Settling In

The move to Colorado Springs went smoothly. Our household goods arrived right on time and in good shape - no disasters to report at any rate. Took us 4 days to make the drive from Vancouver, taking our time and basically enjoying the trip. We occupied our new townhouse upon arrival and spent a few nights "camping out" in it before our stuff arrived on October 2nd. After the usual flurry of activity unpacking boxes, getting rid of packing materials, hanging pictures and generally organizing things we settled into life in the new city....exploring the area and generally getting our bearings. It's a beautiful place - we're loving it here so far.

Our first several weeks here have been highlighted by some really beautiful Indian Summer weather - cool, crisp, sunny days that have been ideal for hiking.

Have discovered that Colorado has a terrific State Parks system, with a couple of especially pretty areas very close to us. This is a view of Cheyenne Mountain State Park...with NORAD Headquarters just up the hill.

Another is Mueller State Park located about an hour from our front door up in the mountains to the west of us...at the 10,000 ft level. Have been hiking up there a couple of times already, and are looking forward to trying some snow shoeing later in the season. The Outdoor Rec shop at the AF Academy has rental gear at very cheap prices, and even offers introductory trips for those wanting to ease into the sport. We're planning to try a couple next month.

One of the hiking trails at Cheyenne Mountain takes you up to this overlook above the city.

There was still some snow on the ground up at Mueller from a storm in early October. They offer some snug little rental cabins in the park, too. Might spend a night or two if the weather permits.

Thanks to our landlord, who has season tickets for Air Force football, we've had a chance to attend a couple of games (Notre Dame and Army), sitting in probably the best seats we've ever occupied for a football game...smack on the 40 yard line and about 8 rows up behind the home team's bench. Kickoff for the Army game was 10:30 AM , and the temperature when we arrived at the stadium was about 30 deg., but luckily there was no wind and once the sun found us we were actually pretty snug and warm. Great game too. Altogether a great day out in CSprings.

Our final expenditure for the new place was this dining room set. Took us about a month of researching, and visiting every furniture store within a 20 mile radius, to settle on this one.

After about 6 weeks of some of the prettiest Autumn weather imaginable, winter arrived a couple of days ago when the first storm of the season roared thru, dropping a couple of inches of snow and a nice layer of ice on the local roads. This was the view out our front door yesterday morning.

Looking forward to our first Thanksgiving here later this week. Mike, Jennah and the grand kids will be driving up from ABQ for a few days, and then Kevin will be flying out in December to join all of us here for Christmas.