April 14-19, 2012 Fort Collins and Denver

 

The Fort Collins Music Experiment was 300 bands playing Fri and Sat night at different venues. John got us armbands, $20 each for both nights.  The first band is playing at Equinox Brewery and the second is at Moe’s Barbeque.  We walked around and saw a few songs of many bands both evenings.

These are hand made bikes on display. Top left the jet bike, a bike with a bamboo frame, a fish bike and a bike with metal wheels and the back is a gear wheel.  There are many talented artist in Fort Collins.

My friend Carol Nelson has these paintings on display at the Fort Collins  gallery and frame shop. A couple college students seen in the middle of the street in Fort Collins

The most dangerous store in Denver. D and L wholesale stained glass- and this is the most dangerous aisle, has the dichroic glass. Downtown Denver with the mountains in the background. Taken from the 9th floor of the Franklin Kaiser building. I was in getting my annual check ups and then had lunch with some of the Franklin Lab techs I worked with when I worked there.  For those of you who don’t know I worked Fri, Sat, and Sun evenings in the lab for12 years there. I skied during the week.

I moved these glass racks up from Denver and loaded them up with my glass. I had had it in boxes and when I was looking thru the glass pieces would break. This is much better. The air compressor for the sand blaster is in the corner and some of John’s skis and paddles are above it.  Another shot of my studio. You can see the front of my car and John’s van on the left, some of John’s kayaks hanging from the ceiling, storage above the studio. John had to give away a car so there was space for my studio.

One more studio shot. That is the sand blaster in the back.  The bike path by the Poudre River with evening light.

another evening scene on the bike path, the foot hills west of Fort Collins from the bike path

spring green on the bike path, sunset on the Poudre. There are lots of fish jumping on it.

My fabulous husband, John preparing dinner when I got home from biking. The kitchen in the bus is bigger I think! Thursday we had dinner at Katie and Bill Lahaye’s house. This is Katy Hales(sorry Katy, your eyes are closed), Bill, John and Katie.

This is a stained glass window I made for Katie when they were remodeling their bathroom. I had not seen the finished product till that night.  It is backlit by the sun, so a little over exposed. It is bordered with purple and light green. I enameled  (painted the enamel they fired it on) the petroglyphs. The second photo is the window over the tub.

I made the tiles with the antelopes on over the sink. The small iridesant glass tiles around it were purchased.  Here is the sink and cabinet with the glass tiles over it.

April 11, 2012 Colorado!

After three days of driving all day we made it back to Denver. on Sunday. Guess I should rephrase it, after John driving for three days. I didn’t drive, it takes a lot longer when I drive. We are still getting over the jet lag and trying to breath at this altitude.

Goodland Kansas has a  huge canvas with Van Gough’s sunflowers for the sunshine state. Oakley Kansas has the prairie dog town. It wasn’t open so we didn’t stop.

Welcome to Colorful Colorado. Home sweet home for this month. This is the front house which John has rented. We are staying in the carriage house over the garage. John has a really good renter in the front house.

The bike path on the Poudre river. I think the bike path has more elevation gain and loss than the whole state of Florida. The trees are just beginning the spring green leaves. Much better than last year when we came back at this time and there were no leaves on the trees. Birds on the Poudre.

April 7, 2012 Back to Colorado

We had a great visit with Pat and Brandi Moran. We stored the bus and loaded up the car and headed back toward Colorado. Long days of driving.  We left Georgia, went to Tennessee, the highway dips back into Georgia, then back to Tennessee, to Kentucky, into Illinois the first day. Spent the night in Mount Vernon, Il. Had the lovely ‘free’ dinner and breakfast at the hotel. Hopped back in the car and drove to Missouri into Kansas. We are presently in Salina, Kansas.  Reasonably good weather, good roads. John is doing a great job driving. He is a better driver and makes much better time than I would. I have read two books.

Atlanta skyline, Welcome to Tennessee

Nashville skyline, and one of the many weird bill boards on the road

Welcome to Kentucky, and Illinois

scene in southern Illinois, St Louis skyline

I think we are in Kansas Dorothy. I love the 1-800-TOTO

Hopefully tomorrow we will be in Fort Collins.

April 3, 2012 Stone Mountain Park, Georgia

Today we braved the heat and went to Stone Mountain Park.   Stone Mountain  is a massive dome of granite, 1,683 feet tall, raising 825 feet above the surrounding region.  Carved into the stone is an enormous bas-relief sculpture of three major Civil war figures-Confederate president Jackson Davis, Gen. Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson and Robert E Lee.  There is a large memorial park with gardens for each of the 14 states in the confederacy with signs telling war details about each state and a memorial / Carving museum. And an amusement park  packed this week with spring break activities. There is a trail to the top, only 1.3 miles- but we did not hike it-too hot- 85 degrees and in the sun. A road and rail road around the mountain, lakes, a grist mill and granite quarry exhibit.

Stone Mountain with the carving and memorial park. A fallen confederate soldier and the carvings. The figures are 76 feet tall. The largest bas relief sculpture in the world.

close up of the carvings, John in the horses mouth in a almost life-sized model from the carvings.

the original design for the mountain. It had to be downsized or it would never would have been finished. And Mr. April Fool in the amusement park.

Azaleas and dogwoods.

Covered bridge and grist mill

Flame azaleas and the Carillon. The 13 story spire rises above the lake and uses miniature bell-tone rods and amplification to create 732 bell sounds. It was part of the coke a cola display in the 1964 worlds fair and then was donated to Stone Mountain park. They have free concerts on the weekends. We heard a recorded concert.

Canada Geese and babies, one of the lakes

When the union army came thru the south destroying everything that supplied the confederates they tore up the rail road bed. Sherman had them heat up the rails and bend them so they could not be rebuilt. Many of them were wrapped around trees like this and they were called Sherman’s neckties.  John and his brother Pat walking the dogs on a trail through a neighbor's property.

walking the dogs, and the dogs, Mae and Dolce.

sunset

April 2, 2012 Newnan, Georgia

We drove to Newnan, Georgia just in time for the Spring Fling at Pat and Brandi Moran’s. Pat is John’s brother. They own this beautiful log home on 5 wooded acres in Newnan. We parked in the driveway and helped decorate the egg trees and joined the festivities.  They have been having the Spring Fling for 17 years now.

The bus in front of their lovely log home. Dan and Mary Jo were also visiting with their rig in front.  The bus in front of the Easter egg tree.

I love their kitchen. Of course I loved the glass sink with the waterfall faucet in one of the bathrooms.

Easter egg tree,  The children gathering Easter eggs were so cute.

The food and the adults adjourned to the bar in the woods down by the creek. John and Pat Moran behind the bar.

Evening on the gathering, and the food inside.

Dan and Mary Jo left in the morning and you get a better view of the house.  14 years ago at the Spring Fling Pat and Brandi got married. We celebrated their anniversary with a group of friends on Wednesday. Here is the happy couple on Wednesday.

I have been getting the blog printed in books so we will have a record of our travels.  Kind of a modern day scrapbook and diary. Here are the first two additions.

The second two

And I just got the latest one.