The holidays in Colorado

Merry Christmas everyone! What a fabulous week we had with the Walker family. It went by in a flash and we just put them on a plane to head back to Charleston.

We waited to decorate until the girls got there. And yes, it's a real tree. Have always done it and probably will continue for some years to come.

The required hot chocolate and marshmallows. After playing in the snow, doncha ya know...

Gingerbread cookie decorating time. A very long tradition in the family from my childhood. We all got involved as you can see.

I bought the new puzzle, which was 500 pieces, a bit much for the girls, so Chris and I did most of it. We're kinda puzzle people as it turns out.

Christmas day was the usual mayhem of early risers and wrapping paper everywhere. Crafts were the big theme this year. And I somehow neglected to take a photo of our Christmas feast so Tiffany's dessert (mint chocolate cake with a ganache topping) is the only one I've got. It was excellent!

Of course a bit of CB action. Big horn sheep on the way and yummy Secret Stash.

We made it up the mountain to show the girls ski school in case they were interested. Not so much this year.

We did however, have a request to ice skate. The girls thought it was very hard at the CB rink and wished to go back to theirs in Charleston. Never heard of this before but they use walkers cut down for the kids to push around the ice. Sounds pretty clever.

Some snowshoeing action out our back. Chris and Tiffany had never tried it before. It was definitely some hefty exercise as we had to take turns breaking the trail.

Mark and I are here for another week before returning to Naples. Hope to do some skiing (cross country only for me, downhill and cross country for Mark) It's quite the mind bender to go from tropical to minus degrees but we're enjoying it. -13 tonight!  Happy New Year everyone!

Beaches, alligators, bubble room, and retirement

Had fun with guests Bob and Vicki from Maryland, our old stomping grounds, with a lot of golf for Mark and adventure fun for me with Vicki. And yes, that's Vicki reading my book (Living a Life of Vitality) when we hit the beach. She's a fast reader and zipped right through it, giving me a wonderful thoughtful review.

We made it to my favorite Naples beach (Delnor Wiggins) and drove up to Captiva and Sanibel with equally lovely beaches. And for those who keep hearing about red tide ruining the beaches, we saw none just pristine sand.

We stopped in to The Bubble Room for lunch. Had to, we could not pass up this crazy place. The whole restaurant is decorated this way, has great food, and been open since the 70's. Fun.

We also visited Naples Botanical Gardens, an amazing 170 acres packed with every kind of exotic plant from many countries. A beautiful outing.

Last, but not least, the four of us took a drive down to the Everglades, having a bit of alligator spotting, and lunch at the Rod and Gun Club, as you can see circa 1864. Many presidents, and famous people, Hemingway for one, visited there. You can just feel the mood and atmosphere from that time.

Since that visit we've been over to Miami for the final goodbyes for Mark. He has retired!!! Wonderful celebrations for him with amazing accolades. It was all quite overwhelming, even for me and I'm not the one retiring. As you see, much golf playing is expected from now on.
Next up Christmas at Star Mountain. Yippee!!

San Diego, Miami, and Naples - a smorgasbord

This post is a mishmash of activity over the last ten days. Zipping back and forth from east coast to west coast. helping in the empty out condo project in Miami, and the peace of Naples.

View from our hotel room

We went to San Diego for a family funeral and as long as we were going all that way, stayed two extra days to see some of the sights. I hadn't been in 30 years. It's vibrant and pretty, though sadly a lot of homeless, one of the four big cities in CA with this giant problem.

Drove up the coast for a different view and saw lots of beach and lots of surfers too. These were part of a much larger group, all looked high school age to me. Um, it was a non-holiday weekday?

not a statue but a live model - wow

More sightseeing this time to Balboa Park, a 1200 acre park with a dozen museums and gorgeous grounds. This little one was at the entrance to the Japanese gardens. They take this stuff seriously there.

Miami from Brickell Key

Sightings started last summer - unusual

Lots of everything to be seen in Miami as usual. The scooters are everywhere in both Miami and San Diego. Just insert your credit card and go. Of course they are becoming a traffic hazard. People disregard all laws and just zoom. Lots of dogwalkers always, more people meditating then I've ever seen out, and the "little" floating house can be yours for only $5.9 million. It's a green, self-sustaining, handles hurricane force winds, and is 2600sq ft.

river otter

still haven't tried it

And then there's Naples. Definitely a quieter, slower pace of life, which is just fine with me. Started this post with west coast beach and ended up with the Gulf. The U.S. seems smaller when you crisscross this way. And now we're on countdown to both Mark's retirement and Christmas in winter wonderland at Star Mountain. Coming up soon!