Lake Vallecito – A Slice of Paradise
View as we left the campground
I have been MIA for ten glorious days, along with my husband and friends from Las Vegas. Unplugged at the 5 Branches Camper Park, best kept secret on the shores of Lake Vallecito in Bayfield, Colorado. It’s near Durango in the San Juan mountains. A great camping destination I highly recommend. They serve a great breakfast on Saturday mornings. There are RV sites as well as wonderful tent sites, if you prefer roughing it. Which I don’t. Video taken from beside our campsite.
During the day, we hiked, kayaked, mountain biked and sat around along with our chow, Mystic, and parrot, Taco watching the humming birds devour our homemade
nectar at the feeder (raw sugar is the secret) Evenings we spent around a crackling campfire staring at the stars (we saw several shooting stars, yep made wishes) and eating s’mors or a slice of dump cake. No internet or very little connection, so the outside world was held at bay, for the most part.
Trail through the campground
I had to resort to writing my work in progress with a pen and notebook. How archaic. But it resulted in several pages I’m very pleased with. Yea! Now back at my computer, I type in the new sections and the creativity continues to flow. That’s a good thing!
Returning to civilization was a shock to the system, I wouldn’t have predicted. On our way back home, in heavy traffic, I might add, we stopped at The Malt Shop in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. The crowd inside seemed stifling, but it could have been the heat. I have to say, the food was delicious and the chocolate shake was out of this world. We got our meal to go and ate lunch in the cool, quiet of our truck.
After temps in the 80’s and a cool breeze off the lake, ninety-five degrees was stupid hot, to coin a phrase a good friend from Las Vegas, Nevada uses when the temperatures rise above 100. Heat rose from the pavement in waves, vehicles and voices seemed louder, all adding to my discomfort. Isn’t it funny how ten days of peace and quiet can make your return to civilization and the hectic life we lead seem almost unbearable. Okay, I am exaggerating, I’m a fiction writer what do you expect, but not embellishing by much.
Taco in her carrier, enjoying breakfast outside
Back home sitting at my computer, I sift through the e-mails numbering in the hundreds (I did address them a couple times while we were in Durango, picking up supplies.); my twitter account blew up, the tweets overwhelming, edits due on my holiday book, and the deadline on my work in progress looms large. Was the ten days off worth it? You betcha! Our dog and parrot loved the vacation too.
Now back to the dump cake. Have you ever had one? They are fantastic and so easy. I’ll have a recipe for a chocolate cherry dump cake in next week’s blog part of The Wild Rose Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop. Did I mention there will be prizes? Don’t miss it. Until then, you can find me chained to my computer in an attempt to catch up. Have a great week!
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Posted in Camping, My Say What Blog, Uncategorized and tagged boating, campimg, kayaking, Lake Vallecito, relax, vacation by Tena Stetler with 3 comments.
It’s Party Time!
This year has been a blast so far. After mega hours at the computer and too many phone redials to count, finally got most our camping reservations for spring and summer set. Still missing the elusive Rocky Mountain National reservations, but I’ll get ’em. Love that place and apparently so do thousands of others from around the world! I’ll be blogging about new camping spots we found in the next couple of months.
I am celebrating with The Romance Reviews, they have more than 300 participating authors and publishers, and more than 300 prizes up for grabs during the whole month of February. Grand prize is $200 Amazon Gift Certificate! Plus over $300 Gift Certificates and more than 300 book giveaways! What are you waiting for, get over there. You are not going to want to miss this!
Charm Me will be featured on the center of the The Romance Reviews Party Event Page from February 8-12th
with a chance to win an ebook for the right answer to a question about Charm Me appearing on February 18th.
You’ll need to register at TRR and log in before you play the games for prizes, to keep track of your points for each game. Registration is free an easy.
Here it is February 1st, huge fluffy white snow flakes are falling, there’s six inches of wet white stuff on the ground and counting. No can’t be measured in feet… yet. We’ll be able to use our snowblower for the fourth time this year. Bought it three years ago, used it only once until this year. Little did I know that’s how to moderate the snow in Colorado. Got snowblower, no snow. Kinda like washing your car in the summertime, it’s guaranteed to rain. LOL Remember camping season is right around the corner! Ok, maybe a long, long corner. Stay warm and safe.
12 inches and still snowing!
No she is not laying down, standing in several inches of snow and loving it!
