Can you believe she's done this twice?

My Aunt Lamie - actually born Lambertine Younger - aka Pat, Skinny and a couple of other nicknames.  She actually went down the widow trail twice.  The first time in 1974 and the second in 2002. She has 4 kids (3 boys & 1 girl) and 7 grandkids.  Aunt Lamie lived most of her life between California and Sedonia Arizona.  When her husband Kenneth died in 2002 she thought she was coming to Colorado to die but has learned instead to live, laugh & dance as a widow.

On our trip to Kansas we had to search high and low for the ditch my grandparents found her in. You see Aunt Lamie is really tall and she tells us her Mom told her they found her in a basket in some ditch. She wanted to find her birthplace.  Never did find the ditch but did find the farm where they were born.  Well maybe not the whole farm but at least the foundation of the house and the barn.

It's fun to listen to their stories of life during and after the depression. Living through sandstorms that would eventually bring them to Colorado in a 1932 Whippit. Did you know there was even such a car as a Whippit?  We actually googled it! So many more  stories to tell and hear........................

The Party is not over just on hold

My widows are all safe and sound in their own houses once again.  It turned out to be another great trip.  We stayed at the Cambria Suites in Fort Collins.  They are part of the Choice Hotel's.  "The nicest yet." they thought.  Very modern design and of course enough sleeping space for all six of us in one room.  The talking went on until after midnight.  Listening to these ladies talk is always so much fun. And talk they did. Kept telling them "Goodnight". Don't know why they didn't listen to me.

  This hotel offers a breakfast buffet for $9.50.  I was a little concerned because who of us can or should eat a buffet that costs that much.  Scouted there area for alternative ideas for breakfast, but GOD had it under control. It seems the stove broke down the day before so they offered complimentary continental breakfast and amazingly the stove was fixed shortly afterwards.  What a mighty GOD we serve.  He takes care of those little concerns so we can focus on all the blessings he sets before us.  And what a blessing he set before us.  We had such a great visit at the hotel and then off to the Anheuser-Busch tour. 

It was a fun tour and then came the beer samples.  They told us about so many different choices on the tour but when it came to choosing we were all blank. They have a 55 calorie beer not too bad, a blueberry beer - the widows were not too impressed.  I personally liked their lime beer.  Of course we couldn't begin to drink the two complimentary beers.  We would have ended up being really WILD Widows if we had. 

Mexican was on the agenda for lunch and the nice young bartender suggested "Rio's".  Mighty tasty although our waitress was a little disappointed.  She expected some wildness from us.  Think the beer finally settled in and we were all ready for a nap. 

The trip home ended up being a long process.  Our trip planner forgot about Friday evenings on I-25.  Slow going but we were entertained by the reactions of people reading our "Widows gone Wild" sign. People would slow down, speed up, wave, a couple of young guys even took a couple of pictures.  We're famous! But all good things have to come to an end - oh my that's another song.  I think this one was about a wild weed or something.  Maybe not one we will sing on our next trip.  We said goodbye until next time.
 Have you ever been to the the Air Force Academy Chapel?  Sounds like fun to me...............

I thought politics was off base!

We made it to our hotel.  With only 5 "Are we there yet?".  And of course all the trucks we passed.  Our Matriarch Widows takes her job of flashing our "Widows Gone Wild Watch Out!" sign serious.  She didn't miss one!  We were driving down I-25 passed one truck and looked in the rearview mirror and the truck was changing lanes and began speeding up. Hummm maybe honking at truck drivers isn't such a good idea. He flashed his phone number for us. Just kidding.  If he would have those Wild Widows would have run the other way.  Actually he pulled up on the right side and just wanted to read our sign. Whew!

After our most important visit was to McDonalds for our ice cream cone since the widows thought they had been good- being the adults we are we had to eat them first and got pizza for dinner later.  Didn't our Moma's teach us dessert first and  if you have room for anything more, then dinner. Right? Maybe not. 

Politics have always been a touchy subject.  We don't usually approach it.  Being the ornery person I am and knowing our Widows were predominately democrats, we started a coversation about which party is the best.  Republicans right?  Not according to them.  It was four against two.  Conversation went from this to abortion to the Pope and things going on in the Catholic church. It was so amazing how we could have this rather heated discussion each with our own ideas and values, most of the time at complete opposite sides and when it was over we all just sat and laughed.  No hurt feelings. Wouldn't it be nice if everyday was like that?  

Are we ready?

My widows will answer yes to that.  They really don't care where it is, just as long as we go together.  A mont ago we viewed the most beautiful scenery of Ireland (by way of the movie "Leap Year" and the next week we were in Rome (the movie "When in Rome").  We may not be able to board a plane but we enjoy it all the same. The movies take us to far away places but they always keep our feet on the ground.......

Where to go and why

Well I am glad my widows are very open to change.  Change the date. Change the place.  They don't care. You know why?  It's not the destination as much as it is the company.  Kind of like life, right?  You know we talked about the reason we enjoy our trips so much besides the excellent company.  We all share one common denonminator. We are widows.  We all understand.  But most of all we all like to have FUN.  Doesn't take much to make us happy. If you ask my widows the highlight of every trip, they will tell you the small ice cream cones they get from McDonalds if they are good.  They always are. I guess Ft Collins is our next destination.  Most of us have never been to a Budweiser Tour. Sounds like a plan...............

