More From Ponderosa!

"The Blind Men" -- Tom Payne and Russ work diligently to repair the day/night shades in Tom and Anne's motor home. Not sure what the Bic lighter had to do with blind repair, but Russ seems to be having a good time getting it to work!



Boys and their toys! A new tractor came to live at The Ponderosa this week. It's a larger model than the one currently in use and has an enclosed cab with A/C, and heat which will be nicer to use during the winter months when the ground is covered with snow. Tom, Mike and Paul were on hand for the delivery.



We took a day off and made a trip with other volunteers, Tom and Anne Payne, to Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park. What beautiful scenery, but it was sad to see that the pine bark beetles have ruined thousands of acres of trees. Ten of Colorado's 25 byways are designated as America's Byways, meaning they are nationally recognized for their outstanding scenic and historic attributes. Only one other state has as many designated byways as Colorado.

"Matters of Life & Death" - Two Firsts for The Ponderosa

There were two family reunions in camp last weekend. We were privileged to join in the festivities as this lady and her family celebrated her 100th birthday.


On a sad note, one of our senior guests was walking from the office lobby to the dining hall for dinner, and collapsed along the path. We received word later in the evening that she had passed away.

The Ponderosa dining hall staff does a great job of preparing and serving our meals. Here, Chef Don Unrein visits with the birthday honoree and some of her family members while "assistant chef" Andrew takes plates to the garbage area for disposal.

Animals of Ponderosa

Abby has a new friend! Our neighbors, Paul and Carol Rawls from Brighton, CO acquired a new pet since we've been here. They went home one evening (about an hour's drive) to mow their lawn, and came back with a schnauzer named Bandit. He is almost exactly the same color and markings as Abby, but not quite as heavy.

New addition to the dining hall is this black bear much like the ones who visit the campground on occasion. Marty Unrein, whose husband is the camp chef, bought it for him shortly after his return from a youth mission trip to South Dakota where he visited Bear Country. The little fellow on the right greets guests as they visit the camp office.

In the Good Old Summertime....YIKES!!!!

While our family and friends in Phoenix are suffering with 115-degree heat, we had an unexpected "cool" experience last night. About midnight, it started raining...and then hailing...and hailed 1 1/2 inch hail until it was 2 inches deep! Thankfully, the only damage we sustained to the motor home was a broken porch light cover. Others had skylights broken out and had to make a quick trip to Camping World (a 30-mile trip one way) to purchase new ones because rain was expected again today.


The hail was still this large after laying on the ground 7 hours!

Not only did we have a white yard, but ground fog this morning. It was not very cold though...again, Russ in his summer attire!

Finally!...Pikes Peak Summit

We were finally successful in our attempt to reach the summit of Pikes Peak. The beauty of the summit inspired Katherine Lee Bates to write the words to America the Beautiful.

When you reach the summit, on a clear day, visitors are greeted by 360-degree vistas of the surrounding countryside, with views of up to four different states. The cog train is an intereting mode of transportation to and from the summit, but we much prefer making the trip in our trusty Jeep.


As usual, Iron Man Russ is dressed in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt while I'm in crop pants with a fleece jacket! On our descent, we got behind a "tourist" biking group called "Bike the Peak". Yeh, we could do that too, especially going down hill!

Fun in the High Country

We've tried twice to get to the summit of Pikes Peak but were turned back each time because of weather conditions. The weather has warmed up considerably and most of the snow is now melted, but we've been too busy to take another stab at it!

The snack bar/gift shop has done a booming business. A couple of weeks ago we made over $1,000 three nights in a row! Hayrides are on the top of the list as far as fun things to do.

It's never too cold to eat ice cream! Serena and Alyssa flew out to spend a few days with us and got to enjoy eating ice cream at the Rock House in nearby Palmer Lake.


Once again we tried to reach the summit of Pikes Peak but the weather turned bad. We came back to the Stagecoach Inn in Manitou Springs and had dinner.

Other activities included climbing in and out of the Jeep...washing tables after meals in the dining hall...

"bobbing for frogs" (as they called it)...and watching movies in the comfy confines of the motor home.

We drove up on Mt. Herman (west of Monument) to the balanced rock area. Serena did a good job holding the rocks in place while we took a picture.





The alpaca farm near The Ponderosa is one of our favorite places to drive by. They are in abundance in this area, and...they don't spit at you like llamas do!

Up until last night, we have not had any bear visits. This morning, all the trash cans in our end of the campground were turned over, so we're going to have to be more cautious when walking around late in the day.

Please continue to pray for us - things have been busy but are going to get busier, especially next week when Colorado Southern Baptist youth converge on us - so far over 360 are registered! That means a lot of candy, drinks, funnel cakes, pretzels, nachos, etc. will pass through the windows of the snack bar!