On the Go: Travel Games

I ran across an article in the PopUp Times magazine that had some great ideas for travel games to play with the kids or the adults in your travelling party. I would like to share them here with all my readers.

1. Slug Bug: This game can be played without the slugging, mind you.  The objective is to accumulate points over a specified amount of time by sighting a specified object, normally a certain type of car. In the example they used VW Beetles (Bugs) and PT Cruisers (Cruisers). I think that you can make up your own version and set the point values accordingly.

2. License Plate Games: There are several versions of this game, the most common is counting license plates from certain states or who can see the most plates from different states. You can use a checklist system to check off the ones you have spotted or you can go through the alphabet. Once you have seen a state that starts with A you move on to the next letter. Another fun version is to make up words with the letters from the license. The words have to use the letters or must be in the order of the letters on the plate, such as BUS could be business, bust, bustling, busy, etc.

3. Scavenger hunt: First, you have to come up with a list of items that you expect to see along the way. Then there are points assigned for each item spotted, first one to see it gets the highest value awarded.

4. Cow Poker: This one is played in teams one either side of the car. Each sighting is the total of cows spotted. There can be things that will cancel out the cow spotting, like a cemetery or a butcher shop, and some random extra points for lone chimneys, a black horse, ice cream truck and the like. These things and points should be decided before the game starts.

When my folks and I go on a road trip, mom and I spot license plates and then try to come up with the state bird or flower. After our long drive back from GA a couple years ago, we had gotten pretty good at those so now have to find another state related item to learn.

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Tour

This weekend the folks and I headed out to celebrate mom's birthday. We went north to Denver with a stop at Stash in Castle Rock so she could see this yarn shop. It was trying to snow while we visited, however moved south without creating any accumulation that would impede our plans.

We had a great dinner at the Outback Steakhouse and stayed at the La Quinta at the airport. Nice room, great breakfast and close to the entrance to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

In the morning we headed over to the visitor's center to take the tour with my friend, CatWithCats, as the tour guide. She has been doing this for ten years as a volunteer and does a great job of mixing the history of the arsenal with critter sightings and ID for the guests.

We saw bufffalo, lots of deer - both mulies and whitetail, hawks and a pair of bald eagles, coyotes and a plethora of prairie dogs. It was a beautiful day and a great way to see the clean up job they have done at this location. It was hard to imagine the industry that went on here during WWII since the majority of buildings have been razed and covered in a huge landfill that the prairie, with help from the Wildlife Service, is reclaiming.

It is well worth the time to go see this new additon to the wildlife preserves in the state. I hope everyone will add this to their list of things to see and do in Colorado~!

Exploring the Possibility of a Knitting Retreat

While I was out this weekend I stopped in Buena Vista to look at cabins and to visit another knit shop, Serendipity.

I am looking for a place to have a knitting retreat next spring and to find an instructor to teach the group something fun and new.

I met some great people, got some good ideas and saw a fabulous scarecrow while I was there.

This area has some wonderful things to see and do, plus it is only 100 miles from Colorado Springs. This may be the place!

IJ2S: Planning Retreat

 The drive was beautiful to Salida this morning. The air crisp and the sun bright. There were hardy fisherfolk trying their luck in the Arkansas River and a small band of bighorn sheep near the road for a photo op.

My goals for the weekend included a long-overdue visit with the friend from Crestone that I met on the way to SockSummit 1 and a visit to Salida's yarn shop, Fringe.

The rest of the weekend included time for planning for next year's knitting classes and corresponding samples that need to be knit, and the new techniques I want to learn.

All of these plans have to be done early because of class proposal deadlines, there is no luxury of waiting til New Year to come up with goals/resolutions. I have given up with resolutions and have replaced that with just goals to accomplish. 

All in all it was a fun road trip and nice visit. I did get some ideas written down and ready to review over the next couple weeks to prepare the requisite paperwork.

I even snuck in a little knitting time on the mystery socks. See the update post below. I hope everyone had a productive weekend~!

