ran down the hill to show us the skull of a yak that died on the ranch a few years ago.  While she was down in the meadow, Arrow was really conflicted about who he should be with.  He just kept running back and forth between us.  He is a great dog!

Back to the cabin for a little more puppy love.

We enjoyed our elk chili, amazing conversations and hospitality throughout the afternoon!  It was such a nice visit to the ranch, and a really fun time with his family!  

Once the sun had set, we made our way back down the mountain in the side-by-side and a truck (since there were seven of us now), picked up our oldest daughter's car on the way, and continued into the town of Buena Vista for some dinner.  

We went to a little restaurant called Quincy's.  Their Saturday special was sirloin or prime rib.  It comes with a salad, roll, and a baked potato.  It was wonderful!  This little restaurant in this little town made Steve and I feel so at home.  We loved the small town feel!

After a wonderful dinner and more great conversation, we said our goodbyes and the three of us headed back down the mountains.  This time we took the route through Leadville since the ski traffic should have died down.  It was a really pretty drive home.  As we drove through Leadville, the outside temperature on the car said -7 degrees F.  Man, we are not used to this!

A huge thank you to a wonderful family for sharing their day and a very beautiful part of their life with us!