2015.08.17 Visiting Jim & Candice Ferguson Family

My nephew Jim Ferguson and his family live in Denver.  His wife Candice came to pick me up from Lynne and Rene's to spend the night. Candice grilled a salmon and we had a salad from the garden veggies. Here are the kids in the back yard.

Candice with the salmon andgrilled zucchini.

Jim took time out to play Cribbage with me and Teagan....a family tradition from my father.  This set him behind in his basement project.......Candice made a really yummy dessert-frozen, crushed watermelon, with diet sprite and a scoop of ice cream on the top.

Jim and Candice were in the middle of a big basement project. They had water in their basement from a leaking kitchen pipe so after that was fixed they were in the process of finishing the basement and trying to get finished for the dry wall and electrical inspectors to come the next day. They were up until 3 in the morning and up at it early the next morning and at it again!

I was impressed with Jim's tools and skills. I asked if he learned them from his dad and he said, no, from a book!

Candice was measuring for some cabinets. There will be an extra bedroom, family room, and kitchen area in their finished basement space.

I got to help with some electrical the next day. I learned how to strip the ends so Candice could do the next step.Thanks for letting me stay and to Teagan for letting me use her room!

I caught the light rail to Amtrak station and got home bright and early on the 19th - -Rick picked me up and I got a few hours of sleep before heading to work--definately the end of my vacation!

2015.08.17 Adios to Cabin, Hello Trail Ridge Road, Estes, Denver

After a good night's sleep--rain again--we got up early to clean the cabin and pack out by the 10:00 am deadline. The illegal wildflower bouquet we had enjoyed had to go, too. This was Peter's 50th birthday - also the birthday of my mom, 95 if she were alive.

Porch cleaned off, bikes put away.

Lynne and Rene drove the Chinook and Joan, Peter, Thea and I rode in the van around the Trail Ridge Road around Rocky Mountain National Park to the Alpine visitor's center at 11,000+ feet.  The pines on the western side have a pine beetle that is killing the trees so there is a lot of dry/dead timber just waiting for a fire. Here  are some views:

Looking back from near the Alpine Visitor's Center above the tree line:

Moving from the woods to the tundra. Some walked up even higher!

Joanne, Lynne, Thea, Peter, Rene at the Alpine Visitor's Center; there was a beautiful view behind us!

The Chinook with Long's Peak ahead.

Our lunch place outside of Estes - -tater tots and pie the specialities. Joan in white and Rene in the photo:

We made it to Lynne and  Rene's in Denver--lots of slow moving Sunday traffic. Everyone was going out to supper but I had another family adventure in store with my nephew's family.

2015.08.16 Last Day, Lake Walk, Left Over Feast

Next day (Sunday) people started leaving-Diane and Clay really early, Lucy, Leslie and Jim, Betsy, Gene, Sam and Leana which left a nice queen bed in a loft for me to sleep in.

But before bedtime, a walk around the lake...Thea, Peter, Lynne, Rene. There were some nice homes, most had cut down the dead trees around them.

Panorama view of the lake our cabin was near.

For supper we looked through the fridge and Peter and Thea came up with enough ingredients to make some good Mexican food. Petter ran out of olive oil but made due with spray oil.  First fry, then flip, then sauce and layer on the left overs: onions, olives, garlic, avacado.....and top with plain Greek yogurt. They really hit the spot!

Oh, and the beans! Rene helps heat them up!

2015.08.15 Fish, Spaghetti & Cards Against Humanity

After our Rocky Mountin Hike we came back to the cabin. While visiting on the front porch Joan said she just saw an eagle fly overhead. About 5 minutes later, Gene, who had been fishing at the pond, came back with a trout and told us a fantastic story.  He said and  eagle had caught the trout -was in air and attacked by a hawk, it dropped the trout to the ground.  He picked it up and brought it back to the cabin grill as an appetizer:

Clay and Diane and maybe some other people-I stayed out of the way until cleanup- made a wonderful spaghetti dinner for us to share:

Supper was followed by team play of "Cards Against Humanity." Kudos to everyone for participating! Clay and Diane Williams and Lucy Zivkovich.

Jim and Leslie Graham (Lucy's daughter).

Thea and Peter Buchanan (Joan's son).

Rene & Lynne Glaske:

Joan Billich, my partner.  Her daughter Betsy Buchanan and Gene.

Leana Smith and Sam Steele.

We ended the night fairly early because people were going to be leaving the next day to head back home, but it was a really fun day! Thanks for letting me participate!

2015.08.15 Rocky Mountain National Park Hike

Peter Buchanan, Joan's son, organized a shortish and doable hike in Rocky Mountain National Park, just a hop-skip and a jump from the cabin. The park is 100 years old this year.  We took two vehicles - the Prius held 7 adults thanks to Sam fitting in the trunk and Betsy sitting on Gene's lap! We  took the Green Mountain Trail up to the Big Meadows.

