Rain and Wind in Colorado

We packed up early and headed for to Lathrop State Park. We were able to get our first choice of spots. There is a Lake in the Park but the campground is not right on it and so no views of the water. However, we won't complain as we have a great view of the snow covered mountains which are lovely.

The sites are spaced nicely and so even though there is someone in the spot across from us, the above picture is what we see from our passenger side windows. .
We spent three days here. Unfortunately the weather has still not been nice to us. We had rain, cold, and winds so bad we had to bring in one of our big slides. At least we had nice views while we hunker down in the MH.
Saturday we took another drive on the Highway of Legends from this end of the road. We wanted to find the Blue Lake we couldn't find previously. We saw the sign and it was the same road we went down our last outing. We had stopped just short of the entrance. However, when we got to the gate it was closed. Bummer, we weren't even able to check it out. There is a campground there and we would have liked to see it for a future trip. Right near the entrance was a pull out area with a nice stream and a little snow. We hung out there for a short while.

Below are a couple more pictures of our drive and then a few more from the campground and the lake.
We want to come back to this area again when it will hopefully be warmer. We would come to both of these State Park. Besides kayaking there are also some nice hiking and biking trails we would like to explire.

Our Back Yard

Sunday, of course, found us in front of the TV as we watched our Ducks win the first game against the Chicago Blackhawks 4 to 1. GO Ducks.
Monday we continued north to our last Colorado spot. We had read in several blogs about Cherry Creek State Park being a good place to stay. It is in Aurora which is a suburb of Denver and so a great spot to stay if you want to explore Denver.  We had made a reservation for 3 nights. It wasn't full but it seems most of the spots were taken even though it is the middle of the week and weather is still cold. The Park is actually right in town. There is a shopping area right across the street from the park. However, there is enough of a drive through the park to the campground area that you feel like you are away from the city. It reminds me of Catalina State Park in Tucson. We have a nice spot with lots of trees and green grass that Savannah loves.

There was actually a group of deer but I didn't get my camera out in time to get a picture of all of them. Weather has continued to be cold. We did go into Denver as we need to go to a B of A to do some banking. It is the last state we are going to be in on our way to Alaska that has one. We were going to go to a Vietnamese restaurant right in Denver but we were running late and the lunch hour would be over by the time we got there. One of the reasons was finding the B of A. There is a bank and a few blocks away an ATM only in a Department Store. As we missed a turn, the GPS wanted us to turn right when we were in the left lane and being in the middle of the city with lots of traffic, we couldn't do. It kept switching directions between the ATM and Bank. Joe stopped and put in the actual address and we finally found it. Then we had to circle the block a few times to find a parking spot. Yikes. Anyway, we do our banking and decided to go to another Vietnamese restaurant Joe had read about online. It was in the nearby city of Centennial. Pho 95 is a noodle house and also has other south Asia dishes. We had three appetizers which were pretty good. We had shriimp egg rolls, spring rols with peanut sauce and shredded pork buns. The buns were a little dry. They would usually be soft if they came right out of the steamer. It seemed like they might have been reheated in the microwave. However, everything was tasty. I put the peanut sauce on everything as I love peanut sauce. We made another stop at Trader Joe's as it will be the last one we see for awhile. I didn't buy as much as usual. Too full from lunch I guess.
Again we are by a lake but weather still is too cold. They also have nice bike/walk paths. Oh well next time will definitely be in the summer or early fall.
We did watch the second game of the Western Conference Finals. Sadly the Ducks lost. What a game though. It went to 3 overtimes, 5 hours of playtime. Both teams did great, especially the goal tenders.
The Ducks hit the goal post at least three times but the pucks didn't go in. It was just luck who would get it in and unfortunately it was Chicago. Both this series and the Eastern Conference Final series are gong to be close I think. We might even see one or both go to 7 games to decide the outcome.
Our next stop is Guernsey State Park in Wyoming. Stay tuned.