Weekend in Loveland & Fort Collins

A few weekends ago, Caleb & I headed up to Loveland & Fort Collins to spend some time with my cousin Chris and his wife Laura. We had a great time with them. Laura and Chris cooked an amazing steak dinner for us with some delicious sides the first night we were there. It was an exquisite feast! We also experienced our first Drive-In Movie Theater near Fort Collins. They had an amazing double movie feature going on and you could choose between Snow White & the Hunstman, The Avengers and Madagascar 3 and Men in Black 3. We drove Laura's brother's pick-up truck and piled the back with blankets and pillows to sit on. It was a really neat experience, and of course we brought drinks and snacks as well. We saw the Huntsman which I didn't absolutely love. It was kind of weird. Then the Avengers was our second choice, but unfortunately Laura, Chris, and I all fell asleep during it because it didn't start until after midnight. It was still fun sleeping in the back of a pick-up under the huge sky with all the stars and cool breeze. Loved it!

Saturday we went to "Taste of Fort Collins" in downtown and enjoyed some delicious BBQ sandwiches and walking around looking at different booths. It. was a hot day in the 90s so we cooled off in their pool for a bit in the afternoon. While we were driving during the weekend we noticed huge clouds of smoke over a ridge. It is the High Park fire and it is still not contained and has burned over 75,500 acres. This is the second largest wildfire now in the state and has burned more homes ever in Colorado history. This has been a terrible summer already for wildfires because it is dry with humidity in lows of 5% and winds can get strong here which spreads these fires faster. We are needing some major rainfall right now. 

Today around noon a fire started about 10 miles from us in the mountains. We can see the smoke from our apartment. Colorado Springs isn't in any danger, but many of the towns west of us in the mountains already have evacuation orders. The fire is covering 150 acres and growing. Colorado fireman are working hard this summer to contain each of these. Please pray for protection for them and for wisdom for the people in its path to evacuate their homes. The fire close to us is right in the area where Caleb & I went hiking. It is in the Waldo Canyon. You can read my blog post at the link below to see pictures from our Waldo Canyon hike. These pictures show areas that are being burned now. It is sad to know that the next time we do this hike we will see a lot of burnt areas. http://walkingthroughtheopendoor.blogspot.com/2012/05/maintou-springs-waldo-canyon-trail-hike.html

The firefighters are already working hard to contain this fire so it doesn't spread to more acreage Krista will be here any minute to spend this weekend with us. We are so glad she made the drive from Gunnison and we can't wait to see her.