Thread Sketched

Sam came by while we were camping at Anthony Chabot Regional Park near Oakland, CA. He prepared dinner, or was it desert, this evening.

The S. S. Palo Alto is an old cement ship lodged at the end of Seacliff State Beach fishing pier in Aptos, California. The ship was built in 1919, sank in 1932, and has an interesting history which unfortunately I have pretty much forgotten. I took a lot of photos which I apparently promptly deleted. This photo is the only one that survived. Thanks to Diane.

A day for chores. While I was getting the truck serviced at the local Ford dealership in Watsonville, CA, Diane was doing laundry. As I drove back to the laundromat to pick up Diane, I just had to snap this photo.  Laundry Day

Check out the video of turkeys flying/gliding over our campsite at Coyote Lake Campground in Gilroy, California this morning. They remind me of the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz CLICK FOR VIDEO  

We had to time our travel through these mountain passes just right. Still not comfortable figuring out all of the chain law requirements. There had been snow and ice days earlier, but we were fortunate to get several consecutive days of dry weather and roads and drove through while chains were not required. Beautiful scenery through Wolf Creek Pass on our way to Durango, Colorado. 

We like to camp in the less traveled areas (National Forests, Bureau of Land Management, etc.) when possible. A part of our sight seeing in any given area is to scout out potential campsites that I have researched online. I had high hopes for this one called Rampart Road, but there were areas of the road that were four wheel and high clearance vehicles only. Our low clearance Airstream is a definite no!   Photo does not do justice to road condition!

Had to change up the route just a bit due to snow and ice in mountains of Colorado. Interstate 70 west of Denver was getting heavy snow and ice with chain laws in effect. We decided it would be best to back track south, and then head west. We went back to San Luis Lakes Campground for one night. This place also got snow while we were in Littleton, but not enough to make for hazardous travel. We could tell that there was more snow on the mountain tops in the distance than when we were here ten days ago. 

We took a walk on the beach at Moss Landing State Beach. Along the way we saw a bunch of seals sunning themselves at the marina.

Chatfield State Park, Littleton CO Chatfield State Park, Littleton, CO Hand built cabin by early settlers / Chatfield State Park Our campsite / Chatfield State Park, Littleton, CO Denver, CO Denver, CO / Union Station Denver, CO / Looking down 16th Street "Mall" 16th St. "Mall" / same view as photo above using  zoom feature

This is home. Kind of cozy, huh?

When we travel to quilt shows, my truck's tailgate becomes my sewing/embroidery studio. Click this link  Tailgate Sewing Studio   to view one of my YouTube channel videos. My YouTube channel is called "Thread Sketched" and is used to demonstrate some of the techniques we enjoy demonstrating at fiber and quilt shows. Feel free to click on the little red "Subscribe" button which is located in the lower right corner of the video.

I am an early riser. I enjoy watching the sun rise. The first seven photos were taken at the San Luis Lakes Wildlife Area, Mosca Campground in Colorado. The last three were taken from our campground at Chatfield State Park in Littleton, CO.

I thought this park was going to be one of those "too good to be true" stories, but wow, it is true! Once you purchase an annual Colorado State Wildlife Pass, currently $36, you can stay up to 14 days with no further fees. Electricity is provided, and there is a dump station, but no water. Our stay basically cost us a little over $2 per day. We will probably stay another 14 days on the way back to Georgia, so that stay will truly be free. The park is located about 15 miles from the Great Sand Dunes National Park. You can see the dunes in the distance from our campsite. The closest town is Mosca. The closest town with a variety of services is Alamosa. It used to be a State Park but apparently Colorado was unable to keep it going so it became a State Wildlife Refuge. First come first served camping. They turned off water access, but will leave electricity going for a while longer. Cell phone reception is hit or miss.  View from the park Sand dunes barely visible

Visited the Great Sand Dunes Park in October at 7:00am as the sun was rising and climbed the dunes. This photo was taken outside the park. You can see the dunes in front of the mountains.

We visited Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs on two consecutive days (Oct. 9, 10). It was crowded when we 1st visited, so we decided to get up early to beat the crowds on the next day. We did not expect the snow, but enjoyed the unique landscape it created.