Adventures in the not-so wild west

brothersWe’re just home from a week in Colorado visiting family and doing a bit of sightseeing. Chuck’s niece Katie had been visiting us in California for a few weeks with a friend, so we all flew back to Colorado together and Katie’s mom (and Chuck’s sister) Angie met us at the airport. We then rented a van and all drove to Chuck’s other sister’s house where we were staying. After a day of rest (and work on Dina and Kenny’s part, we drove to Steamboat Springs for a few days of fun in the semi-sun (the weather was all over the place, from sunny to windy to rainy to thunder and lightning). Steamboat is mostly known as a ski town but we were there in what is known as “mud season” – the period post-snow but before it really warms up enough to swim and play in the Yampa River. AS a result it was not very crowded and a lot of places weren’t open yet (like the gondola), but the Old Town Hot Springs were very neat so we spent some time there. We also went kayaking in Steamboat Lake (the Yampa River was VERY cold – 55 degrees – and was very fast-moving still due to late snow run-off so we opted not to kayak there).

The highlight of the week came after our return when we had a family reunion of sorts. After a few years of no communication we reconnected with Chuck’s brother Dan and his family. It was a lot of fun meeting still more family. Dan’s daughter Kelsie bears an amazing resemblance to Dina so we made poor Kelsie pose with a picture of Dina at her college graduation. After the big party, some of us went over to hang at Dan and his wife Diane’s for a while. They live in an area of Arvada where people own horses (as a southern California native, it always surprises me to see how much of Colorado is still so wild west-ish!). We went over the next day to go riding – well, Chuck rode. I just watched. Horses in my mind should be seen and not ridden – they are pretty darned big! It was great to see Chuck and his brother reconnecting. I know Chuck has missed Dan a lot over the past several years.

Pics of all the action here. And here’s a short video of Frasier, Dina and Kenny’s Cairn terrier with jaws of iron.