News Bulletin: Werewolves in Cripple Creek

This marks our 5th annual trek to Cripple Creek for the Halloween play. This year I think they outdid themselves.

When I say "they" I mean the Thin Air Theatre Company (TATC). This group went above and beyond to create a spooky love story complete with three focal points on stage and the sense that you did not know who was coming up the aisle behind you at any given time. It was brilliant.

The original play was penned by long-time favorite, Chris Sorensen. He is a veteran to the theater scene in Cripple Creek and started out as one of the original Imperial Players. His other favorite plays include: A Cripple Creek Christmas Carol, The Vampire of Cripple Creek, Miracle on Bennett Avenue and Dr. Jekyll's Medicine Show, just to name a few. Some little know fact about him: he is also an award winning audiobook narrator for Recorded Books.

In the direcotor's chair this time was Chris Armbrister, another veteran to the Cripple Creek stage and a co-founder of the TATC. He also graced the Imperial Stage back in the day. His use of the surround-the-audience-with-actors was a wonderful addition to the already fun experience we have come to expect from this group at the Butte Opera House.

The acting was great, especially the casting of Mel Moser as the villianous southern colonel. It was fun to boo the villian and cheer the hero, played by co-producer, Mickey Burdick. It is evident that this troupe really enjoys performing together.

The original score was beautifully done by Jamie Malbin, and he turned out to be the third focal point on stage as you tried to watch the action center of the saloon, stage right with the meat locker and the werewolf activity and his facial expressions stage left as he played the tunes. It was action, action, action no matter where you looked. And for a small stage that is a lot of action.

Once the play was concluded with as happy an ending as you can expect from werewolves, the all-original Halloween olio began. I cannot say enough about the creativity that goes into this part of the production. It is singing, dancing, comedy and people dressed in ways you did not expect. I will say no more, because I do not want to ruin it for anyone who is planning to go.

Take heed! This play is only done during October, currently it is running on Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings at 7:00 p.m. and Thursday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 1:00 p.m. Hurry and get your tickets for a great time! They can be ordered online here.

Don't forget to take your wolfsbane and silver shavings for there be werewolves in Cripple Creek this October~!

Castle Rock: Day of Adventure

 Today I spent some time with my friend, CatWithCats, in Castle Rock. We have been looking for a mid-way place to meet occasionally and this fits the bill.

We visited The Barn, looking for the fabulous Solmates socks I mentioned in a previous post. This place is really cool, it has some of everything, a great place to find a gift for everyone on your list. They even have some yard art that is worth looking at.

 Then we went to the best bakery around, Dream Pastries, for lunch. It was yummy, they even have a coffee bar and gelato dispensary. We bought pastry treats to take home before we left town.

While we were there we also visited the local yarn shop, Stash. They have a nice selection, great staff, and a lovely location. Definitely a place to come back to at a later time. We found new projects to knit, however did not find any time to knit a stitch. Maybe next time~!

Autumnal Ghost Town

Vicksburg is a mining ghost town located northwest of Buena Vista in the shadow of the Holy Cross Mountain. In the fall the colors are spectacular. It is worth the eight miles of rough road to walk through the old main street that still serves as a community throughway in the summer when some of the descendants stay there and offer insight to the history to summer visitors. Come with me on a pictorial stroll:

Further up the road is the other ghost town, Winfield. Both places have museums that are open during the summer. It is a fun side trip if you are in the area. I hope everyone is finding fun places to visit while the colors are in season~!

Wolf Preserve

I had the opportunity to visit the area's wolf preserve this weekend. It is fabulous.

The fox habitat is a wonderful thing with their very own skywalk to the fountain area. We arrived just in time for their feeding. It was fun to see what each one did with their portion.


There are timberwolves, artic wolves, the Mexican wolves from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, plains coyotes, the foxes, a resident cat and dog and a ferret named Charlie on the property.

It was a very fun place to visit.

