Moving right along......

We made the familiar trek back to CT for Andy's 16th BD.    I remember the moment of his birth so vividly and often can't figure out  where the years went !!

Caesar, meet Shy!   The dragon has grown since our last visit and now takes walkabouts and both the cat and I find it a bit unnerving.   No apparent confrontations have resulted.

On a clear but definitely chilly day, Jon drove us down to the Jersey side of the Hudson River to find some of the Revolutionary and Hamilton historic sites.

     

Apparently, this is the rock that cradled the head of Hamilton as he lay dying after the duel.

When not exploring history, we had a pretty long learning curve in order to play Catan . We got better as the days went along but we were never much of a threat to the competition.



And then, we were back in the desert.....almost like time travel, except it involved long flights.   We're packing up and saying  goodby to our neighbors and friends.    As the temperatures finally warm up,  we look forward to our migration north once more.  

Before we headed out of town, we got to see Jeff and Jen's new (old) home that will soon be undergoing a huge renovation.    Can't wait to see her vision come together.

Contrasting views................apolitical.

 The popular Duel in the Desert came and went and, despite courage and bravery and a strong will, no medals came his way.    But he was very popular with his GoPro videos that captured friends and neighbors matches.    He edits them down to manageable size and hands them out to very appreciative players.

The desert is slowly starting to bloom.    We drove about an hour  to an arboretum and took a guided tour through the history and stories of the varied gardens.

Not too hot but sunscreen was useful.  

  

 This plump, water saturated saguaro needed some help to stay upright.

Later in the week, friend Bonnie and I drove 20 min to Pichacho Peak SP to see the Mexican poppies and their opposite on the color wheel, the purple lupine.  

 And then, yesterday, we decided to mix it up a bit and we drove the long 10+ hours north.    We needed to get the new car back home since we haven't figured out how to tow TWO cars behind the RV.     We'll go back next week and start packing up and more slowly make our way home.

Colorado has seen massive amounts of snow this year.     We watched the forecast closely, studied the CDOT road updates and decided that Sunday was the best day to navigate the high pass above Telluride.    There had been some avalanches and mitigation of known slide areas so we hoped the delays and warnings would be over.      It was a beautiful drive.     That sign says 'avalanche area'.

We'll enjoy fresh snow (coming down now) from our windows before we head out once again for more adventures.....someone is turning 16 soon.