Loveland, Colorado – 2 Cousins!

We had a VERY early start on Friday, April 29. We were wakened by rain about 4 am, and high winds about 5am! We had breakfast, closed the slides and left Pal’s in North Platte at 7am. Acey had 83,293.3 miles, Thor had 102,118. The winds blew fairly hard for the first 30 miles and then calmed down considerably. We gained an hour as we are on Mountain time now – and we crossed the state line into Colorado at 7:30.

We saw more fields, many with cows grazing – there seemed to be more cattle raised in Colorado than Nebraska, at least along the roads we traveled.

We saw a windfarm, but it was far from the interstate and hard to photograph!

Linda got up to get the Canon camera and zoomed in; 99% of the photos on the blog are taken with an iPhone.

By 10:30 we were seeing the Rocky Mountains on the horizon! It looked a bit stormy ahead too…

A light rain started a few minutes later and didn’t last long, but the winds continued. Colorado could really use the rain! We parked at Lowes in Loveland and made lunch. We can’t check in at the Loveland RV Park until 1, so we needed to wait it out, but were glad to have our travels nearly done for the day. We disconnected Thor since we had to back up Acey to get out of the Lowe’s lot. Linda went to the nearby to WalMart for a few items we needed. We added Colorado to our map!

We drove separately the short distance to the RV Park and got settled in by 2pm. We will be in Loveland for 8 nights.

Linda’s cousin Randy lives nearby and came for an afternoon visit. It had been a few years since we had seen him, and we enjoyed reminiscing about family events and history.

Randy is Linda’s cousin on her dad’s side, her father’s sister’s son. It’s funny that Linda sees a bit of her Dad in Randy, and he sees his Mom in her!

After breakfast Saturday we packed up lunch and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. We passed this big heart and statue of liberty as we drove thru Loveland.

As we drove, it turned out to be a beautiful day to check out the National Park!

We stopped at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and learned that Frank Lloyd Wright helped with the design of the building.

We saw some furry visitors (mule deer) as we drove along the road to the park. At the entrance, the elevation is 8,200 feet.

Spectacular views ahead! Oh, the wonders of God’s creation!

At 14,259 feet, Longs Peak is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

We encountered some snow as we went to look at the Beaver Ponds

…and more snow!

We didn’t see any beaver dams, but saw the meandering creek

And a lovely view at the end of the boardwalk

We drove as far as we could on Trail Ridge Road – it is closed at Many Parks Curve until Memorial Day.

We walked up the road and could see why the road is closed; up further there must be snow covering the road in the higher altitudes

So much beauty!

We stopped again ~~ to check out the waterfall

We stopped at an “animal viewing area” hoping to see elk or longhorn sheep…

All we saw was this little critter! Ha! Look closely – there are TWO prairie dogs!

Heading down the road to Loveland , the road is curvy going thru the canyon! Glad we are in the Jeep and not driving Acey!

On Sunday morning, we Zoomed with our Sunday School class and then tuned into YouTube to worship virtually with Stephens Valley Church, watching last week’s service. (bulletin) The sermon focused on I Kings 21:1-16 King Ahab wanted his neighbor Naboth’s garden – His simple desire led to a sinful design resulting in shocking deaths – killing the neighbor “All For A Garden”. Sin is such a destructive force that can lead us to do terrible things. We are thankful that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sin and thru faith in Him we have been forgiven and made right with our Heavenly father. Having just celebrated Easter, being reminded of Jesus’ death on the cross, being buried and rose again from the dead, we have a living faith in the power of that resurrection. We continually thank God for his grace, mercy and blessings!

Today was another beautiful day in Colorado. We packed up lunch and headed out for a bike ride. The Loveland Recreation Trail has several sections – we rode on the Big Thompson River Trail which connected to the Civic Center Trail – a nice paved trail that had a few street crossings, and followed along the river.

We are at about 5,000 feet in elevation, and it was 55F when we started out, warmed up to 60 – made for interesting conditions for a ride! We went just over 12 miles and headed back to Acey to shower.

Randy came over in the afternoon with pasties (Pah-stees) for dinner. He had them sent in from Lawry’s Pasty shop in Marquette, MI. Our Grandparents lived in Ishpeming, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The miners there ate pasties, and they have been a family tradition for many years. These 17-ounce pasties came frozen and took just over an hour to cook. YUMMMM!

While they were in the oven, we Zoomed with the family, and they were glad to be able to see Randy! Soon enough, the pasties were ready to eat! Randy picked his up in his hands – probably the way the miners would have eaten them, but we had never tried that technique!

We always eat pasties with knife and fork, but we all agree that chili sauce (or catsup) goes well on them! And root beer, cream soda or beer goes well for a beverage.

On Monday, it was time to meet up with another of Linda’s cousins, Dave! We had not yet met Janet, and they married in 1993 – so we were well overdue to meet up! We had a delicious lunch at the Chautauqua Dining Hall – thanks Dave!

Dave is Linda’s cousin on her mom’s side, her mother’s sister’s son

They had hoped to show us the Flatirons – a famous Boulder sight, usually quite visible right by the dining hall – but the weather did not cooperate! We drove up to Boulder Mountain Park – but it was too cloudy. Interestingly, Colorado gets about 300 days of sun, but apparently, we brought the rain with us!