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Posted in For Fun, My Say What Blog, Uncategorized by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
Rocky Mountain National Park in the Winter
Just inside RMNP Gate
Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most visited National Parks in America! We have always spent at least a couple weekends up there camping each summer and fall, but never visited during the winter. This was about to change. On my birthday weekend, my hubby decided to surprise me with a short road trip to RMNP, it’s one of my favorite places in the whole world. We packed up the parrot, dog and ourselves and headed to the high country, brought along a wonderful lunch of raspberry iced tea, turkey sandwiches, Fritos, pretzels and red velvet cake. The views, the wild life, the park rangers and visitors alike are wonderful. The snow was less than we expected, but beautiful all the same. Rocky Mountain National Park majestically rises above Estes Park, Colorado. Last year RMNP celebrated its 100th Anniversary 1915- 2015. Now lets take a look at some fo the ecosystems in the park.
Frozen Bear Lake
Montane below 9,000 feet ecosystem is the park’s gateway whether you enter from Grand Lake, Estes Park or Wild Basin. On warm south facing slopes the ponderosa pines greet you with their sweet fragrance. A sunlight-dappled forest boasts trees up to 150 feet tall, and is home to the tassel-eared Abert’s squirrel. Otters and Beavers work and play in the montane streams. Elk are abundant throughout the park with an occasional moose, bear and other wildlife tripping through.
Sub-alpine 9,000 to 11,400 feet, snow that falls in the alpine zone whooshes down to the sub-alpine areas creating a wet ecosystem with over 30 inches of precipitation yearly. The trees here are sharp-tipped pungent Engelmann spruce and flat-needled fir trees that tower 100 feet toward the sky. The forest floor is covered with shrubs like wax currant, huckleberry, blueberry and Wood’s rose. Flora consists of Arnica, twinflower, purple elephant’s head and fairy slipper. But are just brown branches during the winter. I always loved the name fairy slipper, brought to mind colorful winged creature’s flitting among the wildflowers. In the winter, they’d have froze wings. Not good!
Near Moraine Campground
Alpine above 11, 400 feet, thin soil, strong ultraviolet light, buffeting winds and bitter cold define life on the tundra. Plants that survive here hug the ground in dense mats, preserving moisture with waxen leaf surfaces or trap warmth with hairs against stems and leaves. Wildlife in this harsh environment adapt or die. Marmots store fat and draw upon their reserves as they hibernate. During the summer, Big Horn Sheep graze
Ptarmigan
here, but are long gone by late fall. One resilient bird stays all winter in the alpine zone. Warmed by feathered eyelids,nostrils, legs and feet, the ptarmigan calls the Alpine zone home year around.
Near Bear Lake Road
There you have a little info about the park and it’s ecosystem. Rocky Mountain National Park has something to offer its visitors whether it’s Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. Come explore!
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Posted in My Say What Blog, Uncategorized by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
Orchids – Failure Is Not An Option!
I know this is a little off topic for me, blogging about flowers, let alone Orchids. However, I am so excited about my recent break through, I hope you’ll bear with me.
For years and years I have tried to grow Orchids. Bought the special soil to plant them in, watered them faithfully, sat them in direct sun, indirect sun, shade, artificial light. You name it, I tried it. Each effort met with terrible failure, resulting in a dead orchid and disappointment. I felt terrible. I was an Orchid killer, and I hated it. 
My h
ouse is filled with beautiful plants, from purple African Violets, to White, Red and Pink Christmas Cactus, Palms, you name it, I‘ve got it. Well…pretty much, no Venus Fly Traps or plants from outer space i.e. Little Shop of Horrors. LOL.
Last Mother’s Day, my hubby bought me this beautiful, huge blue Orchid. It was infused with blue, so if and when I ever got it to grow again, it would bloom white, which was fine with me. If it would just bloom. Heck, I’d be happy if it would survive.
The Orchid came with a little instruction card of care and feeding, listing an exact watering schedule and food. So I carefully sat it on the kitchen table in a window that got direct sun during the morning, per instructions. I watered once a week, submerging the entire pot in water for 5 minutes. I used a timer. Wasn’t taking any chances. Took it out and let it drain for a few minutes, Orchids don’t like their little feeties wet. Fertilized with a balance mix (20-10-20) Believe me, that mix was hard to find. I finally resorted to looking it up on Amazon and ordering it there. No store locally had that particular mix. I was bound determined to do everything within my power to urge my orchid to live. After the last blue flower expired, I cut the spike one-half inch above the node from which the first bloom appeared. The directions said a new 
spike would branch off within weeks.
Low and behold, a few weeks later, first one then two and three new leaves grew on the plant, no sign of blooms. Yet my orchid was thriving. One morning I noticed a small spike on one original branch, then one on the other branch, to my delight a brand new spike grew from the plant itself. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. Now, I am considering asking for another Orchid this May, maybe a Black Sapphire Orchid to join my other one. My Orchid killing days are over and I am celebrating! Won’t you join me. Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.
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Posted in My Say What Blog, Uncategorized by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
