August 24, 2022 Golf! And Welcome back electricity!

 

August 24, 2022  FORE!

There are lots of canines here.  I kind of stay hidden but one really liked me and I had to stare it down.  I know I am attractive, but no canines, please.

It is warm here during the day.  Actually, it may only be 70 but feels a lot warmer.  We opened the windows in Hannah and it stayed comfortable… that is till about 4 am.  It is 44 degrees out… and about 5 windows are opened.  I close a few and went to sleep.  When I woke, I closed the rest and turned on the heat.  We will do a bit better tonite.  And oh how I love having electricity again… 

There really isn’t much to walk around here.  There is a river in the campground but no trails.  I could walk on the highway, but that’s no fun.  So walking around the campground will have to do.  Besides, today we are playing golf, and I will walk the course.

Steamboat Golf Club is a 9 hole course.  Perfect for us since Spouse hasn’t played since he hurt his back last year.  It is a very nice course with lots of challenges.  I have rust and cobwebs on me.  Spouse is actually hitting the ball pretty good.  The course is in great condition.  

There are sculptures here and there with cute characters.  One had a moose that was obviously watching me play.

One of them was of a couple of eagles, and in between them, a live marmot was resting.  Oh they are cute. 

There were lots in this area, obviously not scared of the eagles!  Whenever you play a new course, you don’t know the ins and outs.  This was the case for us.  Oh, there is a hazard there?  Oops…  I only lost one ball… Spouse lost a few. But it was sunny and beautiful and fun to be out there.  My score wasn’t horrible (52) and I can’t figure out why it wasn’t worse.  I had to make sure I counted all the holes, and I did, so I guess it must be true.  But it wasn’t pretty…

Afterward, we decided to head up to the Pearl Lake State Park.  It is about 25 miles up Elk road… a two line road with gorgeous rolling hills with a ranch here and there.  Some of the hay has been mowed and rolled leaving things looking nice and clean.  The mountains in the background are rugged with trees.  There are puffy clouds and hardly anybody is back here.  It only gets more beautiful when the aspens and pines appear in swaths along the mountains. 

The lake is about two miles up a dirt road.  It is an alpine lake surrounded by pines on 3 sides, and mountains and meadows on one side.  The campground is geared towards tenters, but the sites have good parking for RVs, just no hookups.  At first we were impressed by a lot of the views in the lower campground.  Then we went to the upper campground… oh my!  These are KILLER views!  Reservations are required, but there is a pay station at the entry and it looks like you can get your site right there.  A Colorado park pass is required, but it sounds like you could add that to your daily fee.

Just up the road 3 miles is Steamboat Lake State Park.  The lake is more in a valley, and more spread out.  There are several campgrounds, and most of the sites are large enough for RVs.  In one of the campgrounds, electricity is provided.  The campground is not as pretty, but there are still some nice views, both of the lake and of the mountains.

This was a nice sidetrip that definitely leaves me wanting to come back.  When we got back to town, we ran a few errands.  The ski mountain is such a presence.  It makes even the dullest of parking lots beautiful!

Tomorrow we head west on 40.  This goes through Indian reservations so not sure about cell service or wi-fi for the next couple of days.  I normally do not post on the same day that I write, but given the big unknown to which we are travelling, I figured I would get this out.