It is true, time flies when you’re having fun. This summer, we did something different, well different in the sense that we actually decided to travel instead of drowning in DIY home projects like we have done in the past couple of years. We drove at least 2,000 miles [back and forth] out west and visited John’s Grandpa.

The photo above was taken from their front porch after a really nice dinner with Grandma and Grandpa’s best friends. They have the most beautiful view of the sunset over there. Their house sits high up on a hill and it overlooks pretty much all of the city in the front. Out in their back deck you can see the Casper Mountain.

It has been a while since our last visit, so much has changed in the town. It seemed bigger, roads seemed wider… I felt like there was more traffic now than the last time we were there. The town seemed more alive.

This is our tree. We carved it on our last visit in 2009. It took us a good 10 or so minutes to find it and I was so pleased that it was still there and you can still read what the carving said. And we got to see this little guy sitting on a rock as we were cruising up the mountain one day.

This is Grandpa and John. We grilled, cooked and ate a lot on this trip. Well, nobody starves when I am around. 😉

This is Molly [Grandma and Grandpa’s dog]. We have been around her a bunch of times in the past 7 years but she never warmed up to us or anybody for that matter. She just wants Grandpa. End of story.

She did tolerate us in the full week that we were at “her” house. We invaded her space, took her Mommy and Daddy away from her. She growled at us a lot, nipped the back of John’s foot enough times that he was scared of her. By the way, she is a little yorkie-poo. lol

Here are some of the photos I snapped during this trip… These are both from my big camera and my phone.

This is a view of the town on our way down from the Casper Mountain. I was surprised this picture turned out, we were going pretty fast.

Just something from Grandpa’s garage.

Famer’s Market finds… We bought stuff from this local spice vendor, their spice blends are the BOMB!

We didn’t buy from the “jelly and jam lady” because I make my own at home but she did tell me about the berry-like plants that are growing in abundance in the park where the farmer’s market was at, they are currants [photo below]. She saw me and John looking at them and talking about them.

This store was like Christmas, they sold fudge! 🙂 I bought a box of a variety of the flavors that I thought would taste good. And they were all yummy, except John and Grandpa ate most of it when we got back to the house. They did let me get a taste.

This jazz trio was the entertainment at the park. We sat there for a few minutes and listened to them play while we ate.

But, these little stores were what really caught my attention… The artisanal breads and local honey stores! 🙂 I loved the multi-grain loaf I picked up and I still have to open the jar of honey. I am looking for a good excuse to use it in a dessert or meal.

While on this trip, John also got to golf with Grandpa. He has been wanting to do this for years! I was so glad they finally got to hang out and catch up and golf. I had a lot of down time because they golfed pretty much everyday, which I was really thankful for because all I really wanted to do was NOT DO ANYTHING! lol 🙂 I did cook and bake some, which pleased everybody, of course.

This ball was busted on the other side…

This place a.k.a the basement was my hangout. Most of the time, Grandma would come and join me and we would watch movies and fall asleep in our chairs in the afternoons while John and Grandpa were out golfing or doing whatever they were doing… We didn’t really care.

But before we went on our journey out west, we stopped in St Louis and stayed the night there to watch Matchbox Twenty and the Goo Goo Dolls in concert. Of course that whole week temperatures were mellow until the day of the concert, then it was 95 degrees with a heat index of 100. Awesome….. NOT! But we had a good time. We were so glad to be back at the hotel in the air-conditioning by 11 PM.

Photo by: Mynee’s Musings

Photo by: Mynee’s Musings