Red Feather Lakes CO

In spite of the heat, humidity, & devastating tornados in the Plains recently, the weather here at our summer job location half-way up the Poudre River Canyon (30 miles west of Ft Collins CO in the Rockies) at Archer’s Poudre River Resort has been cool & comfortable for the past week & a half. We’ve had some sprinkles of rain, foggy mornings, a hint of snow flurries, some sunshine, & lots & lots & lots of wind. This canyon acts like a funnel tho for any westerly winds, but when it get 80° this summer, that wind’ll feel pretty refreshing.

Click on this photo to see my Picasa album of Poudre Canyon views.

We survived our first three days of running the Canyon Grill last weekend. There’s a world of difference between this food service job & what we did last year in Branson. I have a large, soft movable stool to sit on while taking orders at the window, ringing up charges, & accepting payment so I don’t have to stand for long nor (worse) race around madly waiting on tables, delivering food, & cleaning up after customers. We have very few pans & utensils to clean after closing, & no bathrooms or meeting hall to arrange or clean! Meeting & talking with all the locals & few guests has been the most fun. However, our work days are at least 9 hours each so I gotta admit to missing an afternoon nap. BUT. . .we don’t have to set an alarm to open the Grill by 10am. YEAH!

Unfortunately, poor Kira has exhibited some separation anxiety suddenly (interpret that as BARKING). Considering we haven’t worked for 6½ months, she’s forgotten how she managed while we’re away. Since the grill is only 50 steps from our trailer door, she can easily see & hear us if we’re outside, so our boss (& owner) has offered to doggie sit for us while we’re working. She has two smaller dogs with a small fenced yard behind the Resort store, so Kira has friends, fresh air, & large indoor floors to occupy her days while we’re busy. And we can visit her whenever we get a chance during the day.

After a week at our summer job location AND surviving our first three days running the Grill, we traveled north up to Red Feather Lakes. There are 8-9 gorgeous clean blue lakes in the area & many, many cabins/homes snugged in under all the pine trees. Wow, what a fantastic mountain community. While stopped beside one of the lakes (Snake Lake) which wasn’t posted as private Jeff just HAD to throw a line in the water for 15 minutes of fishing. No bites tho so we soon left.

Click on this photo to view my new Picasa album of the area.

We stopped at a small grocery store in the area but didn’t find some of the few things we needed. . .so we drove down the mountain to Wally World in Ft Collins. We stopped for some (late) lunch at KFC & then got our groceries. On the way back up the Canyon tho, Jeff felt like his heart was racing & probably that his blood pressure was up. So he actually let (asked) me to drive home. The speed limit up the Canyon is 35 mph at best & down to 25 mph for some curves. I did fine!

I’m noticing that our favorite towns are all mountain communities: Jerome AZ, Julian CA, Bisby AZ, Cloudcroft NM, Eureka Springs AR, & now Red Feathers CO.

Today was filled with cleaning house & straightening up. I decided to compress our bed in such a way as to give us two more feet of open floor space, stacked pillows at the back window, & put pillows under our knees/thighs to create a recliner type sitting space. There’s actually room for another person to sit down now too (not that we ever have inside company). Nice to know it doesn’t take too much reworking tho to turn our bedroom into a living room. I still want to rework the cushions some time but keep changing my mind coming up with better ideas. Sure wish I had the energy to go along with my ideas!

I’ve also created more Picasa albums of TX Hill Country & blue bonnets, Ajo AZ, Yuma AZ, & San Diego flowers here.