Reconnecting with Family

Wednesday morning we rose slowly. Sue and Tony still had to rearrange their personal clock for mountain time.

Following breakfast and of course the puzzles, we started to look through old pictures that had been stored in a trunk for many years. These were a mixture of pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Skiba, Sister Gabriella etc. They had at one time been in Grandma & Grandpas house. When their house was sold, we became the keepers of these memories. It was time to share with other family members who would appreciate these mememtos. Peter & Sue took charge of sorting out the pictures, and putting them into different envelopes for siblings and cousins. Sue and Tony will bring them with them when they return home. Some will be dropped off in Albuquerque on their visit later in the week to see John & Pat. John & Pat moved from Milwaukee in Spring of 2010. Seems like the entire Skiba clan is moving away from Milwaukee. Can Sue and Tony be far behind?

Weather had warmed by noon and looked to be a delightful day. We headed West a couple of miles to explore one of Fort Collins' Natural sites. Our hike was to be in conjunction with discovering a couple of caches along the way. We figured we must have put in about 4 miles traipsing up and down the trails, fighting the weeds, the brambles, crossing the river a couple of times........

When the outdoor escapade was completed we headed into Old Town Fort Collins for a treat. What better place to go then Ben & Jerry's? Peter & I were able to find a wonderful smoothie that was dairy free while Sue and Tony indulged themselves with some ice cream. It was even warm enough by then to sit in the square and enjoy our treat. But we couldn't go home yet....oh no! One more cache to find a couple of blocks from where were sitting! Euraka! That completed, we headed home for dinner and news and a game of Dominoes.

A delightful day. Tomorrow we head to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Family Visit from Milwaukee

On Tuesday Peter & I picked up Peter's sister, Sue and hubby, Tony from Milwaukee at the Denver Airport. Flight was good. No luggage missing even though they changed flights midway in Kansas City. This is the first time for either of them to be in Colorado, so the places to see were endless.

First stop out of the airport was to head into Denver and visit the 16th Street Mall. Sue and Tony had not eaten on the flight except for that VERY LARGE bag of pretzels and peanuts. So we headed to The Corner Bakery on the mall for some needed fuel. We then took the shuttle farther West for a visit to the Tattered Cover Bookstore. Now only 2 floors filled with books etc, but well worth the visit. Sue and Tony bought a few items for the grand kids back home and then we headed outside to fight the wind again. Winds were very strong that day. Really needed a couple of rocks in the pocket for stabilization!

On our way out of Denver we were able to note the large smoke plumes from the fire in Golden. With the high winds for the last couple of days, it has been extremely difficult to get it under control.

The plan then was to head to Arvada to meet with Doug & Heidi for some dinner at Udi's. Given that we were a bit early for the scheduled meet up, we popped out our GPS and located a cache that was close to the eatery. Tony found his first Geocache! Held it up for all of us to see and said "could this be it?" and of course it was! Just trying to keep our daily streak alive! Hooray!

Dinner with the "kids" was great. We sat and chatted over dinner and drinks. It was so nice not to have the wait staff rush us out. An enjoyable visit and reunion for all.

Dash to Milwaukee

On Sat. November 6, 2010 we left Fort Collins and headed to Milwaukee for a quick trip for a couple of dental appointments. Ride to Milwaukee was uneventful and the first night of the trip was spent in Des Moines, Iowa. En route we stopped for a couple of geocaches (only those that were close to the highway) to break up the trip. On Sunday we continued our trip and arrived in West Allis to pick up some of our prints that had been in a show at Walkers Point Center for the Arts. From there we headed to Wauwatosa to stop for a cup of coffee with friends, Paul & Maris. During our brief time with them we learned of a dietary plan that they were following that is meant to reverse diabetes. Food for thought.
We arrived at Sue & Tony's house in St. Francis where they had graciously told us we could spend the nite. Had dinner at St. Francis Brewery and then headed home to watch the Packers.

The following morning we were up early and left for our dental appointments on the North West side of Milwaukee.

Drove back to Fort Collins and arrived home on Nov. 9th, 2010.

On Nov. 8th Heidi had her surgery in Denver so we went to visit with her on the 10th before we would have to leave home again. This time to Santa Fe, New Mexico.