Back to Dore Village

Back home to Dore to prepare for mum's 93rd. Hare and Hounds - Devonshire Arms, the village butchers - nothing changes...kinda nice really.

Man is Manchester fun

Took my niece KT over to Manchester where we explored the city. Fab lunch at Wagamama restaurant. Saw very funny rendition of The Miser by Moliere at Exchange Theatre fantastic costumes and outrageous hairstyles (Could only find the more conservative ones on google).

Milford Haven rocks

Loved visiting Milford Haven where we bought fish fresh from the trawlers. Met some amazing people in the old pub...........all had been to Oz and had great stories to tell of misunderstandings such as turning up at lunch time for dinner.- who says we all speak English.

Used my octopus tripod (my birthday present from the Gunnison Gals) to take a shot of mum and I at the cottage. Strange to see the ocean again after such a long time. Lotsa people surfing brrrrrrrrrrrr.

Also met people from Georgia who were doing the coastal walk... would love to do that. Maybe next year. Within minutes found out that they had a house in Crested Butte ski resort and that one of their employees worked at Curves in Gunnison. Amazing place Gunnison!

Croesgoch

Our cottage was in Croesgoch near St David's Head - absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately though I never did quite work out how to pronounce the name of the village which caused much puzzlement amongst the Welsh when I tried to describe where we were staying.

The weather was relentless, however it seemed that whenever mum put her foot out of the door the rain and wind ceased! Wished it had done the same for me. Nostalgic visiting St David's Cathedral and the town. One of the last places we visited with Dad. Spent our days visiting markets, art and craft shows, buying dressed crab and chatting with farmers as they picked fresh veggies for us. Enjoyed cooking, relaxing in the cottage and listening to the Proms.......ah life is good.

Aberystwyth in a gale

Our journey down to Wales was incredible. Rain hurtling towards the windscreen and the wipers flailing uselessly against the torrent! I had decided not to go via the motorway ... a good decision in hindsight as there was an accident which caused a 5hr delay! However as I wound my way down windy lanes that gradually got smaller and smaller I did question my decision. Especially as "She of the sat nav" kept trying to send me down farm lanes.

Driving in Aberystwyth an absolute nightmare. Narrow, narrow streets and of course you can park on any side of the street facing in any direction, so I was constantly terrified that I was driving down a one way street in the wrong direction.

Eventually got to Aberystwyth to find that the hotel had overbooked us. Eventually they found a place on the seafront. Whoooo we were nearly blown away in the gale. Great little room and after a yummie dinner on the seafront we both felt great.

Next day mum made friends with everyone in the dining room, the lifeguards, who made her an honorary member........a lady who took her cat on holiday with her and walked it each day on a lead .............the man who blew up the jumping castle and more!......Off to St David's Head.

England that green and pleasant land!

Arrived at Denver airport to find that the plane was overbooked... huge relief as I managed to get on - only to find I had left my book behind! Can you imagine 9 hours on a plane with no book to read!

Arrived to pouring rain in Manchester - after total confusion on behalf of car rental company picked car up but by now was totally drenched to the skin! Happily on my way having sorted out using gears once more and driving on the left when I was diverted by police because there had been an accident. Ended up in some back street in Stockport!

At this point discovered the hire company had not put in the map as promised! A little creative driving finally brought me into Chesterfield just in time to have dinner with KT Kate.

Next day off to mum's and then back to Ches Vegas to pick up Katie and through the pouring rain to Matlock for fish and chips. (Thank goodness for Chris' sat nave. Plus ca change - it could have been in a 50's fish and chip shop except that now it was run by people from Slovakia. Mum quickly got to know everyone in the cafe and lollipops were distributed all around to celebrate her birthday.

A group of young people came in and quickly caused confusion all around as they chopped and changed their orders "er i'll ave chips and curry sauce...nah nah change that to pie and tomata sauce - thanks luv..........." very amusing.

Back to Cauldwells Mill to pick up freshly ground flour for mum's baking a tour of the various little craft shops, back for a quick look at the crooked spire and we were all ready to call it a day..........a great day!

Just in case you wanted to hear a Beatles Tribute Band at Red Rock

Hmmm gives a bit of atmosphere! Happy Birthday Roger!

What a great Birthday.....thanks Roger. Red Rocks Denver, is a fantastic natural ampitheatre. Every year they have a Beatles tribute band from 1964 period and the audience just go crazy singing along. Boy did we see some sights including bikers complete with Beatle tatoos. A great night!!

What is happening to the weather in Sydney?

Woah....just got these photos from Caleb showing the HUGE dust storm over Sydney........4000 tons of dust being dumped on Sydney each hour. Opera House now orange!

Whoa can I really be 59!

Can't believe I didn't upload this- especially as I had such a fab birthday! 2 birthday celebrations actually. I was invited by the Gunni gals to go on a walk up to Judd falls...........fantastic day, beautiful weather, great company and amazing scenery. We headed back down to Crested Butte for lunch. What a suprise when everyone suddenly pulled out birthday cards. Oh my goodness I thought, I wonder whose birthday it is and felt really embarassed that I hadn't got a card.

Suddenly I realised the cards were for me and also a fantastic gift......octopus legs for my camera. Came in really handy when I went on holiday with mum as I could take photos of us together.

Even more embarassing was the fact that I couldn't remember how old I was!

My second birthday celebration was in Custer National Park where I got a lovely hummingbird necklace and brilliant card and cd from Caleb. I'm just so lucky.

