Lovell Family Reunion 2008 - Page 1

We arrived at our lodging, Savannah Suites, in Arvada Colorado around 1:30 pm on Friday, August 1. We decided to get a bite to eat, so my sil and I took a walk down the street to a Walgreen to pick up a few things, then across the street from the suites to Popeye's for some chicken and sides. We stopped at a convenience store for some cold drinks on the way back. When checking out the facilities at the suites we ran into a couple other cousins that said there were others at the hosts home so we decided to drive over and visit.
When we got there, everyone had gone. We figured they had gone out to eat because of the hour we arrived.
Below is a shot looking down the end of their road.
Early on Saturday morning we all gathered at the hosts home and caravaned out into the mountains...

...through tunnels...
...to Silver Plume.
Here we got together to ride on a narrow gauge railroad called the Georgetown Loop.
I took many, many pictures, so I've tried to cut it down to just a few...
The train took turns that allowed a view of the cars ahead. You can see in the shot below a picture of one of the cousins taking a picture of us taking pictures of her. I haven't gotten a copy of her picture yet.

Just a shot of mountains ahead.
Here we're approaching a bridge that we're getting ready to cross.
This bridge is a recreation of the actual bridge that was originally here.
Can you see the town in the valley? I think this is Silver Plume.
This one is looking down from the bridge. See the track? A road runs under the bridge also.

This shot is looking back at the bridge as we descend down the side of the mountain.
Here we come back around and travel under the bridge.
Below the engine is put on the the other end of the train and we head back to the Silver Plume depot.
Back over the bridge.
Here's another shot of the town. Can you see it?

On the trip back our tickets get punched.
I took lots of pictures of the streams that we crossed, here's just one of them.
If you click on this one, you can see the engine better. One of the engineers is standing on a step on the side. I'm afraid I'd get vertigo standing out over the edge of the mountain like that.
Here's another cloud shot. What does it look like to you? (cont. below picture)
My friend watching the house while we were gone said the same thing I did initially. It looks like a butterfly. But when I looked at it again, it looks like a "W", which is the friends first initial.

Below is an engine pulling another engine from the engine house to move it to the other side of the engine house.

One of the passenger cars setting on a side track.
Some of the pretty little flowers growing around the depot.
Walking down a side track in front of the depot I came to the end of the track and a pile of rail spikes. Growing next to the rusty spikes were these pretty little daisies.
And the engineer waves goodbye as he heads out with another load of tourists to see the mountains and maybe visit the silver mine.
More Lovell Reunion to come...

On The Road Again

Left to attend another family reunion yesterday. This time it's on my husband's side of the family. Started out poorly with our car not being ready, there was a possibility that we were going to have to rent a vehicle if we were going to go. But Lubber's in Cheney KS pulled through for us and got us on the rode, assured that our car was fit for the journey. Stayed the night in Goodland KS, this is where my mother and her family lived for many years. This is where mom lived when she met my dad.

We stayed at the Motel 6 and for the cost, we were pleased with the accommodations. Our room entrance had a large flatbed sitting in front of it, but that was just a minor inconvenience. That's our room with the door open.

Toto! I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore!

The Colorado sky sent me a message of Love with this lovely cloud heart. It was much better shaped when I first saw it but it took me a moment to grab my camera, and I was driving.

Here's a closer shot,but it started to fall apart even more.
The hubby didn't think it such a good idea that I try to drive and take pictures, so he took the camera and started shooting. Below is a new church that he assures me is "so new, God doesn't even know it's there."
Can you see the mountains starting to show in the horizon? It was a bit hazy, so they were difficult to see.
There's a better view, but still in the haze.
Here it's a bit clearer. Do you see the Denver Sheriff in front of me?
O.K. Now you can see them a lot better. We've reached our exit and not far from our lodging.
Here's a picture of a yellow bug on the roof of a building.
All for today. Not sure how much I'm going to be able to post, the reunion starts tomorrow. May not get anything more up till after it's over.

Seigal Reunion

I am way behind in my posting. I have pictures and things to post about, I just haven't had the time. By the time I get set down I'm yawning so big my eyes go shut and I can't see to read or write. I'll try to get some posts done in the next couple of days.

Last weekend was our Seigal Family Reunion. This is a line on my mother's side. Below is a picture of the Jacob Conrad Seigal Family. Right at the moment I can't tell you which one is my line but his name is William Edward Seigal. Our family has been having these family reunions ever since I can remember and in the '70s they even made it official and formed an organization with bylaws and everything. We haven't kept up with holding official meetings using Robert's Rules, but we do have informal meetings. We hold our reunions every two years.
This reunion was hosted by my mother's first cousin that lives in Kansas so we didn't have all that far to go this time. The reunion was held at their home so first order of business when we arrived was a tour. In the living room was a wonderful collection of clocks and Coors pottery. I had to get the history on the pottery because I didn't know that Coors made pottery. This was something that they did when they couldn't make beer. Quite interesting.
Most of the reunion occurred out back on the deck. Family members slowly started arriving on Friday evening for supper and relaxing conversation.

Looking over the fence on the deck you see a lovely expansive yard. It's about twice the size of my yard but surrounded by trees and bushes making it totally private.
To the right of the picture above is a large open area that family members pitched tents in.
Looking back toward the house from the garden you can see that the deck is over a walkout basement.

In the basement is the host cousin's workshop, he not only collects clocks but is trained in clock repair.
Saturday morning we all gathered back at the house for a great breakfast casserole made in the dutch oven. I'm going to have to check the web for other recipes made in the dutch oven. Sounds like something I could use for this coming 4th of July gathering. Then after breakfast we all formed a convoy and went to an antiques museum.
The main building of the Yesteryear Museum held a display area in half of it and the other half was a kitchen and dining room. While we all toured the facility the hosting family got busy setting things up for grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and fixings and our family meeting.
The main building held just a small sampling of all the old items in the museums holdings. Out back was a huge metal building and going inside you saw that it was packed on two levels.

I took loads of pictures here, but I'm not going to post them now. In the area they called the Print Shop there was old type for presses that I took pictures of so I can use them in graphics creations. There was also a wall of bricks that had different things stamped on them, both words and patterns.
Below is a small portion of a car plate collection. Anita, if you look near the bottom middle of this picture you'll see a "Big Well" plate.
Below is just a picture taken from the second level looking down. You can see half of the car plate collection in the upper right hand corner.
Back in the main building, after our meal, we proceed with planned activities. One thing we always do is have a fund raising raffle. Everyone is to bring items for the raffle then we all buy raffle tickets. This is how we pay for food and renting facilities like Yesteryear. The children had a GREAT time as there were lots of things for them, two tables full of raffle items.

After the raffle we held our regular meeting, the main objective to figure out where the reunion is to be held next year. This has been a problem in recent years with our aging family population. The same cousins graciously volunteered to take it on another time. Back at the house the boys decided to go to the park for a game of disk golf.

At this time I would like to take the opportunity thank our hostesses for all their hard work. They kept us overfeed and happy all weekend and I know we all appreciated all that they did. Here they 're preparing for Saturday evening taco dinner.
The children headed back to the pool and other games. I can't say that heard one single "I'm bored" all weekend and I know that the two grandsons that roomed with us hit their beds hard each night and slept soundly.
Sunday morning we all gathered again on the deck for pancakes and....
...Boyscout omelets. These were made by putting eggs in a Ziploc freezer bag, add whatever ingredients you'd like in your omelet, mush it all up, zip it shut and dip it in boiling water till cooked.

After breakfast family members slowly started heading out to their respective homes. It was a wonderful weekend of visiting, eating, and seeing new sights.