The Trip Back Home.

After leaving Creede, it was finally time to bring this latest trip to a close and head back toward home. It would be a three-day trip. We pointed the coach toward Oregon and drove out of the beautiful Colorado scenery and into the more desert-like terrain in Utah.

The weather started out sunny and then became partly cloudy which made for some interesting cloudscapes to add interest to the rather boring scenery.

After an overnight stop is Green River, Utah, we came to Hwy 6 in Utah. It is a two-lane windy road up a canyon toward Salt Lake City.

This road has rocky cliffs and a rushing stream running along side the road. It is always an enjoyable sight.

Then, as we approach Interstate 15 leading up to Salt Lake City, the snow-capped mountains add to the beauty.

On this leg of the trip we decided to take I-80 west, just south of Salt Lake City. It was not a route we had taken previously and it proved to be unexpectedly interesting.

The Great Salt Lake, living up to it’s name, means there are huge salt flats along the southern part of the lake.

Where we stopped at a rest stop right at the edge of the salt flats.  There were a lot of people walking out on the salt, so while Don checked things out on the coach, I went to see what the activity was all about.

I discovered we were at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats, renown for it’s famous land-speed records. Of course I had heard of Bonneville, but never really given any thought about just where it might be located, and here it was, right in front of us.

I had difficulty taking pictures here as a bus load of tourist had arrived shortly before us and were now scattered all over the salt flat like a bunch of ants. 

I kept moving to the left and they kept running to the left out in front of me, totally oblivious to the fact that I had a camera in my hand pointed toward the horizon. (“Come on, folks, I just want a picture WITHOUT you in it!”)

Finally, I managed to outrun them just long enough to catch a quick picture of the salt and the mountains and ...oh, oh, here they come again!

On this entire trip we have seen lots of water with both rivers and lakes at high levels. It was no different when we arrived back in Oregon.

With all the grass and trees dressed in Spring Green, the water just added to the beauty.

We spent a night in a RV park near Lakeview, Oregon, on the southern border of the state. It was one we had not heard of before and it turned out to be a good find. It is actually 10 miles west of Lakeview and on a huge working cattle ranch.

The park was on the edge of a lake. There were lots of wild antelope wandering the meadows…

…and more great mountain views.

The first glimpse of home as we pulled into the driveway was so welcoming, even though Don began to groan at the sight of 18-24 inch high grass. Furthermore, it was wet, so he would have to wait a day or so to mow.

In spite of the tall grass in the back yard, it was nice to see flowers blooming. Looks like we have our yard work cut out for us now that we are back.

Further inspection of the yard revealed we were missing two of our trees, thanks to the beaver that inhabits the river.

One tree was completely missing, and on this one, he just took off almost all the branches. He must have spent quite a bit of time working here as he had a path worn between the river and this tree. Time to put more wire mesh around some of the other trees.

We always like to watch for the deer when they have their fawns. Usually they are born around the first of June and are kept hidden till the first of July. We saw a couple of the does that first evening and could tell they were nursing, so we knew they had little ones hidden away.

The next day was Father’s Day and we were preparing to go to church, when we saw a doe come into the yard. Bounding behind her were two of the tiniest twin fawns we have ever seen. They had to leap over the grass to be able to see their Mom.

Look closely, one fawn is behind the doe and the other is in front of her.

Of course as I stood by the window, my camera was on the opposite side of the room. They are so skittish at this stage, that it took a bit for me to slowly move away, grab my camera, and then sneak back to the window without them noticing. 

I got one quick picture of all three before one of the little ones decided to wonder off, and I couldn’t get a good picture with both the little ones in it at the same time again. They could not have been  more than about two weeks old.

So this brings to a close another great trip for the Fosters. We hope you have enjoyed following along.

Right now we are doing yard work and playing catch-up as we have another trip on the horizon.

We will be leaving for Alaska around the third week of July and will be gone till the end of September. We are really looking forward to that trip.

I will send a notification e-mail to you when that trip starts.

Thanks again for indulging us and our ramblings. We enjoy hearing from you about this blog.

The CRT, Nic and B & T (Creede, Colorado)

We have just spent five wonderful days in Creede, Colorado with good friends, Bill and Teri Smith.

We met Bill and Teri some 20 years ago in Idyllwild, California. We both had homes there at the time and attended church together there.

Bill was the General Counsel for a major Land Development company in Orange County and Don was VP of a large Residential and Development company. They immediately found commonality in their career fields. Don was also very impressed with Bill’s organizational skills, something that is high on Don’s list of outstanding personal attributes.

Teri is someone that you just automatically love. She and I have a lot of common interests in arts and crafts. The two of them are also some of the most gracious hosts we have ever met. And of course we all have our faith in common.

Bill and Teri live several miles outside of town directly on the Rio Grande River. Their house sits on a cliff about 40-50 feet above the water.

This is the downstream view from the deck…

…and the upstream view from the deck.

They have a lovely, bear-friendly log home. There are more bears in this house then you can imagine! (Notice the one peeking over the balcony.)

Bill arranged for us to park the RV on the next door neighbor’s property that has RV hook-ups. As you can see, we are only about six feet from the edge of the cliff, which gave us great river views. Not a bad “RV Park.”

The tiny little town of Creede, Colorado is in southwestern Colorado. It is an old historic silver mining town near the start of the Rio Grande River.

