Summary to Date

We are about a week and a half into our trip as we start this blog of our trip so we will give a brief summary of where we have been up to this point. We left Lake Nacimiento, CA on June 18 heading for Greeley, CO for Sharon and James wedding. We were going to leave a day earlier, but had some catch up to do at home since we had just gotten back a few days earlier from a 3 week trip with Bud and Vicky (Steve's brother and sister-in-law) to Northern Calif and Oregon. Due to the late start and since the wedding was to be on June 20, we had to complete a couple of very long days driving. The first night we made it to Cave Creek State Park just north of St. George, Utah. A very nice place situated adjacent to Cave Creek Lake. It was quite hot so Richard and Tinsel thought a dip in the lake was very refreshing. The next day we made it to Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland, CO. On June 20, we drove about 15 miles to Sharon's house and enjoyed a beautiful wedding and a reception at the VFW Hall in Evans, CO. On June 21, we joined Rick and Ann Lafford and Tom and Bonnie Beaulieu at the home of Walt and Linda Lafford (parents of the bride) at their wonderful mountain home near Buena Vista, CO. Walt and Linda's home is at over 9,000 ft and we could really feel the effects of the altitude when we went for our morning run! Walt and Linda are gracious hosts and we had a magnificent time. Our highlight there was a wild rafting ride on the Arkansas River with Rick and Ann. The river was at an unusual high mark which made our rafting extra exciting. Travis, our rafting guide, was quite a character and we enjoyed him immensely. Only one person fell out of the raft, though Steve was about half way out and Ann found herself on the floor in the middle of the raft. We also introduced Walt, Linda, Rick, Ann, Tom and Bonnie to the premium ice cream bar from the Costco food court. It is a must if you are ice creamaholics like us (a vanilla bar, dipped in chocolate and rolled in chopped almonds). We left the Laffords on June 26, taking with us Rick and Ann to Denver International for their flight back to Rochester, NY. Then, off to Cherry Creek State Park just outside of Denver. However, before we arrived we made it thru Denver in a lightning/thunder storm with warning sirens whaling as we drove. Our weather radio activated itself and told us of four tornadoes in the immediate area. Fortunately, we arrived at the campground unscaved. There we met up with several fellow campers from Rainbow RV Club's Colorado Chapter. We had a great time with them and made several friends we hope to meet on other Rainbow outings. On June 27th we traveled into downtown Denver to view the GLBT Pride Festival, and on June 28th watched a huge Pride Parade viwed by what must have been 250,000 people. If you are ever in Denver during GLBT Pride, it is a must to view the parade and festival. There must have been a couple hundred booths...and there is no cost. The festival is held in the downtown city park practically in the shadows of the state capitols golden dome.