July 13 - September 7, 2006
We have been looking forward to our time in Fun Valley, CO again. This is our 5th season and it seems to just get better and better every year.
All our “regular” friends came again this year with the addition of Kathy and Skip McKie from Trophy Club. We were especially looking forward to having the McKies with us.
We did all of our regular activities including: kayaking, biking, hiking, pots lucks, gospel and country music, etc.
We did some heavy hiking in Pagosa Springs. We went with Don and Debbie Taylor and Gordie and his son, Clint.
We hiked about 2 hours in and that’s where Joni decided it was too steep and there were too many cliffs and she was getting eaten alive by swarms of bugs. Joni turned around and hiked back by herself as the others continued on. After realizing that there may be bears up there in those mountains, Joni decided it would be a good idea to make some noise as she hiked back to the car alone. It’s best to make noise so if you come across a bear, they will not be startled. Singing to herself as she hiked back, other hikers smiled as they passed her by.
We took another hike with Gordie and Clint. Elise, Gordie’s wife was having knee problems so she decided not to join us. Again, Joni decided the hike was getting too high and steep and she didn’t go all the way to the top.
LOOK CLOSELY! Pictured are Gordie and Clint at the top. Delton stayed behind with Joni. They only had a couple hundred feet to go, but Joni just wimped out. Oh well, Delton has already taken her way out of her comfort zone and she has done real well and enjoyed every minute of it.
Kayaking down the Rio Grand was great with our large group this year. One kayak developed a rip and a leak in the air intake, so we had to double up and take turns on our ride. Also, it was a cool, rainy day, but we all had a great time anyway.
Fun Valley just wouldn’t be as much fun if we didn’t have all the pot lucks and country music. Val, Don and Tracy on guitar, Kandy and Debbie singing, and Joni on tambourine all make beautiful music together. The McKies also got to join in on the fun this year.
Casey, Kandy and Val’s daughter, is learning to be a beautician.
She had only 2 weeks till she gets her certification. Joni needed a haircut real bad, so Casey gave her a haircut. She did a great job. We wish her lots of success!
An annual event at Fun Valley is Mark and Nancy Northcutt's Pizza Breakfast. Mark makes many varieties of pizza with eggs, sausage, bacon, pepperoni, green peppers, and lots of other breakfast foods. They are delicious!!!! He has quite a crew of friends and family there every year and he cooks for all of us. He also makes great donuts!!!!!
Delton decided to go jeeping again this year with the group and Joni decided not to go again this year. Joni gets motion sick and doesn’t enjoy all the hills and curves. Pictured is the group at the top.
We were planning on staying in Fun Valley all summer this year, when we got a very sad phone call which abruptly interrupted our stay. On July 24, Joni’s Dad unexpectedly passed away. We put our motorhome in the holding area at Fun Valley and immediately headed toward Albuquerque to fly to Coral Springs, Florida to be with Joni’s Mom and family. It was hard to leave Mom and go back to Colorado, but we knew we would be back in Florida soon. We headed back to Fun Valley and called Joni’s Mom daily to make sure she was OK.
Our flight back was a little different. Security at the airports was tighter as we could no longer carry on any liquids in our carry on luggage. Travel has never been easy since 9-11 and it’s just not enjoyable any more.
Delton’s boss from IBM, Gary Miller, lives in Albuquerque and was kind enough to let us park our jeep at his home while we were away. Gary and his wife, Ellie picked us up from the airport. We went out to eat and headed back to their house for an enjoyable evening visit. We headed back to Colorado the next morning.
On our way back to Fun Valley, we were able to visit with some more old friends, Ernie and Tammy Cathy. We met Ernie and Tammy at Lake Ray Roberts in Texas. They had just bought their motor home and were ready to get on the road as fulltime RVers, so we had lots of questions for them. We have followed their travels and were excited to see them again. We had lunch with them and then continued on our way back to Fun Valley.
Since it was now near the end of August, a lot of people were heading back home after a wonderful summer. Fun Valley had a big turnover of people, although we still knew many who were retired and staying till Fun Valley closed on September 30.
We spent a lot of time with Dave and Mary Spear. They enjoyed hiking and biking with us. Dave celebrated his birthday on September 2 and had a small party at his camp site.
Jerry and Sherry Renfrow are friends which we met about 2 years ago. They have since bought a condo in Pagosa Springs which is about 30 miles from Fun Valley. We enjoyed renewing our friendship with them.
We noticed a new Monaco Dynasty parked across from us. Doug, Gayle and Daisy Parker lived there. We were invited inside and Joni fell in love with the new Dynasty. I guess that's our next purchase - some day! Daisy (the dog) was so cute - Joni was asked to dog sit one day. She enjoyed playing with the dog all day although she took a little coaxing to get out of her motorhome while her "Mom and Dad" went out for the day.
