beyond cinderella

This week Bill and I continued our quest of catching enough fish for the fish BBQ we want to host for our co-hosts, and the owners of the park where we are work camping this summer. We tried a new reservoir we heard about called Joe Moore. We were a little surprised when we arrived to find we were the only people there.

After all, if this was to be a good fishing hole, why wasn’t there any other people out there fishing…?

After about two and a half hours of not even getting one bite, we packed up our gear and headed down country back roads to another place we heard about where we might catch some fish…

This is Summit Lake. Only problem here was that it was Memorial Day Weekend, and it appeared that all the people were at Summit Lake fishing. So we called it a day and went home . We decided to wait until after the holiday weekend to set out again to our favorite fishing spot.

Tuesday morning we hit the back roads again on our way to

Groundhog Reservoir, where we caught our first two fish a couple weeks ago.

The water was cold and choppy, and the wind blowing over the water was VERY, VERY, cold as well.

But within a half hour of casting my line into that cold water, I caught a 13 inch rainbow trout!

Then I baited my hook again, took a seat on my fishing bucket stool, and tried my best to not think about how cold I was with the cold wind blowing hard across the water, straight at me. And just about the time I was thinking to myself “this is crazy to sit out here and freeze like this”, I felt a strong hit on my line, and I pulled out a 15 inch rainbow trout!!! Well that made all the cold worth while…

So now Bill and I have one 9 inch, one 13 inch, one 14 inch, and one 15 inch rainbow trouts in our freezer. We just need four more to have enough to have our fish BBQ, served up with a side of Armadillo Eggs…

Stay safe and stay tuned!

This week our son Pat, and daughter-in-law Celina, took us on a spectacular drive to see the fall colors on our way to visit Crested Butte, Colorado. About an hour into our drive, we started seeing the beginning of the leaves changing colors.

For our daughter Shantel, remember when you were a little girl, and you asked me what its like to see color? And I started teaching you what colors might feel like if you could feel color? I told you colors like red, orange, and yellow might feel warm to the touch, while green and blue might feel cool to the touch. Well, the leaves on many of the trees along our drive were changing from green,

to yellow,

and in some areas, we even saw hints of red.

Before we made our way into Crested Butte, we stopped at a beautiful lake named Lost Lake. Oh, Shantel, all the beautiful colors of the changing leaves were also being reflected off the still water of the lake. So as we were looking at the leaves on the trees around the lake, we were also seeing their image reflected on the water. Even the clouds in the sky were reflecting on the water. All of these images created a peaceful, calming, feeling.

We took a short hike around part of the lake,

and around every curve of the trail was a scene more beautiful than the last. In the next picture, we were looking across the lake at trees displaying every shade of color.

And in this next picture the clouds were moving across the lake creating shadows that reflected off the water.

We left the lake and made our way into Crested Butte. What an adorable, colorful, little town. Every building in the town is painted a different color. Orange, red, blue, and green, just like the colorful leaves on the trees.

And they have the most beautiful flowers planted in big flower beds and hanging pots all along the street and sidewalks.

Aside from the magnificent colors we saw in the fall colors of the trees, the highlight of the trip for me, was when we visited a little mini donut shop where they make mini donuts fresh right in front of you, and they come with hot toppings of your choice. Papa and Pat bought six of the donuts with a variety of toppings, like hot caramel/bacon to name just one. Then, they sat outside the donut shop on a bench and ate all the donuts. But the look on their faces as they enjoyed their sweet treats just made my day. As you know I don’t eat sweets, and Celina didn’t have any either, but she stood close by and kept handing Papa and Pat napkins to wipe their hands and face after they finished each of the six donuts. I got so tickled watching them, I could hardly hold the camera straight to take some pictures.

Just before we arrived in Crested Butte, we passed a grave site and stopped to make a visit. The headstone said the person died in 1881. But there was a message engraved into the bottom of the headstone that read,

“My good people as you pass by, as you are now so once was I. As I am now you soon must be, prepare yourselves to follow me.” I thought that was a profound message on a gravesite headstone, so I included a picture of it here on my blog as a reminder to enjoy every minute of your life, and especially enjoy the donuts!

Big thanks to Pat and Celina for taking us on such a beautiful drive and spending their day showing us around Crested Butte, Colorado.

Stay Tuned!