Put the Green in Green Valley

Our trip to Green Valley Lake went really green when Sherry and Andrew got food poisoning on the first night. They had eaten lunch at our local fast food joint named after a kid's toy, and by night fall Andrew was toast. Sherry followed, and Saturday morning we drove down the road, leaving all of our gear behind. After getting them all set up at home, I ventured back up the hill for some exploration before retrieving the gear.

I was going to go up to Keller Peak Lookout, but the road was closed due to a homicide investigation. I shot over to the North Shore campground. Once around the park and I knew I never wanted to camp there.

Back at the house, it is 105 degrees at 5:00 tonight. I'll be spending my evening watching the stars from the pool. Andrew is feeling better, but Sherry is still a wreck.

PS: A HUGE thank you to Don Fiscus who did a drive-by on the campsite before we ever got there so I would know if site 36 had burned in the Slide Fire (it hadn't, but our other favorites did). He also left half a cord of fire wood at the site for us. Incredible! Thanks, Don.

`Round the Chuckbox

My new favorite blog is `Round the Chuckbox. The publisher, Steven Karoly, has been cooking professionally for almost four decades. His blog is filled with incredible camping recipes, many for a dutch oven.

Spend an hour or two clicking on the labels like BBQ, Bread Pudding, Pizza, and Stew. There is an amazing amount of experience packed into the blog. The links are valuable too. He has a lot of great tips hidden in his pages. One that caught my eye was this windscreen made out of old license plates. I guess it helps that I have several dozen license plates getting dusty in my shed.

It's the Rockies, And a Lot More

We just got back from a great trip to Denver. This wasn't a camping trip. It was a business trip for Sherry and I, but we brought Andy along and made it a family weekend too. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has some of the best dioramas and exhibits we've seen, but our family favorite was this Ninja Squirrel!

In looking through our albums, it seems obvious we are attracted to statues of bears. This one of a sleeping bear was terrific. It captured our feelings after touring Golden, Colorado and sampling the free beer at the Coors Factory tour.

Colorado is a beautiful place. This final photo was taken from Buffalo Bill's grave site on top of Lookout mountain (Click for a larger view). It really shows the character of the place. The city in the foreground is Golden; the big factory is the Coors Brewery; and Denver is on the horizon.