CASTLE ROCK RV PARK

This is our campsite at Castle Rock RV Park where we will be workampers for the summer. Bill will be working maintenance and I will be in the Welcome Center.

The view down "our road". As you can see the campground is set on a hillside about 10 miles south of Castle Rock and 30 miles south of Denver, Colorado. We are in the foothills of the Rockies.

This view is looking south down I-25 towards Colorado Springs. If we go to the rear of our campsite this is what we see. Note the tipi in the lower left corner. The campgrounds rents these out for overnight camping.

This view is from near the top of the campground looking out across the valley.

APRIL SNOWSTORM IN THE ROCKIES

WELCOME TO SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES!!

Saturday, April 18, 2009. We woke up, after spending the night without electrical power, to this! We had 10.5 inches of snow overnight and expect another 8-12 inches today. The power went out last night around 7:30 pm due to the heavy snow on the power lines. We spent the evening playing dice and cards by lantern light! The power came back on about 8 am this morning. It was a chilly 43 degrees in the RV this morning.

We had to run on battery power last night, so we had lowered the thermostat to 50, and finally turned the furnace off early this morning due to low battery power. We were considering getting a generator today before the power was restored.

If you look close, that Ceilidh sitting on the picnic table bench. She's not real thrilled with the weather here. I think she'd rather be back in Florida.....

Bill and Ceilidh under the pine tree beside our RV site. It is very beautiful with everything covered with snow.

This is a picture of the cabins available for rental just across the road from our RV.

Believe it or not, it is supposed to be 52 degrees tomorrow and up to the high 70s by Wednesday!!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN-OMAHA TO COLORADO

APRIL 10-11, 2009

We left Omaha on Friday, April 10 and headed west across I-80, having never been across western Nebraska. It is a long, flat drive with lots of corn fields, and further west the black Angus cattle are abundant. Nebraska was once known as the beef state. In the distance here you can see the famous Sand Hills where some 700,000 Sand Hill Cranes stop every spring on their migration north. We were able to spot several flocks in the fields along with the cattle.

We spent the night at a Flying J truck stop at Julesburg, Colorado.

After supper we took a walk to the Colorado Welcome Center and
got a picture of this monument to the Pony Express Riders, so vital to communication in the 1800's.

We woke up the next morning to 39 degrees in the RV. BRRR! But after a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes in the Flying J restaurant we were nice and warm and ready to travel.



We left the interstate and took Route 71 south to Limon, Colorado, then Route 86 into Castle Rock. One sign at the beginning off Route 71 said "No gasoline for 75 miles". Needless to say the views were awesome. You could see for miles and miles and suddenly realize the vastness of the American West.

This picture was on Route 86 at a crossroads. 86 is the main road and this intersection was with a dirt road that seemed to go on forever. We saw very few houses on this stretch of road, about 80 miles in length. I am assuming the dirt crossroads go back to the ranches.

This is the view of the mountain for which Castle Rock is named.
It is quite a sight as you come into town from Route 86.

Our first view of Castle Rock RV Park and Campground where we will be working until the end of September. The railroad caboose you see in front of the Welcome Center was moved to an area to the right of the Welcome Center. It was interesting to watch them move it. It formerly was used as a sleeping caboose, but now may be used as a cafe. The campground is undergoing a lot of changes and there are many construction projects going on. It should be an interesting summer.

This is a view of the mountain across the valley from our campsite that I took the first night we were here, Saturday, April 12.

OMAHA'S HENRY DOORLY ZOO

HENRY DOORLY ZOO

If you ever get to Omaha, Nebraska, their number one attraction, in my opinion is the Henry Doorly Zoo and I-Max theater. We saw 3-D Under the Sea while we were here and it was awesome. The zoo is Nebraska's number 1 paid attraction with 25 million visitors over the past 40 years. The zoo is nationally renowned for it's leadership in animal conservation and research. http://www.omahazoo.com/

Established in 1894 as Riverside Park Zoo, it was renamed the Henry Doorly Zoo in 1963 when Margaret Hitchcock Doorly donated $750,000 (4.5 million in 2005 dollars) with the stipulation it be renamed after her late husband, Henry Doorly, chairman of World Publishing Company.



