This is my friend Gene from Minniapolis. We had a long layover there each way, and he was sweet enough to show us his town. Very pretty place! Alissa even got to touch the Mississippi!



Kathy and Tom picked us up at the airport, late on Friday night. The next day all their friends and neighbors came for a get to know us bar b q. We had a real blast getting to know them, they were all wonderful people. This is Kathy and Sherrie in the kitchen chatting.



I can't believe I only got one shot of Tom the entire time! Here he is busy at the bar b q, trying to keep up to our appetites.



This is John (Judy's husband) holding their gorgeous grandson Dakota. This baby was an angel for the entire time they visited. Judy is in the navy blue jacket at the end of the picnic table, and Nancy is across from her. Jim, Sharron and their daughter Becca are sort of hidden at the other end of the table. I could have sworn I got a good picture of them :o(



Nance, David, and Wes (Stephanie's dad) chatting outside



Sherrie and Claudine (David's wife)



Alissa and Stephanie got along like old friends right from the start!



Alissa couldn't wait to meet Kathy's horses, here she is with Shaman



and this is Britch, he's HUGE!







We both fell in love with their two dogs, who are also HUGE! Alissa and shadow napping on the sofa



close up of shadow



and this is Shadow's big brother, Bear. I think he really enjoys getting his little brother into trouble, sibbling rivalry!



This is Stephanie's horse, Cherokee. She's really sweet, and loves to roll in the mud.



We had to go to "southpark" for a look around of course. This is the town where the cartoon is supposed to be set. Well, it's actually a valley, but there is a town as well called Fairplay. I remembered I had a timer on my camera and got a pic of the 3 of us.



This is Southpark valley from the view point. The collegiate mountain range is in the distance here. The hotsprings we went to were the Princeton Mountain Hotsprings.



Alissa by the Southpark City sign in Fairplay



We spent quite a bit of time shopping in this little shop. They had everything from rocks, pottery to antiques.



They're restoring an old town here, but most of it was still closed or under construction. There is even a bed and breakfast, and we took a break and enjoyed brownies and a cool bottle of juice just down the street.



Southpark City (Fairplay) is in the background on the hill behind Alissa.



This is a view of the hotsprings river from the parking lot.



There were 2 pools, one hot and one warm. The hot pool was 1/2 covered to give relief from the sunshine. We did get a bit burnt on this day.



The warm pool was really nice for swimming and lounging around.



You could walk down to the river beside the pool. People dam up rocks to keep the cool river water out, and the hot springs bubble up through the sand along the banks. You can sit here in a couple of feet of water and just enjoy the scenery.



After we spent the day getting into hot water, we had a wonderful Mexican meal at this little place.



Of course the hightlight of our outtings was the trailride Kathy arranged for us. Here is Sherrie and Kathy getting ready to head out for our hour long ride.



At the turn around point of our ride, the rangler took pictures with our cameras, with Pike's peak in the background. You can't see the peak very well in the pictures I have though. From left to right...Sherrie, Stephanie, Alissa, Me, Nancy, and Kathy.



Alissa on her horse for the day, "Smokey" who she said would have been better named Pokey. Stephanie's horse was Lady, Mine I think was named Snazzy, and Kathy rode Rosie.






There are piles of enormous boulders around the hills everywhere. They were spit up by the Tarryall volcano, 15 miles away, a long time ago.











These gorgeous wild crocus were blooming all around in Kathy and Tom's yard.







There were also lots of these little round catus that Alissa and I had only seen in Safeway. Not a good idea to run around in bare feet here!



Oh our last full day in Colorado, we went to Colorado Springs and met Kim at the garden of the Gods. It was so great seeing her again, and the scenery here was amazing.



Alissa and Stephanie on our last full day in Colorado. The Garden of the God's is just behind them, and you can see Pike's peak in the background.