Here we are going up with Diane Williams and Mark Zivkovich at the end of our group:

Leslie Zivkovich Graham steps into the meadows--there is a mountain stream running through the meadow. Leslie and her husband Jim Graham live in Wickliffe, OH - and her mother, Lucy, lives with them when she isn't wintering elsewhere.

Clay Williams says he'll pay $10 to the first person who immerses himself in the stream - that was Sam Steele, Betsy Buchanan's son (Joan's grandson).

He was followed by Peter Buchanan and Gene - who almost lost his glasses.

Here on a log over the stream sits Betsy Buchanan and Gene Blanchard with Betsy's daughter Leana Smith behind. Leana will be attending college in Fulton, MO. I hope to connect with her when we go to St. Louis in Oct.

Diane and Clay Williams, below are from Sand Point, Idaho. Notice he isn't drenched but he is lighter by $10.

Diane & Clay brought the Cards Against Humanity game that we would play later.....Clay is the son of Pinky's daughter, Ruth "Ruthie" Owens. Ruthie was musical and played stringed instruments in groups.  Joan showed a slide show from her memorial and she looked like she really enjoyed being a musician.  Clay is a finish carpenter and Diane works for an environmental engineering company and have been married for 27 years. They were both originally from Cleveland and decided they wanted to move to Idaho. They lived off the grid for 8 years!  Clay met Diane in Cleveland through a mutual friend of Leslie Zivkovich Graham-Clay's first cousin (daughter of Lucille). They had driven through Idaho and decided they wanted to live there and moved there from Cleveland.

A group photo of the cousins.

Standing in back - Sam Steele and Leana Smith (children of Betsy Buchanan); Betsy Buchanan, and Thea Zesk (Peter's partner).  Front: Clay Williams, Peter Buchanan, Diane Williams, Gene Blanchard (Betsy's partner).

We almost all made it down -much easier than up-before the rain came-it rained a bit every day.  

2015.08.13 & 14 Colorado Bound for Peter McGinnis Reunion!

Left Thursday night, August 13th, from Omaha headed to Granby, Colorado.  Cousin Lynne Glaeske, youngest daughter of Pinky, had invited us to her McGinnis reunion and I was so thrilled to be able to go!  Pinky (Florence) McGinnis was my mother's older half-sister.  They shared the same dad, Peter McGinnis.  Her sisters Joan and Lucy some of their children and grand children  are going to be there.  Lynne and I connected in about 2001 through Rootsweb when I was looking for my mom's familiy.  My mom was Winifred "Peggy" McGinnis.  She was one of three children born of Peter McGinnis's 2nd marriage to Josephine Decker.  (Winifred, Peter Claude, Alberta Mae "Peaches").  All these relatives were from Peter McGinnis's first marriage to Cora and their daughter Florence "Pinky" McGinnis Bilich Glaske.  Lucy and Joan are Pinky's surviving children from her marriage to Mr. Bilich.  Ruthie and Gene are now deceased. Lynne is her only child from her marriage to Mr. Glaeske.

August 14th--Sunrise in sage brush country in eastern Colorado.  I got a coach seat all to myself so could stretch out.  Had breakfast in the dining car before we got to Denver and saw the sagebrush of eastern Colorado at sunrise. After Peter & Josephine McGinnis family broke apart in the mid 1920s, Mom and her brother, Bud, were taken in and eventually adopted by the Arthur & Pansy Hale Nicolarsen family from outside of Kit Carson, Colorado in south east Colorado---this would have been the kind of landscape mom grew up with - -takes a lot of acres to feed a cow! The little sister, Alberta Mae Gill Johnson ended up in the Houston Area with her mother Josephine "Julia" Ogg.  They are both buried in the Spring Gum, Texas cemetery. Alberta Mae had 4 children.

Denver Station has been newly rennovated and the light rail comes in nearby.

Between Denver and Granby the trip was beautiful with the train hair-pinning its way to higher elevations - -

I was met in Granby by Lynne and husband Rene and Lynne's sister Joan Bilich.  They drove the rest of the way past Lake Granby which is much grander than Grand Lake. The cabin was nearby at the Sun Valley Resort where everyone was staying which was across the road from the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Our Whispering Pines Cabin--accomodated all of us with a few on air beds.

I scored a bottom bunk - - top was held by Leana - and the bed in our room by Peter and Thea.

I met some of the relatives upon arrival, but others were out hiking in the park.  Here are the first cousins at the reunion: We are all grandchildren of Peter McGinnis: Joan Bilich from Exeter, New Hampshire; Lynne Glaeske from Denver; Lucille "Lucy" Zivkovich, from Wickliffe, OH (near Cleveland); and me.

We had fun eating out together at the Stillwater Grill to help celebrate Lynne & Rene's 17th wedding anniversary.  Chef Jean Claude didn't disappoint!