It’s time to continue our National Park visits in the Vistabule.  Our camper has been in a Montana storage unit for nearly a year so we’re excited to pull it out after Labor Day and continue exploring.

At the moment we are in Colorado where we recently completed a house-sit and then visited with family and friends.  Our driving route from Minnesota to Colorado took us through Iowa where we met up with my Aunt Leone.  She was celebrating her 100th birthday and we wanted to join the festivities .

Celebrating 100 years young!

After this memorable birthday visit in Iowa we made a bee-line for Evergreen, Colorado where we had a ten day house-sit arranged through TrustedHousesitters.com.  We chose this particular location as our son and daughter-in-law recently moved to Denver and this provided an opportunity to visit them.  We cared for two easy-going poodles, drove to Mount Evans…the highest paved road in the U.S. and took a quick peek at the renowned Red Rocks amphitheater.

Unexpectedly, I suffered from severe altitude sickness and with our house-sit at over 8,000 feet elevation, I was not feeling well for most of the week.  As soon as we dropped down to 5,000 feet my burning eyes, headaches and nausea subsided.

After the house-sit we met up with our friends Kirk and Teresa Douglas.  Kirk loves to fly fish and after hearing stories of his adventures we convinced him to take Stephen and me out for a day.  We chose to fish the Cache la Poudre river that is stocked with rainbow trout and located outside Fort Collins.  It’s a gorgeous river that flows through a canyon with majestic cliffs and beautiful rock formations.

Cache la Poudre River

St. Peter’s Fly Fish shop in Fort Collins outfitted us with waders, boots and poles before heading up the canyon in search of the perfect fishing spot.

I was excited to catch my first fish as I had dreams of bringing home a cooler of trout for dinner. Kirk gave us some preliminary lessons on the art of casting in the parking lot and then sent us to the river.

Lessons from Kirk

It’s a challenge to navigate steep terrain with clunky boots and a pole but we made it to the river and began our quest.  I practiced casting and prayed that my line would not get stuck in a tree. I discovered that casting is hard work…especially as you try to balance on slippery rocks in the middle of a river with strong rushing currents.

Just don’t fall in the water!

I immediately amended my expectations from fish dinner to simply staying upright and dry.  We fished several spots along the river and marveled at the beauty of our surroundings.

Our casting unfortunately did not produce any nibbles for Stephen and me but Todd (Kirk’s son) was successful in our final fishing spot .  This was an amazing experience and I have a much greater appreciation for the art of fly fishing.  In the end, I did not stay upright but did manage to keep my hook out of the trees.  I also broke the tips of three fishing poles after slamming them in the car door.  Ugh!  

Just a few more days and we’ll be reunited with the Vistabule and on to more adventures.