Sunday Beautiful Sunday

A beautiful late summer day for washing the truck.

 My wonderful hubby.

Suds!

Shining up those tires.  I waxed and buffed while hubby washed the windows and wiped down the interior.

Lookin' good!

Til next time ~ find your joy!
Kelly

Summer Adventures | Grand Lake, Colorado

Part two of our summer adventure up and over Trail Ridge brought us to Grand Lake, Colorado.  It's a wonderful mountain town that sets on a beautiful mountain lake.  Other than the mountains that surround the town, it felt like we were in northern Minnesota.

There was a BBQ festival! 

Grand Ave is the main street through town.

Main street.  It was a hopping place.

We had ice cream.  I had 1/2 scoop of cookie dough and 1/2 scoop mint chocolate chip.  Hubby had a scoop of mocha.  Even on a cooler, rainy day it tasted good.

A stone on the corner telling us of the history of the corner building.  It's now a gift shop packed to the brim with neat stuff.  Many of the shops in Grand Lake were full of art and artsy crafts as opposed to the touristy junk.  Oh, and hubby's foot.

 Hummingbird.

There was a classic boat show as part of the festivities.  The wood boats were gorgeous, the workmanship unbelievable.

The lake is huge as far as Colorado lakes go, and from what we could see part of a chain of lakes.  It was an overcast and rainy day and the picture just doesn't do the beauty of the lake and surrounding mountains justice.

On our way home.

It was a wonderful day.  **contented sigh**

Til next time ~ find your joy!

Kelly

BLTA | Our favorite summer sandwich!

Our favorite summer sandwich right now is the BLTA - bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado - on sour dough (no surprise there).

We made these for lunch this past week.

You start with fresh heirloom tomatoes from the farmers market.  These came from Munson Farms.  They have a permanent stand on 75th and Valmont in Boulder.

A perfectly ripened avocado, sliced.

Fresh sour dough bread.

Thick sliced bacon.

Condiments.  We like Mayo and Smart Balance.

We grill the bread...

and the bacon.

THE ASSEMBLY as demonstrated by Hubby.

Spread mayo on the toasted bread.  Hubby likes just mayo.  I prefer a thin layer of Smart Balance topped with a thin layer of mayo.

A layer of bacon.

Heirloom tomatoes.

Another layer of bacon and tomatoes.  I did a single layer on my sandwich.

A layer of avocado.  Then a layer of romaine lettuce.

Hubby smashed his sandwich while cutting it, so it was not photo worthy, but it was tasty!  You'll have to settle for a shot of my single layer beauty, with my extra tomatoes on the side.

It was delish.

Til next time ~ find your joy!
Kelly

Summer Adventures | Trail Ridge Road | Rocky Mountain National Park

In mid-July hubby and I took a day trip up to Grand Lake, Colorado via Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park all in an effort to escape the never ending heat we've had this summer.

A bit of information about this drive:  Trail Ridge Road is the name for a stretch of U.S. Highway 34 and is the highest continuous paved road in the United States.  Also known as Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow National Scenic Byway, it traverses Rocky Mountain National Park from Estes Park, Colorado in the east to Grand Lake, Colorado in the west.  The road crosses the Continental Divide at Milner Pass (elevation 10,758) and reaches a maximum elevation of 12,183 near Fall River Pass. (Thank you Wikipedia!)

Hubby has never been too keen on driving Trail Ridge.  There is a stretch where there are drop offs on both sides of the road as you approach the highest elevation, but he was willing to give it another go.  (He did fantastic, by the way!)

Heading up to Trail Ridge via Thompson Canyon.

Entering Rocky Mountain National Park.

A mule deer.  This was the best shot I got from our moving vehicle.

Clark's nutcrackers.  Really, that's what they're called.

Clark's nutcracker taking flight.  They really were quite pretty with their midnight blue and white feathers.

Lots of chipmunks.

 Not much snow left.

 Elk.

The sticks along side the road are used as a guide for the snow plow in the spring when they clear the road.  It's closed during the winter and opens in late spring early summer depending on the snow pack.

Be careful not to drive off the edge!  Plays havoc with your equilibrium.

It was 97 degrees and sunny down in Denver on this day.  At the highest elevation, it was 52 degrees and extremely windy and rainy.  We loved it!

Moose in the meadow!  He was gorgeous.

The only large animal we didn't see on this drive through the park was a bear, but I was happy to see what we did see.

Once we passed through the park, we came out the other side in Grand Lake, Colorado.  I'll hit you with those photos in the next post!

Til next time ~ find your joy!
Kelly