There are a number of cute little shops and galleries that Teri and I spent some time investigating.

We arrived on Friday which happened to be my birthday.

It turned out to be great timing. Bill and Teri are very involved with the CRT (Creede Repertory Theater) and they were having a dinner and opening show that night. They had made arrangements for us to go along.

I could go on and on about that night, but will just try to condense it into a few lines.

First, the fantastic dinner was held in the community center, which is in a mine at the edge of town.  Yes, a MINE! A silver mine to be exact. 

Once you are inside, it is no longer has a mine-like appearance, but forget about your cell phone working there. It was beautifully decorated and catered. There was three different types of food you could choose from, Mexican, Italian or Traditional. They were all outstanding.

Then we went to the Theater. The play was, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”  I can’t stop raving about how great the play was. 




Don’t think it was a matter of local volunteers trying their hand at acting.  These are professional, paid actors, many from outside the area. The CRT draws audiences from many miles around. This is the CRT’s 46fth season of performances.

Bill and Teri, of course know many of these actors and periodically during the play, we would hear whispers from them like, "Those two are married to each other," or "That one and that one are dating!" That just added to the fun.

The cast also travels with their plays into Denver in September and October as well as performing at various schools in rural Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Texas.

They performing six different plays in Creede from May to September every year. Every year 20,000 people come to Creede, (population 450) to see these performances and with the addition of the schools and Denver performances, the number raised to 50,000 last year. If you are ever in Creede, be sure you check out their schedule. You will be glad you did.

Bill and Teri are great tour guides and we did a lot of sight-seeing in the area with them.

They took us to Freeman’s General Store a few miles outside of town for their famous hamburgers. Freeman’s is a very old, popular and unique place. (Full of “local color.”) We sat on the porch to eat our burgers along with neighbors,  a local sheriff, and the drivers of several big-rig cattle transport trucks. It seems everybody stops at Freeman’s.

Inside the store they sell a little bit of everything including fishing licenses and equipment. There is a sign, “WORMS” hanging above one of the tables inside.

After lunch we stopped at a view point that has been featured in Sunset Magazine.

Not far away is the beautiful Clear Creek Falls.

On Sunday Don performed Nicodemus at Bill and Teri’s church in Creede. He has added a communion service in the middle of the presentation. It was well received and we enjoyed the friendly folks there.

There are three things that we have been hoping for regarding this ministry. Two of those were provided here in Creede.  One was a new DVD, and the other was to be able to add music to the presentation.

One of the church members, in addition to being on the local police department, is also a videographer. He recorded a really good DVD of the performance, something we were very much in need of. We were thrilled about that and felt truly blessed.

Bill, being an extremely accomplished musician, spent a lot of time helping Don out with the musical part of some of his future presentations.

Don’s next presentation will be a dramatization of the gospel song, ‘Mary Did You Know?’ By the time we arrived in Creede, Bill had developed a special arrangement of this song.

Bill and Don spent Sunday afternoon working on it and it came together very well. Bill will be recording this arrangement with vocals and sending it to Don soon. He also will record two other songs for Don to use in his other future presentations.

On Monday, Teri had doctor appointments in Durango, about 2-1/2 hours away. It was a beautiful drive with mountains, valleys and waterfalls.

On the way to Durango, we crossed Wolf Creek Pass (at more than 10,000 feet) and the Great Divide, marked by the line on the road.

We were all happy when Teri had a good medical report from her doctor.  All in all, we had an enjoyable, although long, day.

Tuesday was the day to drive the 4-wheel Jeep roads through the back country in Bill’s Jeep. This was really fun and in spite of it being very rough and bumpy. We saw lots of beautiful country.

We started off by driving through Creede and up the canyon…

…through the historic silver mining area.

There were lots of picture opportunities along this area…actually on the entire trip.

Our plan was to follow the Jeep road up to the top of the mountain and back down the other side.

Teri and I bumped along in the back seat with the guys in front, Bill skillfully keeping us on the road.

Unfortunately, there was still snow over the road shortly below the peak. Since we were by ourselves, and not with another Jeep equipped with a winch, we did not want to risk getting stuck in a remote area where we could not get out.

We stopped and took in the views before heading off to Rat Creek to attempt the trek to the top of the mountain from the other side.

Rat Creek is a rather unfortunate name for a pretty stream that runs along side the Jeep road.

Oh, did I say, “Bumpy?” I meant REALLY bumpy!!!

Once again, we ran into more snow before the summit, but the views were spectacular...

We found a pretty place to stop for lunch and then were back exploring again through the endless beauty.

Even though it was somewhat early in the season, we found some red and blue Columbine, the Colorado state flower. It was just beginning to bloom, growing out of a large area of lava rock. In another week or so this area will be covered with Columbine.

A couple of “spooks” at Ghost Lake.

We arrived back in Creede via a different road, which gave us sort of ‘aerial’ view of the town.

This also took us past an old historic church…

…and the grave of Bob Ford, the person who shot Jesse James. An interesting sign is beside it, “Closed for Repair.” We have no idea what that means, but got a chuckle out of it.

Oh, dear, I think I am in trouble. Don now has a serious case of Jeep fever…

Well, the time has arrived to finally head for home. It has been a great trip, but it is always good to get back home. We leave tomorrow. More on the final leg of the trip later.