A bug in the plans.

What do you do when you place your trust in a God who watches over us all and you constantly are asking for guidance in all your plans? Especially when those plans include five other widows who just happen to be grandmas, great-grandmas and one soon to be great-great grandma.  Of couse you have to listen to that still small voice right?  Well our plans to go to Grand Junction are in question.  Now first of all the highway is still being repaired. We could work around that but when I got a call from someone who mentioned some bugs who inhabit beds over there might be a problem it's like GOD are you telling us something.  Hummmm, maybe Colorado Springs or Ft. Collins would be a better idea!  

Grand Junction here we come

Guess it's time for another overnighter "Widows Gone Wild". During our trip to Yellowstone last summer (we'll tell you about that trip another time) we were blessed to find a couple of hotels with three beds in the room. By then we had added another widow so rooms with two beds just didn't work plus we didn't want to leave anyone out of the fun late night discussions we have. i.e Do you think Jon Bonet's parent's knew who did it? or How about the O. J. Simpson guilty or not discussion?

The Clarion in Grand Junction is our final destination and we are now six. My 2007 Malibu will be left behind and a rental minivan will be our wheels. With the addition of our new widows, we decided to retire our pink boas and visors for.......get ready a new color to be introduced on our trip. As time goes on we will introduce our other widows and tell you a little bit of their story. God has blessed us with some wonderful times and with our group now numbering six it can't help but be a barrel of fun. Are those the words to a song? Will have to google the lyrics and add it to our song list. That's something we have learned helps the miles go by faster. We sing and sing and sing. Don't know much more that the verses to most of them (except of course 100 bottles of beer) but we give it a good try. Better not be any "Are we there yet?'s" though. Those widows can get pretty wild!

The Widows Maiden Trip

Have you ever heard of St Peters, KS? Probably not because today it is not mch more than a few buildings and some farms. Well this was one of our destinations for our first ever "Widows Gone Wild" trip. We left Commerce City and headed out I-70 and accross beautiful Colorado. 

Now imagine these young widows grew up in the depression.  All very proud and the only word I can think of to describe them is "Regal".  We are driving down I-70 with our sign, my ladies began to hold up the sign when we pass by semi-trucks.  I honked and they waved across Colorado. "Here comes another truck" was heard for hours.  Imagine our suprise when we were recognized in a gas station as those Widows on the highway. 

Arriving in Kansas I listened to stories of they days gone by.  Stories of my grandparents, great-grandparents, parents and their families. The Cathedral of the Pines in Victoria, Kansas was one of the stories.  It's beautiful. Church members were required to take their wagons down to sandstone mines on the south boarder of Kansas to pick up the huge bricks that made up the walls of this church.  My Grandpa helped place the 10' marble pillars inside. Amazing! Check out their website. http://www.kansastravel.org/cathedralofheplains.htm

                                                                                                        We visited every cemetary in St. Peters, Ellis, Hays & Victoria.  Have you ever walked through one?  The history.  Family history. 

Metal crosses in one of  cemetary, my Dad's Dad helped make. What an adventure.  Everyone should take the time to explore their roots.                                                                                 

All too soon our trip came to an end but not before we discussed our next "Widows Gone Wild" trip!

Meet My Mom

My Mom is what we refer to as our Matriarch Widow.  She just celebrated her 84th birthday. Was married for 58 of those. She is one of 12 children and along with our Dad has raised 16 children (9 boys 7 girls) of her own. Those children have blessed her with 50 grandchildren, who have blessed her even more with 36 great-grandchildren.  She was an epitome of the stay at home Mom. She scrimped and saved, canned, grew her own vegetables, washed clothes for 18 people with an old wringer washer.She knew how to stretch a dollar farther than any of us could imagine. Their door was always open to anyone who needed a bed, for a day, a week or months.   I guess the old addage is true.  Where there is a will, there is a way.

Things that amazed us about her (way too many to list) but to look at her and see the life she led. She had to learn to cook at 6 to help with her siblings.  At 17 she was working at Armour packing house killing and butcher hogs.  Hummm at 17 my hair being perfect and make up just right and of course boys is what I was thinking about.  Can't imagine..........

How we started....

My Dad died in 2003 leaving my Mom alone after being married for 58 years. The following year Jim died from esophageal cancer.  I naturally began to spend more time with my Mom.  A sister of her's had moved to Colorado after losing her husband in 2002.  We started to get together once in a while.  In 2006 a good friend of my Mom's lost her husband,  Here were these three women who had spent most of their lives being married and now were basically alone.  They all had wonderful children but something was missing.
In August of 2007after selling our house in Bailey, we decided it was best for me to move in with my Mom.  I quit my job and decided to chill for awhile. Sit back and enjoy what GOD had put before us.  A friend had mentioned going to the Cathedral of the Plains, Victoria,  KS. My parents were both from that area and I hadn't been there since I was small. It sparked a desire to go see where they began.  Well if Moma & I were going to take the trip, why not ask Aunt Lamie. And of course there was Bina, she too was from that area. So began the "Widows Gone Wild". Four widows out to prove that life does go on after death.