Here’s a photo of what we couldn’t see! Photo of the Flatirons from the internet.

We walked around the downtown mall area – there were lots of interesting stores in the mall

and lots of flowers in bloom

Not sure I had ever seen white buffalo turquoise before…

We had a great visit in Dave & Janet’s home and saw many renovations they have made. Dave cooked a delicious dinner of salmon, asparagus and sweet potato! Here’s the grill master at work!

The salmon was beautiful – and tasty!!

Tuesday, we did laundry, Linda worked on the blog, Jim worked on reservations – and we visited Big Thompson Brewery in the afternoon for a couple of flights.

On Wednesday, Dave and Janet came for lunch; Linda made pumpkin chicken chili. It is wonderful that we can visit family and friends while we travel. We were well overdue seeing Dave and meeting Janet!

We had some povitica for dessert that we bought in Merriam. KS. We also had some when Randy brought the pasties and found it better to have a bit of butter the pastry.

This is the English Walnut flavor.

Linda’s back was bothering her, so we took it easy after Dave and Janet left. However, we had had a discussion about electric pellet grills, and we found a Pit Boss tabletop pellet grill and smoker so we can do some outdoor cooking.

After lunch on Thursday, we visited Randy – he is doing several renovations to his place – which means we will have to come back to see the finished projects! Rocco and Bella befriended Jim!

It was a gorgeous day – so we took the pups for a walk by the reservoir.

There was an historic cabin on the Poudre River that George Strauss built in 1864 and farmed the land around it, growing vegetables and raising cattle. The cabin was restored in 1997, only to burn down due to arson in 1999. Some people…

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Some ducks were enjoying the water – what a pretty place to visit!

Soon it was time to part ways – it sure was great to see Randy again!

COUSINS!

We stopped at World Market to get some pizza crusts and stopped off at Zwei Brau.

Friday – our last day in Loveland was bright and clear – and a bit warmer ~~ 64F. Linda’s back is doing better so we packed up lunch and went for a bike ride! We thought we’d do the entire loop of the Loveland Recreation Trail – a loop that encompasses 4-5 trails. As we rode around Boyd Lake, the water level was really low. Colorado can definitely use some more rain!

This is our kind of “mountain biking”; a nice paved trail and we see mountains! πŸ™‚

We saw a rabbit. some geese with goslings and prairie dogs! A mountain lion had been seen on someone’s porch yesterday! Personally, we would rather NOT see one!

We rode 21.62 miles with elevations between 4,575 and 5,165 feet. Linda’s Apple Watch gives lots of info – heart rate 81-147 bpm, 71F at the finish, 25% humidity

We enjoyed our time in Loveland – tomorrow we move on to Colorado Springs for 3 nights, and on to New Mexico!

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11 thoughts on “Loveland, Colorado – 2 Cousins!”

  1. Beautiful Scenery!! Loved seeing all the snow, mountain and animal pictures.
    So nice you could visit with family, get caught up, and enjoy good food and drinks.
    Almost time for Alaska πŸ™‚ Continued safe travels.

    1. We had a few overcast and rainy days – but they really need the rain – Randy asked us to bring some with us, and I guess we delivered! 🌧 It is beautiful out here, but the winters must be brutal! We really enjoyed our time here πŸ˜ƒ

  2. It was great to see you guys on your visit out to Colorado. I hope you can swing back by another time.BTW, The winters are actually quite mild compared to Illinois. Any snow that does fall is gone in a couple of days due to the high elevation and intense sun. Speaking of intense sun, I hope you guys didn’t get to crispy on your bike ride around Loveland! Enjoy New Mexico! Buy some turquoise 🀠

  3. We definitely need to come back! Glad to hear the winters aren’t so bad; sounds like Nashville – when it snows you have to hurry and get a photo as it will be gone in a day or two πŸ˜€
    My arms got a bit red yesterday but seem fine today!

  4. Fascinating! And it’s always great to catch up with family! We didn’t know that you all were fond of pasties! Wayne & I make them ourselves, although not very often. Delicious stuff. I also learned about povitica, which sounds absolutely delectable; some of our favorite ingredients all together…almost like another version of baklava; I’m guessing heartier, though. Having spent several weeks in the Swiss/German/Austrian Alps, we can relate to your excitement at the beauty, and know that no matter how good a picture one has, it doesn’t do the landscape justice. The wonderful side is that once you’ve been there, looking at the pictures brings it all back to you, as though there again.
    You two are are having a tremendous time! Keep it going!

    1. We make pasties now and then – but not in the RV – yet anyway! The ones Rany got did not have rutabaga. You are right about photos not truly capturing the beauty of the landscape, but we try!

  5. Those mountains are spectacular and your photos really captured their beauty. I enjoy reading your blog and I see others do too.
    Your readership on this one:. 54 viewers. Your visit with the cousins went so well! Such fun good times. Thanks for blogging.

    1. The mountains are just stunning! It’s too bad we brought the rain with us and overcast skies – I think Dave and Janet were quite disappointed that we couldn’t see the flatirons, but we sure enjoyed spending time with them!

  6. Spectacular views! So glad you got to meet up with your family. I told you you have people EVERYWHERE!

  7. Thanks for sharing your trip with us. You are certainly seeing some beautiful country. It is always great catching up with family and friends.

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