Colorado Springs at Last......................

We spent a few days longer in Albuquerque than we would have, waiting for the parts for our RV slide to be shipped. The shipment arrived, but only one of the two slide mechanisms was sent. The other is back-ordered and scheduled to be shipped from the factory in early August. I think our service rep was more annoyed and disgusted than we were! Anyway, it is what it is.....and we decided to hit the road and travel to Colorado, where we had a lot of non-refundable reservations in popular areas lined up. So, we will return to Albuquerque in a couple of weeks to have the work done on the slide, and all will be well in the long run. Hopefully!

Our last few days in Albuquerque were really hot! Actually, all of our days in Albuquerque were really hot!! We were very lucky to have a really nice campsite, complete with a shade tree, so we could be outside quite a bit compared to some of the other campers. The birds apparently liked our site too, since we had a few different bird "incidents", one in the middle of the night. Suffice it to say...no, there was not a bird in the cabinet over the bed.

this little guy was in the grass and managed to get up on the grill of the RV

see him in the corner .... on the driver's side?

he was trying to get into one of those holes

The temperatures were in the high 90's and 100's, making it difficult to enjoy being outside, let alone hiking. Thankfully, the shade helped tremendously. It was at least 20 degrees cooler in the shade! Worked for us....we really like being outdoors.

Tom....making veggies for dinner

check out the TV ....and that's how dinner is made! Right Tom?

how we doin' with those veggies???

As soon as we got word about our RV repair situation, we prepared to head out to Colorado, where we had planned to "live and explore" for a few weeks before starting our journey back east. We stopped in Las Vegas for one night on the way......Las Vegas, New Mexico! We had a lovely campsite overlooking the mountains, and we spent quite a bit of time outside after dinner watching lightning bolts over the mountains. So much lightning! We tried not to think about lightening strikes and forest fires. We didn't get the storms, but just watched as they passed by over the mountain. We did thoroughly enjoy the much cooler weather though!

Tom partying with Jack in Las Vegas......note the beer-holder....

its nice and cool in here....waiting till later to go outside.....when it cools off! 

front row seats to the lightning show!

we watched the lightning all along the mountain ridge...what a show!

The next morning we headed to Colorado Springs, a fairly easy and pleasant drive until we got off the interstate...quite a bustling little city! Lots of traffic, road construction and busy-ness! Of course, it was a Friday afternoon by the time we were close to the campground, and it is the height of summer vacation time too. We were just a bit surprised!

we will be returning....

Rockies in the distance (oh, and my favorite sign while driving in the RV!)

another favorite sign :)

beautiful scenic drive 

Tom sure was happy when that little trip was over, and we were parked in our new backyard! Nothing says "relaxing" as much as that comfy chair and his book! The environment in our new location is so much different than what we have been used to for the last few months. We are definitely out of the desert, and into "greenery". The trees seem huge to us now, and we are definitely enjoying all the shade. Now that we are in full-on summer in a tourist area, the campground is packed. We have a great "back-in" site, so we aren't completely surrounded by campers....just on either side. Nice! The campground is pretty large, with lots of walking available too. We like that!

Being that there are so many campgrounds right around this one, there are plenty of RV services available too. We managed to get our RV washed, right in place. They were so good, the camper parked on either side right next to us didn't even get wet! We were happy to get some of the desert dust off of the rig. Now it practically glows...ahhahah!

aahhhh.......relaxing!

how do you like that clean, sparkling RV!!!!!

Wow...the RV just glows!

Our first free morning, we headed out to the Garden of the Gods, 5 minutes away. What a beautiful place, and also quite popular! Even though we arrived around 8:30 on a Sunday morning, we were lucky to get a parking space. We talked about hiking and a plan with the volunteer in the Visitor Center, who was from NJ and had just retired from AT&T! What a small world this is...really. Anyway, we decided to walk along the paved path through the red rocks, and then veer off to a regular "trail", and take a bit longer of a hike. Best laid plans.....by 10:30 or so, it was near 90 and with no shade, we decided to head back and save the trail for another time. (Winter can't come soon enough for me...ahhahah).

Garden of the Gods, with Pike's Peak in the background (the brown peak)

a view past the Visitor Center (check out that parking lot on a Sunday before 9!)

so pretty

driving into the park (across from the Visitor Center)

heading out on the walk around the rocks

its so pretty here

cool rock formations

such awesome rock formations

its beautiful here

Not surprisingly, this park is a mecca for climbers. I managed to get a few pictures of some of them. With my rather strong fear of heights, I am always in awe  that folks can actually do that and look comfortable! WOW!

climber

close up...he's so relaxed!! 

these rock outcroppings are pretty big

another climber

he looks very comfortable!

no rock climbing for me....hahahhaha

check out these two

what a view they have

The park was very pretty, and despite the crowds (WOW!), we had a really nice and relaxing time admiring the locale. Hopefully we get back to explore just a bit more. The hiking looked pretty good, and pretty easy. We haven't been hiking in quite a while due to the heat this summer, and are looking forward to hiking again.

just pretty

summer in Colorado

such slim rocks

the colors are awesome too

great views all around

how cool is that?

beautiful views

In the distance, Pike's Peak is visible, as is the road up to it. I'm still recovering from that scary ride up Pike's Peak we took 20 years ago, so that is not in our plans. We have a nice view of Pike's Peak from our campground too....I like looking up at it (as opposed to looking down from there!).

Pike's Peak behind us

heading up

Hey Suse.....should we head up there? (hhahahahhahh)

Pike's Peak (brown) and the road leading up (switchbacks in the shadow)

heading to the other trail

oh wow

beautiful place

can you see how thin the rocks are? (and the two up on the top of that rock?)

great views all around

lovely little park

The crowd thinned out dramatically as we headed to the longer trail. As we started along the trail, we realized there was no shade at all...and re-evaluated our plan. We decided to head back, and try again when the conditions are more pleasant.

a little confusing .... trying to find the right trail

heading up and looking to see if there is any shade at all

let's come back another time.....when its not so hot!

pretty

so cool

nice

"wildlife" on the "trail"

gorgeous  and do you see the climber on the shorter rock outcropping?

close up....he looks pretty relaxed too

another climbing party

Later in the day, as I was preparing this post, it got really really dark out my "office" window! Look what's coming!! We are in for some turbulent weather.....and really soon too!

By the way, we are having internet issues here ..... hope this post goes out:)

(We have learned so much about ourselves on this wonderful journey of ours. We can live in really tight quarters, with very little stuff, in all different environments. But.....we can't WAIT to have hard-wired, FAST internet!)

weather movin' in!

oh no Susie.....