Excursion with Grandad

This time, we picked Colorado City.

Our family loves parks, esp State/National Parks, and there was one down in Colorado City called, hey, Lake Colorado City State Park. Surprisingly enough, my FIL and the hubs had both never been there before and so we thought, "why not".

We took the "scenic hilly route" through Nolan and Maryneal, amazed by how many more windmills there were since the last time we were through there.

We didn't go into the park proper, but we drove along the county roads that hugged all around the lake. The lake was down by 10 feet, so it was looking pretty sad in some parts.

Afterwards, we drove around town - it was a quaint town, with many historically marked buildings with some parts of the town on a hill, so it gave me a "streets of san francisco" kind of feeling.

On the way home, we thought we would stop by Sweetwater because the big Annual Rattlesnake Roundup ( and apparently the largest of its kind in the world ) was going on that weekend. It wasn't because we were into rattlesnakes, but it was more out of curiosity. We had heard about it year after year, and I honestly didn't know what to expect, but as we got closer and closer to the Coliseum, there were cars parked along the side of the road from blocks and blocks away, with a huge amount of people in all directions, and an assortment of activities along the way. There was even a fair with games and rides. It had quite the carnival atmosphere going on. Come to find out later that the whole shindig is spread over a bunch of acres with > 30,000 visitors.

"Unimpressed"

We thought better of joining any of the activities and detoured instead to visit one of Walter's friends who lived nearby and had been fellow Iris / Daylily enthusiasts in the heyday of Walter's garden. They now grow the plants commercially and we promised we would be back when they were in full bloom.

Our last "touristy" stop was the National WASP WWII Museum in Sweetwater. The WASP ( Women Airforce Service Pilots ) had just received their Congressional Gold Medals in Washington a few days before, so there was quite the air of excitement in the air.

We stopped by one of the rest areas by the highway for a quick dinner of sandwiches before heading home. I know SOMEONE was glad to stretch his legs after being in a carseat for hours.