Fab weekend in Denver

Off over the mountains to Denver to celebrate Roger's birthday and my last weekend in US for a while. Stayed with Shaun and Janet both of whom who have done exchanges to Oz. Fantastic hospitality - greeted with "Moose Drool" a local beer and yummie food and great company - very welcome after a four hour drive across the mountains.

Over the weekend we headed off to the CITEL (exchange organisation) picnic, very warm, fabulous food and lots of chatter about what we have all been doing. The Aussie exchangees are 8 months into their trip (can that be true???) while the Fulbright exchangees have only been in US for a couple of weeks.

Met Gabriel from Mexico who ended up coming back and also staying with Shaun and Janet!!! Next morning we all headed off to Denver art gallery...........great fun but so much to see - will have to go back again.

In the evening swapped more travellers tales as we sat around the dinner table with yet another couple Doug and Jo who had done two exchanges to Oz. Almost makes me homesick.

Can't believe how fast time is going.

Big fish, big pond

Onto the Blue Mesa lake once more with the Cathy and Bill ............crack of dawn we set off and boy it was COLD! Beautiful though skimming over the calm waters - cranes by the watersedge, falcons circling and the fish were certainly jumpin. I took photos while the rest fished happily. By 10.00 am 11 fish had been caught and by 12.00 Bill had filleted and packed them and they were sitting snugly in the freezer. Mmmmmmmm life is good.

Lets go Captain Ralph

On Maria and John's last night our friends Kathy and Ralph took us out for dinner on their boat. Phew eee! Hold onto your hats fellas.............we zoomed across the lake fantastic. Hard to believe that this is the same lake that we watched people huddled around their fires icefishing.

Kathy and Ralph are great fun and we all enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches moored in spectacular surroundings watching the setting sun. A trip around the lake gave us a completely different perspective and it was strange to see the hikes we had done from a completely different angles. Guess it won't be that long until the ice is back! Now there's a thought!

Saddle em up!

After our cowboy evening we just felt we had to git in the stirrups and head into the mountains.............fabulous experience, loved the variety of scenery, forest, sage bush, mountains and streams, the slow pace, friendly chatter . Lotsa laughs...............fun times.

Ho de ho - Colorado

Great showing Maria and John around the place, spent time in ski resort Crested Butte..............no snow then, but had our first snow last night (21 September!) Went to Harmels for a cowboy evening, complete with open fire, steaks, chicken etc. Peter Dunda, Andy's dad (teacher at Roger's school), played the accordian and had lotsa fun dancing the Polka - with Maria and Andy.

Visited Roger at his school.

As always beautiful in sunny Gunni.

Maria and Johns visit

Got back to Gunnison just in time to drive to Denver to meet Maria (my schoolfriend) and her husband John in Denver. Picked them up from the airport and drove straight to Boulder to see the play "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" It was so good to sit in the warm afternoon sun eating dinner and catching up on the news.

The play was very funny. Much more slapstick that the Aussie version which depended more on wordplay. Great night though.
The next morning saw us eating a fantastic breakfast under beautiful clear sunny skies at Dushanbe TeaHouse. With over 100 teas to choose from and a fabulous menu - who could ask for more!

A stroll through the farmers market and it was time to drive over the mountains to Gunnison. As always stunning scenery and great to get back into sunny Gunni. Afternoon drinks on the verandah before heading out to the Gunnisack for a traditional cowboy dinner. (not really it is far more sophisticated than that!)

The next day saw us walking in the Black Canyon....phew! all good stuff.

Can you believe this

At Hot Springs, South Dakota we came across this incredible museum. More than 26,000 years ago, large Columbian and woolly mammoths were trapped and died in a spring-fed pond. For centuries the bones lay buried, until in 1974 while excavating for a housing development, earth moving equipment exposed South Dakota's greatest fossil treasure.

What is really amazing about it is that there are so many mammoths and other animals they will still be excavating in 50 years time. Each summer volunteers are trained to excavate..........no experience is necessary. I would so love to do it. It is fantastic to see the bones left in situ. Quite amazing. www.blackhillsbadlands.com/mammothsite

Home of the Harleys!

Had an amazing drive to this little town called Sturgiss. What we didn't know was that for one weekend of the year, 500 motorbikes converge on the town and the local area!!!!!!!!!!! And guess what it was the weekend we visited.

Wow! saw some amazing sights, including the homeless guy who had trained a rat to ride on top of a cat to ridwho rode on top of a dog - mmm. Other sights are just not suitable for publishing on a blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not too impressed when a woman asked if we were golden wingers. I thought she meant that we looked over 65 and it was only later when Roger explained that it was a Honda rider that I could have a giggle about it!

Buffalo jam custer national park

Hope this works............not been too successful with movies so far.................gives you an idea of what its like to be surrounded by these fearsome beasts!!

Loved the fact that Custer is such a huge park, wildlife wander everywhere. Bison jams were everywhere. and cars definitely took second place............just like the bear jams in Yellowstone.

Dead White Males @ Mt Rushmore

Have seen this scene so many times in movies etc, but it was quite a shock to see the real thing. They are HUGE but in real life look smaller than I imagined. Great ranger talk interrupted by lightening and a torrential downpour. The gift shop was the most popular spot of the afternoon...............headed off to see Crazy Horse but rain just too heavy. Luckily it had all cleared up by the time we got back to our little tent!

custer national park - its just wild!

Feels weird that I am updating my blog from England and this trip now seems to have happened so long ago...........about 4 weeks but so much has happened since then!!! As you can see from the sat nav, the road was really quite something! We wound our way up hills and through tunnels often getting glimpses of the presidents at Mt Rushmore framed by the tunnel exit!

Loved getting out and walking, camping was fab if a bit damp at times, scenery spectacular and the wildlife was everywhere!