Afghans I made this summer

Above are pictures of 5 afghans I made this summer. All for friends in Michigan. The first two were for twin baby girls born in July, the third for our godson's daughter born in September, fourth for friends grandson born in May. The last afghan was made as a wedding present for young couple who were married in June. I also made another wedding afghan, but the wedding is later this year, so I won't publish that picture yet!! It's been a busy summer for my crochet hooks! They are all original designs because each one is different, and personalized.

Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and back to Texas

On the way back to Texas from Yellowstone area, we spent two nights at Fort Casper RV park in Casper WY then drove south to Golden CO (just west of Denver) where we spent 4 days. We arrived in Golden the Saturday before Labor Day and didn't want to be on the road over the remainder of the holiday weekend. The Dakota Ridge RV park is one of the premier parks in Colorado. We were about 45 minutes from Black Hawk CO where several casinos are located. We enjoyed the scenic drive from Golden where we saw rock climbing on the face of a mountain, parasailers over the mountains, and people fishing and panning for gold in the river. We gambled in several casinos, but unfortunately, no big wins. I walked up the hiking trail in our RV park to take a picture of our RV and jeep in the park, and decided a longer hike wasn't a good idea. Signs at the top of the hill warned of rattle snakes and I was wearing open toe sandles. We thought everyone would enjoy the last picture of the Jelly Belly RV and tow vehicle seen at our RV park in Golden,CO. After leaving Denver, we headed east on Hwy 70 toward Kansas. We spent one night at High Plains Camping, in Oakley KS. A really nice small park. Guests were invited to help themselves to any fresh vegetables left in their garden. Ted was able to find some cucumbers, but most of the garden was picked over by the end of the summer. We enjoyed a nice buffet dinner at the Colonial Steakhouse next door. Our next stop waas at USI RV park, Wichita, KS. We would definitely recommend all these parks. Very clean, and reasonable rates, easy on-off access to expressways. Out next stop was the RV park at WinStar casino, Thackerville, OK where we had stayed back in May 2011. Great RV park, really low rates, and 24 hour shuttle service to the casino. We managed to donate our money to the Indians, no big wins this trip, but we sure had fun trying. The only negative to staying at WinStar was no grocery store nearby. Our cupboards were pretty bare, and we drove over an hour to find a grocery store to stock up. When we left WinStar we drove south to Waco, TX where we stayed about 3 days before returning to Marble Falls area where we picked up our mail and visited with my Dad and Nelda.

Old Faithful - Yellowstone National Park

We only made one day trip into Yellowstone, but we really enjoyed the day. A friend we hadn't seen in 15 years was working there this summer. We were able to get in touch with him through email and met at a turnout near Old Faithful on his day off. Mitch is a pin-striper and use to pin-strip all our vehicles in the "good old days." We also both owned cottages on the Tittabawasee River in Gladwin County (Michigan) for several years. Mitch directed us to Old Faithful Inn and gave us the "insiders tour." We watched the geyser on the deck of the Inn, bought souvenir T-shirts and had a snack while we were there. It was great to see this part of Yellowstone and hear Mitch's stories about working there. We saw bison and elk on the side of the road. Even though our RV park was 1/2 an hour away from the East entrance to Yellowstone, it took us 2 hours to get from our RV park to Old Faithful. Lots of winding roads through the mountains. Mitch painted the "Yellow Stone" and gave it to us as a reminder of our visit. I definitely want to return to Yellowstone to see more of the area. It's a beautiful part of the country!!

RV Park near Yellowstone

In mid August we decided to leave Texas and head north to find some cooler weather. We stopped in Fredericksburg TX for a few days and were able to see Dan and Betty and have dinner with them one night before we left the area. We made stops in Carlsbad, NM; RioRancho,NM; Pueblo, CO; and Glendo, WY on our way to the Yellowstsone RV park west of Cody, Wy. Carlsbad and Rio Rancho were parks we had stayed before. Getting to the KOA in Pueblo we had to drive through a narrow tunnel undernear I-25, and we listened to trains all night long. They delivered pizza right to your RV, so we enjoyed a pizza and salad the night we arrived. In Glendo, WY the park was located about 1 mile from I-25 and again we heard trains all night. Don't think we will stay in those parks again. Other than the trains, the parks were really clean, nice little parks. Ted didn't appreciate the trains blowing their horns all night after driving all day. The drive getting to Wyoming was long, beautiful and the temperatures dropped as we traveled north. The RV park near Yellowstone was located along a river, and was about 1/2 hour from the East entrance of Yellowstone. We enjoyed several days touring the Cody area, toured a few museums, and enjoyed the mountain views. The last picture was actually taken when we were leaving the Cody area on our way back south.

Aug 2011 Lakefest Drag Boat Races

In August 2011 we again volunteered at the Lakefest Drag Boat Races, Marble Falls, Texas. It was really hot outside, but on Friday 8/12 we worked in the "Will Call" trailer. It was air conditioned and we had fun working the 1:00 - 4:00 shift. It was our job to register other volunteers and see they got their volunteer shirt and wrist band. Also customers who pre-purchased tickets picked up their wrist bands at the will call trailer. It was fun to meet new people and learn a different job this year. We also worked at the merchandise tent on Sunday morning 8:00 - 11:00. Customers purchased tokens and then we just had to hand them t-shirts, hats, cozies, posters whatever they had purchased. The merchandise tent was at the river, so we could hear and watch the races while we were working. One of the other locals we worked the merchandise tent with us had helped design this year's poster. We came home with a couple of posters, but shipped them off with souvenir T-shirts before I got a picture for my blog. Glad we worked the morning shift, because it was really hot, even though they had large fans going to cool us off. Will we do this again next year?? Probably if we are in Texas when it is scheduled.