Fun, Friends and Food in Monument, CO

We arrived at Lake of the Rockies campground around 11 AM on Friday, July 1. After being shown the site that we would call home for the next week and connecting all the utilities (electric, water, sewer) Terry and I went grocery shopping at the local Safeway. A little after 1 PM, I called Patty S. and found out she and Matt had arrived safely on the ground and on their way to Monument. We made arrangements to meet them and Joyce and Jerry for dinner at La Casa in bustling downtown Monument. For the remainder of the afternoon, we lazed around the campsite. After ten years of drought that caused the Lake to go dry, this winter produced enough snowfall to fill Monument Lake and Palmer Lake just up stream. They even stocked the lake with trout—and me without my fishing poles :-(

As we sat and watched rig after rig pull into the campground I was glad that we had arrived early. It meant I had a smaller audience to watch me back the trailer into its slot. (Most of the sites are back-in sites, which can get to be a real challenge when cars/trucks are parked everywhere. I purchased two walkie-talkies so Terry can stand at the back of the trailer and tell me how much room I have and whether the trailer needs to go right or left. Extension mirrors help while driving but they don’t extend far enough to help while backing up. When the back of an 18-wheeler has a sign showing the driver’s blind spots—believe it!)

Late in the afternoon, thunder sounded and lightening crackled. For fifteen minutes we had strong, gusty winds and just a little rain. I had forgotten this about Colorado. Like many places warmed by the sun during the day (from down right chilly nights), afternoon thunderstorms are a daily occurrence.

We all eventually arrived at La Casa for dinner. Terry and I were early, as usual, and arranged for seating for six. We were enjoying our first margarita when Joyce, Matt and Patty showed up. They had nearly finished their first drinks when Jerry finally came in. Dinner was superb and the company was grand. We talked and drank and ate and drank and had a wonderful time. We talked about what we have been doing and what we want to do during the next week. Arrangements were made for ballooning on Saturday morning—early Saturday morning. We finally concluded we all needed to get some sleep if we were going to have to get up so early so the party broke up around 8:45 PM.