Happy Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I was a little tired by the time we got 'home' last night. Yesterday we drove down to Fort Collins and toured the Anheuser Busch Brewery where Bud Light is made and bottled. It was interesting. AB is certainly larger than the New Belgium brewery we toured a few years ago. You can see why it's called a micro-brewery. We partook of the complimentary adult beverages, shopped in the gift shop and then slept the rest of the day...no, not really (Cheryl).

The highlight of the day for me was a Colorado Reuben at Choice City Butcher and Deli in downtown Fort Collins. It is a wonderful concoction of Buffalo Pastrami, sour kraut and homemade Thousand Island dressing. Yum! On the way back to Estes Park, we decided to initiate Jeremiah into the Devil's Gulch driving club by having him drive up the double hair pin curves at the top of the gulch. He did very well. We went to hear Cowboy Brad (.com) sing in the park again, no rain this time and finished the evening with Bob and Tony's pizza.

Today we headed up Trail Ridge Road and over to Grand Lake. It is very dry and warm for this year. There was a teenie weenie snow drift well below the Visitor's Center and it was warm enough that we didn't need jackets. Usually the snow is still deep on top and it is cold enough to warrant a jacket if you stayed outside for very long. We stopped at Holzwart's Ranch for lunch but didn't go up to the site because it was thundering and threatening to rain.

We drove on to Grand Lake and decided to show Meghan the cabin that Debbie's family owns on the lake. Kelly and Debbie hosted us at the cabin in 2008 and Jeremy several summers earlier. It didn't look like anyone was there so we started to walk around the back to show Meghan the view. Just as we got to the door, a very surprised man opened the door. I assumed he was a relative of Debbie's so I quickly identified myself (I didn't want to get shot as an intruder!) as Kelly's sister. It turned he was Debbie's brother, Adam. We explained why we were skulking around his house. Adam graciously invited us in and gave Meghan a tour of not only the house but the boat house too. I went back to the car to wait. I explained to Andy and John that this was kellydebbie's house (that's what we affectionately call Kelly and Debbie). Andy got really excited because he thought kellydebbie were there. I told him no but Debbie's brother was there. Andy wanted to go tell him hello so he ended up on the tour also. Meanwhile, a car pulled up behind us and a woman hurried up the path to the house, gave us a confused look and went in the house calling "Adam,Adam!" I jumped out of the car and went to the door and explained to her who we were and why we were sitting in her driveway. She looked at me and said of course, you look just like Kelly. She had been to town, forgotten her wallet, tried to call Adam and couldn't get him so she rushed home. A few minutes later we thanked Adam and were on our way, slightly embarrassed at barging in on Adam's vacation afternoon nap. I am glad he was so gracious to us.

We shopped a bit in town and got ice cream at Kelly's favorite ice cream stand by the lake. I found a quilt store in Grand Lake that is very cute. I wanted to buy some fabric fat quarters but the sales lady didn't want to cut them because she was so busy. There wasn't another person in the store! When she saw that I was going to leave without the fabric she said she guessed she could. By the time she had finished cutting the fabric I had not only purchased the 3 fat quarters but 2 more yards of fabric and we were chatting like old quilting friends.

We drove back over the pass and stopped at the Ranger Station so John and Andy could be sworn in as Junior Rangers. Back at the cabin Jeremiah and Meghan cooked a delicious steak dinner. Because of the fire ban there are no fireworks so we are just staying in. I think Meghan and Jeremy are going down to the Rock Inn Tavern in a bit. Tomorrow awaits with new adventures. The elder Griffith's are going hiking and the grandboys are staying with us.

Happy 4th!