BOULDER TO OLDSMAR, 1800 miles October 24-27, 2013

To make the drive the rest of the way to Florida, we decided to try some really long days driving 600+ miles if we could. That meant getting up and on the road before sunrise. Kind of nice, it gave us some amazing sunrises across the middle states. 

 From Hayes, our next destination was Metropolis, Illinois. Driving I-70 we made great time and passed through St Louis, Missouri with its beautiful arch and on into Illinois on I-64 and I-57S.

 By leaving early each morning we could do about 10 hours in the car and find a hotel by about 5PM. Foster was an amazing traveler, how lucky we were.  Since Friday was Paul's birthday we wanted to be able to enjoy a nice dinner out and for whatever reason, we chose to stop in Metropolis, Illinois, Home of SUPERMAN! What a fun surprise! Dinner that night was at the popular Fat Edd's Roadhouse, loud and busy!

 After dinner we scouted out the giant Superman statue in the center of town for a photo op for the birthday boy.

Up early the next morning we made it almost to the northern border of Florida with an overnight in Valdosta, GA. The next morning we were hoping we'd get to Oldsmar in time for breakfast at The Tin Can with Emily, Steve, Zach and Amanda but the drive was a bit longer after our stop at the busiest Starbucks on I-95. Finally got to Emily's new home in Safety Harbor right about noon.

They had just signed all the papers that Friday and the house was theirs, so the next few weeks would give them time to do any of the updating they wanted to do and begin moving from the Oldsmar house, only a 20 min drive.  We sat on the back porch and enjoyed seeing the house, inside and out. So cute!!!

Proud new homeowners, Em and Steve

Zachary and his girlfriend, Amanda, had been in Florida all week for a visit and had flights back to Seattle in the early evening.  It was a warm, beautiful Florida day so we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beautiful Ozona Blue Restaurant in Palm Harbor. Very fun and a favorite of ours.

 The restaurant has a pool for swimming and lounging as well as wonderful food and a fun atmosphere.

Time for lots of family photos before saying good bye.

We were pretty lucky to catch Zach and Amanda there in Florida, we don't get to see him often but this year was an exception. When we'd met up with him in September in Washington, Amanda wasn't able to join us for lunch so it was a treat to meet her.

We spent the next 2 nights at Emily's new house on a blow up mattress. We unpacked the boxes we'd carted across country and repacked just suitcases to take Tuesday to Miami for a wonderful birthday cruise for Paul, 11 nights in the southern Caribbean on the Norwegian Cruise Line's Sun.  We left Foster to spend the next 3 weeks with Emily, Steve and his cousin Izzy dog.  How lucky for us, he loves staying with Emily and she takes such great care of him! Our plan was to drive up to St. Augustine after the cruise and pick up our East Coast MH that we had left 8 months ago. 

2 WEEKS IN BOULDER, CO October 8 - 24, 2013

We left Park City, Utah, early Tuesday, October 8th for the long drive to Boulder.  We were spending the next 2 weeks at my brother Kurt's home to do some remodeling for him.  Well, Paul would be doing the remodeling, I would be enjoying the beautiful fall season in Colorado.

  Paul was excited to be back in his favorite work mode...tearing out and designing two new bathroom spaces. The evening we got there, Paul and Kurt took sledge hammers to the jacuzzi tub where a new glass shower and shelving unit would be redesigned.

 

After many long days and lots of hard work the new bathroom was coming together.

 Then it was time to start on the second part of the project, adding a bathroom in the basement bedroom.  By taking a third of the existing closet Paul was able to reuse the space and make a darling half bath for the guest room. For such a tiny space it took almost every kind of skill: plumbing, electrical, framing, hanging sheet rock, painting and all the finish work, but it was so worth it.

  From the first hole in the wall to the finished space, the room was perfect!

 While Paul was hard at work, Foster and I relaxed and took advantage of the beautiful views everywhere.

 We walked the neighborhood and up into the beautiful Chautauqua area with views of the Flatirons just north of Kurt's home.

I loved the crisp air and the amazing trees everywhere we looked.

 The trees were in the brightest shades of reds and oranges, such a treat to see the changing season.

 
Most afternoons, Paul had errands to do or supplies he needed so I'd do the driving and we'd stop for a wonderful cappuccino at the local coffee house, PK's favorite afternoon break.  These were almost too pretty to drink.  

 Not only did I get to see the fall colors but we woke one morning to the beauty of the first snowfall.  This is Kurt's 1970 VW van covered with lots of the white stuff, already melting by mid morning.

 Most days Foster and I walked up to the Colorado Chautauqua which is located in Boulder and was started in 1898.  It is the only Chautauqua west of the Mississippi thats still in operation since its heyday in the 1920s. The Chautauqua was an adult education movement across the US very popular in the late nineteenth century, bringing entertainment and culture to the community with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers and specialists of the day. The Chautauqua in Boulder still maintains much of the original intent with many summer concerts and performers in a beautiful setting.  There are wonderful hiking trails so Foster and I took some short walks each day as well as stopping for coffee in the dining room in front of the fireplace.

Kurt and Laura had tickets for The Book of Morman about two days before we were leaving and with some searching on Craig's List we found 2 more for us. Such a fun night, with appetizers and drinks before the show. What a fantastic way to end our visit.

 Then it was time to pack up and drive further east with St. Augustine as our destination. So, the boxes were attached once more to the back of the SAAB, Foster was settled into the back seat and off we went...

but we made a short stop first at the Denver Airport to surprise our niece, Ali.  She was flying home for a long birthday weekend and our timing was perfect to spend an hour with her before we took to the long open road across Kansas.  Though we got a late start that day we did make it all the way to Hayes, Kansas before stopping which had us almost half way across!

PARK CITY, UT October 4-8, 2013

Our first trip to Park City was a wonderful fall weekend with Burt and Diane Caldwell, staying at a VRBO condo which opened out onto the gold course.  It had snowed Thursday evening and by the time we drove up the montain from Salt Lake City it was already melting off. Saturday morning turned out to be clear and beautiful everywhere we looked.

Diane and I walked into Park City mid morning then the guys picked us up and we spent the afternoon at Sundance Resort. We had a late lunch at the warm and cozy Owl Bar then took the chair lift up the mountain for a fun 45 min ride up and back.

The snow was mostly gone by late afternoon and the colors of the hillsides was stunning.

Sunday we were up early to try to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City.  Though we were there in plenty of time, it turned out to be a "ticket only" event.  It was the bi-annual Mormon Convention so there were way too many people for us to get into the actual hall.  Instead, we were sent to a large theater and watched the live performance on a huge screen, not quite like the real thing but close.

Afterwards we walked around the grounds of Temple Square.  It was cold and clear, a beautiful day...but everywhere we looked all stores and businesses were closed.

We did find a Starbucks open so took a break.  Diane looked up the events calendar and found that there was an Oktoberfest in nearby SnowBird Ski Resort. So we drove 30 miles south to catch the fun.

Brats, sauerkraut, beer and lots of music!

The day was warm and so beautiful!

Monday we visited a couple more beautiful resorts near Park City sitting out on the patio for lunch.

We ended the day at High West Distillery and Saloon in downtown Park City. 

A very special evening hosted by Mat Garretson, a former Los Ranchos Dad.  What an amazing dinner and chance to get a personal tour of the distillery with Mat. I felt very honored by it all.

Thanks Mat and Amie, you are both amazing!!!!