Courtney is taking a belated 40th birthday trip - driving to several national parks in Utah. She started her adventure in Denver where I made her a Princess birthday cupcake (probably better for a 4th birthday, rather than 40th, but I thought it was cute).
We had glorious weather while Courtney was here, so I took her out to the Plains Conservation Center to do some sketching. We saw tipis, sod huts, antique farm machinery, and an odd-looking animal called a pronghorn (kind of a cross between an antelope and a really old deer with stubby antlers).
We took Courtney on a bike ride around the neighborhood (Bruce let her ride his new eBike) and then stopped off at the Mexican restaurant for lunch. The portions were so huge that it became lunch and dinner.
Courtney got to spend a lot of time with Charlie. He actually went nuts whenever he was around her. I think if she would have slipped him into her suitcase, he would have followed her home.
On Wednesday, Courtney left for Utah. Bruce went with her to Moab and they spent a couple days there hiking in Arches National Park. Then Bruce came home and Courtney continued south on her own.
In the meantime, I stayed home and finished up some chores. I had to take my car in for an oil change and brake fluid flush. It's so much nicer to have a car that needs an oil change only once a year.
I took advantage of the great weather and went on a couple bike rides. Susan and I rode 4 different trails near the Platte River and ended up at the Enchanted Forest in Hudson Gardens. You can see the pumpkin ticket booth behind us.
The view along the river was absolutely gorgeous (you can see the mountains in the distance - this was before they started getting snow on them). There were tons of other bikers out on that day. Being a weekday, it made me wonder if anyone went to work these days.
A few days later, I rode the Tallman Gulch Trail with Molly to the Fika Coffee House. She's heading back to Phoenix for the winter and won't be back until May. Bummer, but I don't blame her wanting to get away from all the snow we're predicted to have this winter.
The city extended the Cherry Creek Bike Trail all he way to Castlewood Canyon State Park. The park is about 20 miles from our house, but our bike group tried starting at a trailhead down the road. Five people made it to the park. I turned around after 10 miles, because the wind was really picking up making it difficult to keep up (especially with the eBike riders). On the way back, I passed a pumpkin patch with Halloween scarecrows.
I've been taking a quilt class on Saturdays called Sunsets & Silhouettes. It's an applique class where you temporarily glue down the pieces before sewing them on. Then you paint the black images onto the fabric. It was a really interesting class, but very fast-paced.
The final quilt (wall-hanging) was 45 inches wide! We all told the instructor that she might want to go for a smaller project the next time she teaches the class. It was difficult to get finished in 2 weeks.
I took Charlie to the vet for his final vaccine and rabies shots. So now he is legal and can go to the dog park. The only trouble is that he seems to hate riding in both the car and the bike trailer. But at least he seems to like walking a little better. The trouble is the dog park is almost 2 miles away. I'd rather bike there than walk, especially with a wiggly dog.
We got our sprinklers winterized this week, but since it's still really warm out, Bruce has had to water the plants with the hose. Charlie loves to "help" him by sticking his face into the water spray. Luckily he's able to dry off pretty quickly in the sun.
I built Charlie a play space in the basement to help burn off some of his puppy energy. He is a wild man when he is down there playing with all his toys. But at least it wears him out enough that he sleeps most of the afternoon.
