Mt. Princeton Hot Springs

While on our recent visit to Buena Vista we stopped by for a couple of hours at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs.  I had no idea it was as nice as it was and our friends said it has been improved over the years.  We relaxed in the river pools and I even fell asleep.  It would be a great wedding venue or a great place for a family get together.

St. Elmo

We've been in Buena Vista for a couple of days and explored some places we hadn't been to before.  We tried out the golf course one morning and the last day we went to St. Elmo's and the hot springs.  St. Elmo is a ghost town and is  on the National Historical Register.  It is one of the best preserved ghost towns from the pioneer era.  People settled there for gold and silver mining.  There isn't much there now but it was interesting to see.  In the 1800's about 2000 people lived there but were driven out by a couple of forest fires.  Hummingbirds and chipmunks were everywhere.  The drive up there was beautiful and I'd like to go back and explore some of the hiking trails.  Watch for a future post about the hot springs.

Happy 27th Birthday Tyler Joseph!

Today is Tyler's birthday!  He's 27 years old.  We celebrated his birthday last week at Stella's (oh........so good).  He's in Houston this week for a special project at work and we're wishing him all the best.  He's a great guy and we love him lots!! We know he'll do a great job and we're really proud of him. 

Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma!

Today is Mom/Gma's 88th birthday!!  We hope she has a wonderful upcoming year working on her '89th' year.  Rock is in Ohio spending the month with her.  Today they went out to lunch and the Zender's brought over take out Chinese food and cake for dinner.  She got lots of phone calls and flowers. 

The Bathroom Project

Yes, that's the toilet in the old shower area sitting on a bucket!

We've been thinking for a while that all of our bathrooms need to be redone.  We started demo on our masterbath in June before the forest fires thinking if we ripped it up we would get done.  Well, after 3 attempts at getting an estimate we are finally moving forward.  We (Arn) demoed the whole thing.  We're keeping the vanity and countertop for now.  I think the delay  could be due to increased business for the contractors due to the fires.  Our guys are trying to get it done but right now we are waiting for the tile to arrive.  We are enlarging the shower, adding a rain showerhead which converts to more power with a flick of a switch and putting in a heated floor.  We decided to remove the tub and add a free standing one (didn't realize how expensive tubs are and also the fixtures).  The shower will be a walkin without a door but will have a couple of glass panels.  I'm going for the organic look (flat pebble floor, natural stone deco which will be placed vertically in the corner instead of the usual eye level line around the shower, and natural stone looking porcelain tile). Instead of a built in bench we are going to get a teak shower bench.  Hopefully we will be able to use it before..................Christmas.  I'm planning on granite countertops, new sinks, and a frame around the mirror too but that may have to wait til next year. 

The Old Mission Church

One day while I was in Ohio I stopped by for a look around the old Mission Church.  It's a beautiful little stone church which they open in the summers with guest ministers each Sunday.  I've never attended but it is on my bucket list.  I looked over the list posted in the window and there was even an American Indian speaker on a Sunday which was already past - how cool!  I've always known that there are American Indians buried in the cemetery but I couldn't find any of the gravestones. There were many that couldn't even be read do to the age and damage from the weather and elements.  I also looked for my grandparents stone which I couldn't find either but it was a nice walk thru a bit of history.  My mom is occasionally attending John Stewart Methodist Church in town since our little country church closed it's doors this past March.  We also recently found out that there have been breakins at the church.  The robbers even took the doors off of the mausoleum for the metal.  A distant cousin's remains are in the mausoleum (Harrison Smith) who also is the namesake of the community park.

There's a bear in the forest..................

When Meredith was a toddler she would sing this song over and over.  There's a bear in the forest........
Yesterday while I was playing golf a very healthy bear ran thru a gully beside our tee and up onto the previous green we had just played.  We all ran toward the bear trying to get a good picture.  It was fluffy and beautiful!

Random thoughts on my hometown..............

I had a good time recently in and around Upper Sandusky and Sycamore Ohio while spending time with my mom.  Everything is so green there and wide open.  Upper Sandusky seems to be on the upswing.  I noticed signs for the Fireman's Fest, a Shawshank Redemption Fest (it was filmed there in the courthouse, a lumber company, and the Mansfield Reformatory and my mom's favorite movie), and various 'runs'.  I even heard one of the towns got a 'brewery'.
Random findings..............
Two 'dairy snack shacks' can be within one block of each other and do well - I ordered a small cone and it was huge for 2 bucks.
Eating at the hospital wasn't all bad.  The food was pretty good and scrambled eggs with cheese and 2 slices of bacon was $1.65
I ordered one take out meal of 'all you can eat broasted chix and fish with potato wedges, cole slaw, 2 orders of bread pudding from the Corner Inn and it was $15.99 and we had enough food for a family for several days.
Upper finally got a real coffee shop which was doing very well and was quite good.
Mowing is a hobby in the midwest.

You can't beat a homegrown tomato.
You can still burn your trash on 'the back hill' but will get swarmed by mosquitos.
Lightning bugs are very cool - my neighbor in Co. says we have them too but I've never seen them.
One of the docs at the hospital is a wonderful watercolor artist - I need to find out if he sells his work.
Prices are cheaper..........slab bacon was $3.69 a pound (we pay $4.99) and it's better quality so I brought back 15 lb. (freeze, wrap in newspaper, nonstop flight)
The little market in Sycamore sells great breaded pork cutlets (brought back 3 pks)
Pickled eggs can be purchased in the deli grocery store - most people don't even know what they are.
Weeds abound..........I must have had 6 wheelbarrow loads from my mom's flowerbeds.
Everybody refers to where they live by the county road number.
The recycling center is run by the county and is very awesome compared to Co.  But across the road is a mountain (made of trash) that I feel is contaminating the ground water.  Unmarked trucks (from other states?) seem to show up occasionally.
I wanted to try the local theatre production of South Pacific but never made it. 

And one of the weirdest things..................one of the local doctors (obgyn) drives around on his lunch break and after work shooting groundhogs.  He stopped by mom's house one day and asked permission (he got into trouble one time for not asking). Everybody agrees it is a service and they let him do it.

Grandma's OK!

I've spent the last couple of weeks in Ohio with my mom.  She's had a couple of falls in the last few months when she just blacks out.  She broke a couple of ribs with the second fall and spent most of July in a rehab facility.  From there she moved to an assisted living apt. for about a week just to try it out for a possible future need.  It was determined that she needed a pacemaker and I arrived home on July 25th.  We were having a great time and planning lots of things to do in the next two weeks when she fell again two days after I got there.  Luckily she didn't break anything but she did get a gash on the back of her head.  The doctor decided to do the pacemaker a day early after two incidences of her pulse rate dropping to 30.  After the procedure she went into a 'swing bed' situation which is basically getting rehab in the hospital for a couple of weeks.  She is to be discharged on  Aug. 12th and Andy will spend a week with her and then Rock will spend a month with her.  Hopefully things will get back to normal.  She still hopes to travel to Ga. for Thanksgiving and spend the winter with us here in Colorado.  She will be turning 88 on Aug. 25th.  It was a scary time but all went well.  Wyandot Memorial Hospital is a 25 bed rural hospital and the care she has been receiving has been wonderful.