Sister Week

Every year my sister Jane and I get together for a week of camping at her property in the Colorado mountains near Lake George.  We've been doing this since 2002, with only one year off (when we both had knee surgery).  It's a week I look forward to all year, because it's filled with all kinds of adventures.

Jane's Mountain Home

View from the deck

We ride ATV's all throughout the area (sometimes putting 50 or more miles on in a trip), we swim (well, we paddle around since it's where it's deep enough to swim the current is too fast) in the South Platte river, we picnic, and barbecue, and have marvelous Scrabble tournaments. But above all, we spend time together, which is the most precious thing of all. 

The river at Happy Meadows Campground

One of our favorite activities is watching the hummingbirds from her deck.  She hangs a couple of feeders, and then the fun begins. Some evenings it's almost like hummingbird Top Gun, with 8 or more birds flying around defending the feeder.  We normally have Broadtails and Rufus hummingbirds, but this year we saw a Calliope, which was quite out of its range (Wyoming and north).  They are accustomed enough to us to even feed from a small feeder we can hold in our hands. Mornings we go out there in our nightgowns with our coffee and tea, and spend an hour or more just admiring our surroundings(and the hummingbirds) and enjoying each other's company.

Broadtail

Rufous

We don't normally see a lot of wildlife, but this year was kind of special. The first night we were here we heard two coyotes yipping in the field behind us, then we watched them as they slowly loped across the field. The next day we saw a total of 7 deer, including a great session with 4 beautiful bucks with marvelous racks.  Of course there are the usual ground squirrels, the bunny that lives under the deck (and a few of his friends), and a herd of antelope.

Deer on one of the trails

One of our favorite ATV rides is to an abandoned trapper's cabin two valleys over. It's a great ride, with some exciting rocks to get over, but the treat is the beautiful little valley at the end.  We discovered the cabin about 8 years ago, and we love to go there and explore around the area. This year I discovered rose bushes growing against one end of the cabin – just as pretty as a picture! 

Rose bushes along the side of the cabin

The one thing we have no control over is the weather, and while mornings have been just beautiful, sunny and cool, it's monsoon season.  Every afternoon the clouds come in and the skies open up. Of course, that has made for lush grassy meadows, but as Jane said in our prayer last night, "Please remember, God, this is a camper, not an ark."

Next stop will be Glacier National Park next week with my son Ted and his family.  I guess we can call that grandkid week!!