Last week I took cousins Chris and Dani on the cog train to Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs, CO. Here we are at the summit. It was about 44 degrees at the peak and about 85 when we got back down to Manitou Springs.
Here I am with Vic, our engineer.
Vic let me drive the train back down the mountain!
Ari was our conductor. She did a great job providing interesting information with lots of humor. 
Betty and I are checking out Jim & Pat's new car. In May, we had an accident in Colorado Springs which did enough damage to the 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee that Jim and Pat bought a newer vehicle. The new car is a 2006 Jeep Commander. We were fortunate that no one was injured in the accident. The other driver was at fault, but it still took a lot of time to clear the paper work and purchase another car.
Happy 233rd birthday to the United States.
We recently made a trip from Colorado to Iowa and Minnesota. We picked up Dani and Chris' Great Grandmother (Margaret Goetzinger) in Iowa and drove to the Twin Cities area where Great Uncle Dean took Dani and Chris fishing. They caught a few fish and had a great time in the boat.
Today I got to go to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox baseball game. Pictured at the left are Jim and Pat's grandchildren meeting Sox the Fox, the team's mascot. As part of the Kids' Club, they get to run the bases after the game. Jim and Pat's son-in-law works for Scitor, and the company sponsored a family day at the ball park.
Yesterday I traveled to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The picture at the left was taken from Mather Point on the rim trail. (If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see Phantom Ranch on the Colorado River.) We had a great outing, stopping at the Visitors' Center, walking the rim trail, checking out the train depot, and having a picnic lunch near the canyon rim. We even visited the cemetary. We decided to drive rather than taking the train from Williams so Sami could make the trip, too. She enjoyed the walk and met lots of people on the trail. She didn't even bother the two deer lying in the bushes just off the trail.
I wonder if it is just a coincidence that the "Folies Bergere" show at the Tropicana closed the night before I arrived in Las Vegas. The show had a run of 49 years and I missed it by one day!! One comedian said the show had to close because some of the dancers were 82 years old!
