Colorado

Nice to be back in Colorado again for our yearly visit. We stopped in Pueblo for a few days to visit Marlene and Dan, who live in the mountains outside of Pueblo in a little town called Beulah. The weather wasn't too cooperative, rainy and chilly, but we were able to take a nice hike around Beulah Mountain Park which has lots of streams and ponds.

One area of the park has several buildings including a small hotel. The building below is used for community events, weddings, and so on. The stone work is incredible especially considering it was constructed before the use of heavy machinery to move all the rocks and boulders.

Of course on the day we left Pueblo the weather improved - the sun came out and it warmed up. Our next stop was the Longmont/Lyons area where we spent much of our lives. So much has changed since we left here as the area continues to grow and grow.
We stayed for a week at the Boulder County Fairgrounds where we have stayed in previous years. In addition to being conveniently located, there are interesting walking trails in and near the Fairgrounds. We followed one trail that went by an osprey nest, then wound around several ponds and had beautiful views of the Front Range.

The osprey nest has a mounted camera to follow the  ospreys. The camera broadcasts live from the following link  Longmont Osprey Camera. There are 4 eggs in the nest but we haven't seen any hatch yet. We'll be keeping an eye out to see how things develop.
We  were able to observe the ospreys fishing and carrying their catch to the nest. As far as we could tell, after catching the fish the osprey doing the hunting returned to the nest and shared the fish with the osprey sitting on the eggs. After that it flew to another perch and continued eating the fish.

The ponds have an abundance of geese as well as other birds and waterfowl. We saw something different every day.

The Fairgrounds are busy every weekend - horse shows, car shows. antique shows, rodeos, a farmers market and all sorts of other events including what appeared to be a miniature horse or pony show. Not sure exactly what the difference is but this one was decked out for the occasion.

Tilly

The last month or so has been a bit rough for us and I just haven't felt like blogging. Two days after arriving back in Fountain Hills we lost our dear, sweet Tilly. She was a member of our family for 14 years, and not surprisingly she has left a huge hole in our hearts and lives.
Tilly was a pretty well-traveled dog. She began her life with us in 2002 at our house on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. After leaving Vieques in 2006 we moved into the motorhome. Since that time she has traveled throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada with us, making lots of friends along the way. Brian has put together some photos of Tilly and her travels we thought we would share.

Tilly at 2 months with those huge ears she eventually grew into.

Our Vieques house was on a ridge with a steep hill. Tilly loved to carry coconuts up the hill, and no matter how many times she dropped them and they rolled back down the hill she never gave up. Most of the coconuts weighed around 5 pounds - pretty strong jaws.

Hanging out at Green Beach, Vieques. Bit of a gouge on her head from running around like a maniac.

Brian was always trying to get Tilly to swim. She loved the beach, waves and water but didn't want her feet to leave the ground. Lots of great memories from Orchid Beach in Vieques.

Tilly and her buddy Keeper hanging out on our patio in Vieques.

Tilly and Keeper kept their friendship going for many years. Here they're having one of many reunions at Bici's house on North Haven island, Maine. They never forgot each other and always picked up right where they left off.  

Tilly grew up with our friends Patti and Denny and their 5 dogs when we all lived  in Vieques. They all move to Florida and when we got the Bus our first stop was their new place. They watched Tilly for us while we were in Belize - it looks like she tried to re-join the pack by taking over little Gracie's bed. She was so happy to be back with her buddies!

One of Tilly's favorite spots in the Bus, sitting in the driver's seat with her favorite Kong toy

Walking one of the many, many beaches we visited. This one is Race Point near Provincetown, Massachussetts.

Another thing Tilly did with us is visit wineries. Many of them are dog friendly and welcomed her, and she often made friends with the winery dogs.

Tilly went pretty much everywhere with us. In Mexico she was allowed into the restaurants, where she would promptly go under the table and lie down for the duration. Here Brian has coaxed her out for a photo, nice tablecloth on her head.

One of our very favorite dog beaches in California near Morro Bay. We'll never forget the first time we went there and Tilly was so excited to be off-leash at the beach that she just went nuts.

Ready to catch some ground squirrels in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Exploring along the Ice Fields Parkway in Canada.

Back in Arizona, sweet to the end.