Camping in Style

Wow! Summer is here again.  It has been hot lately.  We did have a couple of wonderful rains last week. It really poured and felt so great.  I just need to record our most special weekend.  July 7th we (Collett's, Vanny's, Wendy and I) Went camping like rich folks do it.  Carl Ray fibbed and told us he has reserved a couple of cabins at Trapper's Lake and we didn't have to take camping things...just food and clothes and water?  Brent Brady runs his Uncle's Elk ranch at Hamilton, CO.  That is between Craig and Meeker near the Thornburg place that Grandma Vena sold.  Cheril Brady works for Carl Ray in the Steamboat shop and they were to do a BBQ for us on the way to Trapper's (we thought). Well, we stopped at their place and they took us up the mountain to this three story Lodge that their hunters stay at $350 a person a day.  It is just amazingly beautiful on the top of a hill overlooking a small lake and surrounded with pines, quakies and flowers.  We oood and awed as they showed it to us and low and behold!!! We stayed there. Brent insisted that we have full run of everything. Cheril fed us royally....Steaks, Twice baked potatoes, salad and Cheesecake as if we were paying people!  It was so neat.  Gay and Wanda have the pictures to prove it.  I forgot my camera. We just did whatever we felt like doing.  Sleeping, TV, reading, walking, boating, for two days we pretended we were rich people.  It was great.  Then we went on over the mountain where the flowers and scenery was  unbelievable. I have never seen flowers so thick and beautiful before. We must have picked the perfect time. We passed Vaughn Lake where we used to camp some times on over to the Trappers area.  What a Shock!! We had forgotten the fire a few years ago. It burned all the mountains bare.  We couldn't even stand to have our lunch there.  The cabins were spared and a part of the campground, but mostly just dead and bare. Even Himes Peak where we always camped was bare.  We went on toward Meeker and ate on the White River and on home. We had to stop at Meeker for Ice Cream though, where we always stopped when we camped  through the years.  So many memories.