Pueblo Party for Banned Relatives

We arrived in Pueblo a day early, to give us time to scout out the area. Central Pueblo is under redevelopment, with a new river walk and revitalized old downtown. We explored the river walk, which had little park benches and picnic areas along the way, and a little paddle boat area for rentals during the summer. We drove through downtown looking for the bar where Jan & David’s party was going to be held. We stopped in and had a couple beers and chatted with the bartender a little. We also went looking for the airport. Makana was making a surprise visit for the weekend, and we would need to leave the party midstream to go pick her up.
We have known Jan for almost twenty years. We met her through the Ron and Jenny Williams, who were school mates of Howard’s at the UH School of Social Work. Jan became Lei’s racquetball buddy, and used to babysit Makana. She also lived with us for a short time before she moved to Australia, where she met David. And Jan and David met us in Sydney and Townsville, Australia in 2000 for the World Sprint Outrigger Canoe Races.
The wedding was planned for a bed and breakfast place in the mountains above Denver. There would only be space for immediate family. Lei kept harassing Jan about being invited, even hinting that we might be David’s "Yank" (American) cousins. Nothing worked, we were "banned". Jan’s sister, Holly, also known as the matron of honor, planned a pre-wedding party for all the friends and family not invited to the wedding. Because we were on the road in the RV, Jan didn’t think we would make it. We got to the party early and introduced ourselves to everyone.
Jan and David pretty much knew who would be at the party. Cousins and some old family friends, about twenty people. They were pretty surprised to see us both. Jan and Lei got all blubbery, laughing and crying at the same time.
We left after a couple of hours to pick up Makana. We had to slip out unnoticed by Jan and David. Jan’s sister-in-law said she’d make sure they didn’t leave. Makana was the only person on her flight from Denver to Pueblo. We picked her up and were back at the party in 45 minutes. Jan & David were surprised again, although they had been a little put off because we had left without saying goodbye!
We had a wonderful visit, getting to know Jan’s family and friends over a few beers. And it was great to be able to share in this wonderful occasion with an old friend.

Pueblo Lake State Park, CO

April 14th to 23rd
A huge lake behind a dam built to protect the town from flooding of the Arkansas river. There are boat ramps on two sides of the lake, and three campgrounds. The south side of the lake has campsites available year round across the street from the main visitor center. There a some walking trails and a horse trail as well. The north side of the lake has two huge camp areas available during the season only. One campground is for dry camping, no hookups, water taps sprinkled among the sites, a bathhouse and several restrooms. The other campground has back-in and pull-through sites with electric, a covered picnic table, and water taps sprinkled around. There are three main bathhouses with a laundry in each, and several restrooms. Colorado charges a five dollar per vehicle park fee, and $16 camping fee for the hook-up sites. The park fee is daily, so the real cost of camping is $21 per day. Showers are fifty cents for less than five minutes, and it takes at least a minute for the hot water to come down the pipes. We figured out you could run the hot water in the bathroom sinks to get the water down the pipes, so the shower started out hot.
We cruised through the dry camp area by mistake, and scrounged some good wood for campfires. The park ranger at registration let us choose a site at the right campground and then come back and pay. There were only three or four other campers, and we chose a site next to the bath house and across the water tap. The laundry in the bath house had a big sink, so I ended up coloring my hair and rinsing it there, and we also washed some dishes there as well.
The hiking "trails" are actually paved bike paths that go all over the park and actually down to town. We saw several serious bike types on them, and Howard jogged on them a couple of times. Our water tap didn’t work, and although we reported it to the park ranger, it was never fixed the entire time we were there.
Very severe winds blew a couple of times, rocking the trailer and increasing the wind chill factor. The weather could change dramatically in a few hours, although it did not rain at all.
We spent ten days at this park, going to Jan & David’s party, and then hosting them for a couple nights of camping.

Lake Trinidad, CO

Another park built around a man made lake. At the ranger station there was still a little snow on the roof from a couple days before, so we threw some snow at each other like a couple kids. The campground was only partially open because it was still not camping season, and the ranger told us to just pay for a night and go ahead and park on any site. Only one bath house was open, but we found a site near a water line and settled in. We had to use our long water hose to connect up, and later found out that you’re supposed to fill your tank and not use the water spigot exclusively. I guess that’s why later arriving campers didn’t park next to us, because we were hogging the water to ourselves!
Howard went for a run along the roads within the park. It was kind of hilly but there were beautiful views of the mountains and the lake. Lei did a power walk around the campground, the air was cool and clean and smelled of the forest. Historical markers around the park explained that there had been a coal town in the valley that was been drowned when the dam was built. All that remained of the town was a big coal slag hill on the northern shore of the lake.
We did have electricity, so even though the night time temperature was around 45 degrees, we were able to use the little space heater to keep warm. We made a small campfire in the fire ring at our campsite, but the night got too cold, so we turned in for the night.

Dream Destinations

Use your imagination. Where would you like to go? This is what we did for so many years. We have been planning this adventure for years. We talked about the places we wanted to see, and things we might want to do. Lei had been to Yosemite as a child, but wanted to visit and maybe volunteer at the park. Howard wanted to see the great National Parks of the West, like Sequoia, Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone. Lei had also heard of Cape May, in New Jersey, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We also wanted to spend some time in Washington, DC, seeing all the monuments and the Smithsonian Museums. Then there was sightseeing in Maine, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Howard wanted to see Alaska, although Lei was still pushing for the Crystal Harmony cruise up the inland passage instead of the RV.
We once saw a special on PBS about the lighthouses along the east and west coast of the country. And there are hundreds of historic sites in the states of the Confederacy, great battle grounds like Gettysburg and Fort Sumter. There are big and little museums around the country that tell the little stories of the people who built each little town, each great industry. Route 66 and the Grand Tetons. We still talk and dream every day of all the places to see.