Just A Quiet Sunday . . .

I'm beginning to think that the weather here is perfect every day! We're hearing that Ohio has been getting lots of rain. We've seen very little rain over the past week.

We woke up early this morning and got ready to go to church with Adam and Patti and Addison. They go to a large church with a contemporary service. We stood and sang for about 30 minutes, then the pastor preached for about 45 minutes. (I’m beginning to think I let them off too easy at Science Hill!) It was good to worship with brothers and sisters in the faith here out west.

After church, we drove to Boulder. We ate at a wonderful restaurant called “Murphy’s.” It was decorated with signs and sayings that were derivatives of Murphy’s Law. The food was very good.

We next drove to Chautauqua, a section of Boulder where the Rockies begin with what is known as the Flat Irons. Here is a picture of them with Daniel and then a close-up of the Flat Irons. Can you believe people actually climb these?

We drove to a downtown section of Boulder (Pearl Street) where the road is closed to traffic. There are lots of little shops, vendors, and street performers. We went to a candy store where they had many varieties of candy from long ago. They had a section of the store with “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” playing on a big flat screen TV and autographed pictures and posters of the cast. Very cool. There were also ice cream shops, art stores, and Hawaiian ice stores. We saw some odd-looking street performers acting like statues, playing the guitar and banjo, making balloon animals, playing a didjaroo (sp?), etc. (Bethany whispered to me at one point: "Is that a hippie?") I’m beginning to understand how Mork from Ork fit in so easily in Boulder!

One section was particularly fun. It had fountains springing out of the ground to get children wet. Our kids loved playing in it, especially Katherine!

The most amazing part of the day happened in the late afternoon when Adam took us to meet some friends of theirs (Mark and Julie) who have horses. Bethany and Katherine have both fallen in love with horses lately, but Bethany especially. She will be going to horse camp this summer. Julie worked with both girls, teaching them how to brush a horse, prepare them for riding, ride them, and then clean up afterwards. She walked them through all this with a gentle horse named "Asia." They had probably the highlight of their trip doing this. Katherine was a little disappointed that Bethany got her ride first, but Katherine got to take Asia for a canter, so I think that made up for it. Here are some pictures and movies of the “mane” event:

Video #1: Bethany and Asia

Video #2: Katherine and Asia

I am sure that will be a highlight of the trip for the girls, if not the best thing of all! Mark and Julie were incredibly nice.

I also need to take a moment here to thank Adam, Patti, and Addison for their incredible hospitality and all the nice things they helped us to do out here. It has been great to stay with family, at such a comfortable home, and to enjoy their company. They have made very knowledgable guides and generous friends. They should open up an Inn for Ohio travelers!

We returned to Adam and Patti’s house and began re-organizing and packing for the next leg of our journey. We stocked up at Wal-Mart, gassed up the van, and are ready to leave by 8 a.m. tomorrow to make it to our lodging at Old Faithful in Yellowstone. It is very likely I will be out of internet range until July 4, so there may be a delay in updates to this blog, but I will be back in touch when conditions allow!