R. I. P.: Tribute to Buckskin Joe's

For over 50 years there has been a real-live, facsimile of an Old West frontier town in my backyard. Now, you have to understand that since I started living full time in Colorado back in the early 90s I have considered the whole state, 104,100 square miles of it, my backyard. For the majority of that time I have lived less than 50 miles from Buckskin Joe's and the Royal Gorge Scenic Railway, but until last weekend had not been there.

Now, I know what I was missing. What a great place to take family and friends for a day of exploring, learning and being entertained by the hard-working seasonal staff that do everything from act in the hourly gunfights, to serve drinks during a magic show, to drive the horse trolley with a team of Belgians, to pose for pictures and sign the autographs for the excited youngsters.

That is why this past week's announcement that the town and adjoining train ride has been sold and will be dismantled and moved came as a shock to most and brought sadness to all that this ends a wonderful, fun-for-the-whole-family destination.

The buyer is being kept deep hush-hush and the accessiblilty to the reassembled town at its new location is unknown at this time. I spent a precious few hours there taking lots of photos, talking to the staff and poking my nose into all the buildings.

The history of the town is that its buildings were all moved in from around the state. The only one to come in from the town of Buckskin Joe, 2 miles west of Alma, is the H.A.W. Tabor Merchantile building. The rest came in from other mining camps in Colorado, gathered and reconstructed on this site by producer Malcolm F. Brown of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

The town was built as a movie set, and for a time this area was known as Filming Capitol of Colorado. Some of the great films that were done here are: Conagher, Lightning Jack, the TV version of The Sacketts, True Grit, White Buffalo, The Cowboys, and Cat Ballou, just to name a few.

While I was there I heard that someone may be writing a book on the arrival and departure of this attraction that has stood on 805 acres adjacent to the Royal Gorge. It surprised me that this has not already been done. I am hoping that someone will document what it takes to disassemble and reconstruct the 30 some buildings that stand in this town. A fond farewell to this well-loved tourist attraction and best wishes to it wherever it may go.

Soxx' Old West Adventure

I heard on the 6 am news this morning that Buckskin Joe's has been sold and will be dismantled and moved after September 12th. Egads, I have said for 20 years that I need to stop by there someday and see what it is. Well, today was the day.

I grabbed my touring gear and drove the 47 miles to the Royal Gorge area for a look. I have heard about all the movies that have been filmed here over the years however I did not realize how really cool this place is.

As part of my touring gear, Soxx begged to come and be "filmed" in an old west setting. So, I give you the best still shots starring Soxx:

We were the first ones in the gate so got to see the town before it got full of folks.

Soxx realized that Lee Marvin would never have worn these kind of socks with his longjohns but Soxx was happy to see where he was filmed in Cat Ballou.

Soxx is sure these forms of transportation were very bumpy in the day.

We agreed this is the only way dentistry should be.

A consideration to all that recycle. This one may be pushing the limit.

And Soxx got to ride on the train. Had to hold on tight because he did not want to be a cactus decoration.

Note: Soxx did get lost at the old saloon on the west end of town for about 30 minutes until I felt my vest pocket and realized that he was missing. I retraced my steps and found him laying on the floor waiting to be served. Had to explain that this saloon was "museum" quality only and had no beer on tap.

Pedro's Great Camping Adventure

And we went along as well. Mom and I took the trailer out to the campground in the AM and found a lovely spot near the amenities so Dad did not have to walk too far. Then we finished the grocery/supply shopping and went home to get the "boys". We headed out to set up camp around 3 p.m.

Pedro loved his first foray into the tall grasses and the gravel which he rolled in liberally. When things got too intense for him he hopped back in his stroller and laid there to watch the activity.

We had a great camp dinner and sat out to watch the sun set and the stars come it. It was a lovely late summer evening.

In the early, very dark morning we were serenaded by the coyotes, very close to the camp, which got Pedro all excited. It was fun.

On Saturday we took Dad and Pedro beer tasting at the new micro-brewery in Woodland Park called Bierwerks. They make great beer, have a nice outside seating area and serve wonderful
picnic fare on platters.

And at the end of the weekend we packed up the gear and headed home. I think everyone enjoyed themselves and Pedro proved himself to be a wonderful camper.