This is a picture of an owl butterfly in the newly constructed Butterfly house.








The penguins put on quite a show in the Scott Aquarium. I could sit and watch their antics for hours.

A very rare sea dragon in the aquarium.

Another exhibit is Kingdoms of the Night, the worlds largest nocturnal exhibit and indoor swamp.

The Desert Dome is the world's largest indoor desert as well as the largest geodesic dome in the world.

The zoo also has the Lied Jungle which is the world's largest indoor rain forest.



A gorilla in the Hubbard Gorilla Valley. There are dome like viewing areas where children can sit and adults can look in at the gorillas. The gorillas seem to get a kick out of suddenly throwing their body against the dome and scaring the children! Then they calmly walk away.

The zoo also has the largest cat complex in North America.

In Durham's Bear Canyon it was fun to watch this polar bear play from an overhead viewing area. He would swim to the left of the pool then roll over on his back. Using is front paw he would push himself using the metal supports on the partition. He did this over and over.

A few statistics on the Henry Doorly Zoo:

As of 2004 the zoo had 130 acres;

More than 17,000 animals and 962 species;

Birds: 276 species, 1626 specimens

Mammals: 184 species, 2025 specimens

Fish: 181 species, 7600 specimens

Reptiles: 176 species, 598 specimens

44 endangered species

7 threatened species.

There was a beautiful sunrise through their sliding glass doors in the kitchen the morning we left Omaha for Colorado, April 10.

I am finding out there are too many "Goodbyes" with our vagabond lifestyle. It is hard to leave good friends like Ed and Bonnie. We had such a wonderful week with them and will treasure their friendship in the years to come. They have given us many wonderful memories and we thank them again and again.

See you soon, wonderful friends but now it's time to move on...

Melbourne, FL to Omaha NE March-April 09

Ceilidh will surely miss "Nana". Here she is getting one last snack. Ceilidh spent many hours sleeping on this chair with Bill's mom. Every morning she would go to Mom's back door and bark to be let in, then spend most of the day with her. I was beginning to wonder whose dog she was!!

Hitched up and ready to pull out. That's Jeanette and Jim with Bill. They came over to say "goodbye" on Sunday along with Cindy and family. We left Melbourne, Monday, March 30. The 4 1/2 months we spent with Bill's mom sure went fast! It was a great winter and we were glad to be able to help out while we were here.

After spending 2 nights at Flying J truck stops in Georgia, we settled in for 2 nights at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area in Kentucky. We had a beautiful site with great views of the lake. That's Ceilidh looking out the back window.

Barb & Ceilidh by the lake. This was the day before the TORNADO warning when we had to vacate the RV and gather with the other campers in the shower house. Luckily all we got was heavy rain, wind, and small hail. But, it makes you a bit nervous.....

I was so busy taking picture of the Arch in St. Louis that I missed crossing the Mississippi! After passing through St. Louis we crossed the Missouri River 3 times before we got to Omaha.

We had to take the RV over this bridge to get to Bonnie & Ed's son-in-laws place where we parked for a week. I was a little apprehensive but we made it across.







Having a laugh with my longtime friend, Bonnie, who I've known since 1963! We have so much fun together.







Bonnie, Ed and the girls, Shelly and Ceilidh. They got along great together and had fun chasing each other around the house and going for walks. Shelly is half beagle and half pug, a puggle.

Lunch at the Bohemian Cafe, my favorite Omaha eating place! They give you so much to eat that we get the lunch menu and still take half of it home. They have the best Hungarian goulash I have ever tasted, dumplings, sweet and sour cabbage, yum!






Bonnie and Ed's son-in-law, John, owns a boarding stable and also has horses of his own. He was kind enough to saddle up his own horse, Buck, and let me ride. Buck is a beautiful buckskin Quarter Horse. Even though he hadn't been ridden since last fall, he was wonderful to ride. He has the most amazingly smooth trot.






I rode in the outdoor arena since it was such a nice day. John also has the largest indoor arena in Eastern Nebraska. It is 100' x 220'. He has a beautiful boarding stable with 20 stalls and room for about 12 more. It is all insulated and heated.

Bonnie and Ed with a couple of the horses in their outdoor pen.