Wow, That was Fast and Furious

On Memorial Day Weekend, Chappy and I flew to GA for the wedding of my Cousin, John and newest cousinette, Laura.  Chappy was blessed with the opportunity to officiate over the ceremony and I was blessed to see family I haven't seen a few years.  (And my cousins, Tez and Matt, with a wonderful blessing due in a few months!  Squee!)


I thoroughly enjoyed the hot humid weather and all the green.  Chappy on the other hand was annoyed by the trees-- they got in the way of seeing everything, LOL! 


After  we returned home we set our mind to trying to finalize how to celebrate Ashleigh's 18th birthday; we'd spent a whole year trying to think of something unique and memorable, but found it so difficult.  Ashleigh has such an eclectic and diverse set of interests that we would choose an idea and discard.  And when we calculated in the problems with the house in SC we've been having, we found ourselves stuck for workable ideas.  However, after conversations with Ash we found she really had fond memories of the rafting trip she, her dad and brother had taken on the Columbia River while in WA .  So the plan morphed into a workable deal.  We'd go to CO for the week and each day we'd surprise her with an activity, all leading up to the big birthday fun.


So on Sunday night we made the decision, by Monday night we'd ridden our motorcycles and driven twelve hours to Chappy's mom's home in CO. Chappy and I each road our hogs (our first long trip) and Ash was the trail car with all four boys and Snaps in tow.  


Tuesday, we took her to an old west town, Cripple Creek, and then to the Flying W ranch.  That was so much fun!  Chappy's sister and nieces joined us for the Cripple Creek run (we got ol'timey photos taken with the whole gang) and then we went our separate ways.  The Flying W is a chuckwagon dinner and music show.  The food was pretty good and entertainment had us tapping along and laughing.  A great first day on the week long celebration.


Wednesday was a museum day.  We had ten local museums that Ash could choose from and we'd fit as many in as we could in the time allotted.  First she chose the Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs.  That place was phenomenal!  It is now on my wish list (I know, not likely since it is a registered historic building and is owned by some non-profit, but it did rock!).  After this she chose the John May's Tropical Insect Museum (a bone to throw to her littler brothers).  It was still pretty cool.  John had issues with the spiders, but I think he still found some joy in it.  Those were the only two we could fit in as we were due back to Chappy's mom's house for dinner with his sister's family and mother's family.


Thursday turned out to be a free day for us because Ashleigh had wanted to spend time with a close friend and so spent the day with him and her brothers and cousins.  Chappy and I took the motorcycles on a site seeing tour-- which resulted in a mishap, but pretty amusing story.  Chappy and I managed to make it to our nieces art and music show at a local coffee shop and were amazed at the quality of work from both girls.  There we saw his dad too.  Afterward, Chappy and I went to the CVMA Nationals to see if our local guys had made it safe and sound.  They did. We hung around for a while then returned to his mother's for a good night sleep.


FRIDAY!  Happy 18th Birthday to Ashleigh!  We woke and drove to Noah's Ark in Buena Vista, CO for a white water rafting trip to be followed by a soak in the nearby hot springs at Mt Princeton.  The water was COLD on the river!  but we had a good time.  And the soak afterward was so appreciated, LOL!


Saturday we were to meet my dad at the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, but there ended up being a change of plans. So we did a half day at the festival and then rode our motorcycles and drove up to Evergreen, CO to spend the rest of the day and night with my dad.  Apparently, I never told my dad we had brought the motorcycles, because he was surprised and thrilled to see us ride into the driveway on our bikes with Ashleigh leading the way in the car.  We met his new puppy and saw dear friends, talked and ate BBQ.


Sunday.  Wow.  Sunday was a fourteen hour day for us because my dad's place is almost two hours north of Chappy's mom's and we had also had to take a detour because the winds on I-25 were supposed to be like 50mph.  The new route was only a little better.  We were hammered for all fourteen hours.  We arrived home at about 11:30pm battered, sore, and exhausted.  And to top it off,   Ashleigh had to be at the airport in about four and half hours to fly to WA (a plane ticket we had already bought before the impromptu trip to CO).


More to come....