When we got home he went to eat and then to sleep. He was one tired pussycat.

I hope everyone had a great weekend~!

OTR - Family Visit to Cripple Creek

My Germany brother aka The Evil Elf was in town for a brief visit so we took him to the Heritage Center in Cripple Creek. It is the newest museum in the county and is beautiful.

It has interactive displays of the history of the area, a wildlife display complete with dinosaurs, and a model train display that is fabulous.

We took the scenic loop to get there, by way of Hwy. 67 from Divide, through Victor and then home by way of Teller County 1.


We saw a herd, lots of animals worth, of elk at one of the ranches off of Hwy 24 between Florissant and Divide. Then we saw a group of bighorn sheep, about a dozen of them, along Hwy 67. There was all sizes from the ram just starting his horn curl to a baby one. It was really neat to see all the critters and not just the stuffed ones at the museum.

OTR - Local Touring (IMBY) - Cliff Dwellings

Today was my folks wedding anniversary and we decided that this was the day to go visit a local touring spot that they say they have driven by for 28 years and not stopped in to view.



It was a beautiful day to do it, not to hot or cold. It was some walking and not much of it flat. The gift shop is the largest I have seen, filled with beautiful and fun things.




This spot has been here and open to the public since the early 1900's. Up until 1984 the natives of the area still lived onsite and performed their dances each day. Now there are dancing demonstrations in the evenings during certain times of the year.

This is well worth the time to visit if you are in the area.

Camp Knitting

This was the day to do some minor repairs to the camping trailer. I pulled out the old bungie cord that holds the tent to the beds securely. I replaced those with new bungies or "garters" as I call them. Then I siliconed all the moving parts to keep them operating smoothly and repaired the leg on the dinette table.

Once completed I deemed that enough work for a hot Saturday and pulled out my knitting and sat in the trailer to work on a Gnome Hat. That is the best kind of camp knitting, small, simple projects that you can put down at any time and go out to see what is going on in the woods. I hope everyone had a productive and relaxing Saturday~!

OTR - BBQ

I finally had the opportunity to get within reasonable parking distance of the newest BBQ joint in town. Rudy's is all the rage with the transplanted Texans and they were happy to tell me about it while I was in Woodland Park one day.

So I headed out early this morning with a whole list of errands and decided that I could combine a visual visit to Rudy's as well as a bite of breakfast. They serve breakfast tacos made your way. Talk about yummy! I had an egg, cheese and jalapeno sausage one. Super good, highly recommend it for a quick, inexpensive, filling breakfast bite.


They have a lovely outdoor eating area and the inside of the place reminds me of mechanics shop in any little Texas farm town. I plan to take the folks there for a bite soon.

I hope everyone is discovering fun, new places in their own backyard~!

OTR: Searching for the Perfect 1st Campsite

I have spent some time looking for the best campground and the perfect site to celebrate dad's 90 years in August.

It will be great fun to cook out and sleep in the woods with the family and Pedro. He will be practicing with me over 4th of July weekend in my folks yard to see how he takes to the sleeping in the trailer. I imagine the first nights will be more sleepless as he spends them looking out for other nocturnal activities.

All in all, I am looking forward to weekends of camping adventures.

After the campsite picking is the next most important thing: what to bring for knitting to camp? The choices are another pair of socks, of course, or mini handmits, both can be done on two circs and are easy to take everywhere and put done mid-row if necessary.

I am excited about some vagabonding in my future. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far~!

OTR Finale: The Sock Who Traveled

I finished the first one of the Vesper Watermelon Summer Dream socks made from Aquamelon by Vesper Sock Yarn.

I cast it on June 10th and finished it on June 19th. It was knit using Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circs method and the Lion Brand Basic Sock pattern. It was a fun knit in and out of the car.

OTR - Home Again

Now its time to outfit the trailer and get ready for our first camping trip. I think we are considering a short, local adventure to celebrate Dad's 90th birthday. We are planning lots of fun outings in the future because there is so much to see and do in our own state.

I hope everyone is planning fun activities for their summer adventures ~!