Raincharm’s Weblog

We started the day (Sunday) in the Eastern Time Zone, and ended in the Mountain Time Zone.
Keeping no particular schedule and changing time zones has made it very difficult to know exactly where we are in a day. When we sat down to dinner (see below), I had no idea what time it really was.

Travel
An airplane full of families was the main implement of travel. Most planes have a few kids, but this plane had a really high percentage. (I believe many of them were from the same church based group. They sang Happy Birthday to one of their members as we were taxiing down the runway to take-off. Not a bad flight, and the van ride to the fun Fort was smooth as well.

Food & Family
The focus of this visit is family (as was the last leg). In this case the Fort Collins Harms.
We had a chance to start catching up, and to eat some really good food.
We received the benefit of a food club meal the prior evening. Ribs, coleslaw and baked beans.

Fire
The fire just west of Ft Collins is of historic proportions. I think the tally of homes lost is at 191.
It is not near the family house, but it can be visible.

Smoke from ribs in the foreground, and the big fire in the background.

Weather
The fire has been assisted by hot dry weather. It was in the 90’s as we got off of the plane, and was over 100 degrees before the evening turned cooler.

We kept saying we needed to bring some of the Seattle rain to Colorado.
Apparently we succeeded at least in part, but next time we need to be more specific.
First we were treated to a spectacular lightning show (which was the cause of said fire).
It was raining (to the ground) when we left to our night-time headquarters. In fact it was raining so hard, including hail, that we waited in the car to leave. Finally got back to the hotel, and hit the sheets.

Softball
Luckily for us we reserved the hotel room a few months ago.
There was some concern that fire-fighters or displaced home-owners could be competing for space.
There may be some in the hotel, but the main contingent is softball players.
Apparently there is some big tournament in town. The Colorado Sparkler.
The teams are from all around the country – and there are about 8 teams staying at this hotel.

This entry was posted on June 25, 2012 at 8:31 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.