Spring Travels

Lyn and I have had quite the exciting places to travel this spring!  The 2nd weekend in April we were in the Lake Tahoe area for a Strategic Renewal Advisory Board Meeting.  Lyn meets with this board once a year.  Lake Tahoe is a beautiful area.  They were lacking in snow this year and most of the ski resorts were closing.  There are over 20 around this lake.  It was beautiful and the weather was great.  We had 2 afternoons that we were able to explore and do some hiking.

Our first time driving in California

Lake Tahoe is half in California and half in Nevada.  It is over 70 miles around it.  The price of land is outlandish and there were many nice homes.  The one afternoon we drove around the lake.  On the south side, we found a hike and then we made our own trail on up an old glacier bed.

This was our view out the one way....

.....and this was out the other way.

We stayed on the northeast side of Lake Tahoe in the tall green bldg. (Hyatt)

Then.....the 3rd week in May we flew to Denver and spent 5 days in Colorado Springs being counseled (we learned a lot!) with Caring for the Heart Ministries.  We arrived 1 day early and were able to spend it at Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park.  

Our trail was still mostly snowed packed.  This was in the Bear Lake area.

We decided to turn around at this lake....it was windy and COLD!  The trail continued on up.

The road thru the park wasn't opened yet.  This was at the turn around spot.

The elk were down in the town of Estes Park feeding.

We were so thankful to have this nice day.  That night, rain moved in and stayed all week.  The clouds hung low and we couldn't even see the mountains.....all week!  They supposedly have over 300 days of sunshine in a year.  We were glad we weren't there on vacation.  It would have been sooooo disappointing.  Finally, on the last day the sun came out, we were able to see the mountains, and we had an afternoon to visit the Garden of the Gods.

Balanced Rock

At the top you can see the "kissing camels"

The clouds moved away and gave us a glimpse of Pike's Peak.  We realized Friday that we could have seen Pike's Peak from our motel had it been clear.  We couldn't even see the foothills!

Pike's Peak (the faint snow cap in the distance)

It was a really good week for us personally!  It was a crazy time of year to be gone though.  Spring is always so busy here at home.  The garden was mostly planted and the mulching done before we left.  The strawberries were just starting when we got back so I guess it was good timing.