Where's Elaine?

And why isn't she blogging?

I'm still blogging, but I'm concentrating on travels only in hopes of doing some "real" travel writing. You can check it out at http://www.elainematthews.com. It's all for the love of travel!

New Work Website

We've been working on a new website for work, and it's live. You can check it out at www.rswpartners.com.

New Addition

You won't believe it, but we got a dog today. I do some marketing work for Tiara Rado Animal Hospital (check out the site, we did a good job) and they told me that they had a 12-year-old Collie that needed adopting. It's an old dog, but she doesn't act that old.

Her story is a sad one. Her owners were elderly and in a car wreck. The husband passed away a couple months after the accident. Since the dog, Babe, was his dog, it was too painful for the wife to keep her around as a reminder. She's incredibly mellow, which is our style. I think she might be part cat. Now for those of you with your jaws on the floor because you still can't believe I got a dog, here's some proof.

Mo Friends

John and I spent our last day in Missouri visiting friends, and I'm so happy I got to see each and every one. We first made a stop to see Season, Pamela, Debbie and the new additions to their families. It was great catching up and seeing their babies. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos!

Then we went to Donna's where we saw Briana, Tim, Kayla, Donna and Keith. It was just like old times hanging around with good food and conversation. Kayla, Donna and I couldn't resist getting one more holiday picture as we have done in years past. Kayla always has the perfect pose ...

Here I am looking like I'm proposing to Donna, but I'm trying to feel the baby. Don't ask me what Kayla's doing on the floor. I just noticed it!

This is the picture we got of John during the visit. I think the combination of my family plus my wonderful friends nearly drove him mad! Gotta love this guy!

Home on the Range

December meant a trip to Missouri to visit my family, and it was good for the soul. I knew I missed all my nephews, but I didn't know how much. It was a fast trip, but we got to have our family Christmas. It was like I had never left.

Wyatt must have missed me since he clung on to my leg!

Levi truly was thrilled to see us.

Wade and Chase were ready to eat so they could get on to opening presents. How cute are these faces!

Wade was perfectly content playing with his train on the floor.

Mom and Chase played Rumikub together. They're deep in concentration.



The entire family crammed in the living room. We're a motley crew!

Texas Time

Since it's been some time since I blogged, there have been a few things that have been missed. In November we went to visit John's family in Texas, and we had a great time. We were running all over the county visiting family, but it was still great fun.

We were in Texas just prior to Thanksgiving, and we wouldn't be back for the holidays, we had a Thanksgiving-style meal with John's dad, brothers and their familes. It was delicious and a lot of fun. We did manage to get a few shots of the family. Thanks for a wonderful time!

The Matthews' Men

Kevin (brother), Rick (dad), John and Van (brother)

The entire family

The entire family acting like a bunch of goof balls. You can see why I love these people!

Van's Family: Van, his wife Carla, Coley, Morgan and Evy

Kevin's Family: Kevin, his wife Kim and Kate

And you know these beautiful people, and if you don't, you wish you did.

Holiday hike

It's been unusually mild this winter, which has allowed John and I to enjoy the outdoors even longer. Christmas Eve turned out to be the perfect day to explore more of the hiking trails throughout the Colorado National Monument. We're in Colorado, we might as well enjoy it!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very happy holiday season! We were able to see many of our friends and family earlier this month in Missouri, which was our first trip back since we got married. It was good for my soul!



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Birthday Vacay: Heading Home

Our birthday vacation came to an end with a flight home over Bryce Canyon National Park and Lake Powell. Even from the air Bryce is spectacular.

If you look close, you can see the "bathtub ring" around Lake Powell.

Birthday Vacay: Zion NP

On day two of our birthday expedition, we made the 80 mile trek to Zion National Park. This is another park that I didn't get to explore much on the train tours, and John had never been. It started out as a pretty dreary day, but by the end, it was absolutely gorgeous.

I really like that Bryce and Zion are so close because they give two completely different perspectives. At Bryce you're at the rim of the canyon looking down on these gorgeous orange hoodoos and at Zion, you're in a valley looking up at these towering monoliths. All of it is quite spectacular.

Weeping walls during our first hike. The sandstone is so porous, it is constantly "weeping". They say that the water that comes out of these stones is thousands/millions of years old ... I'm not sure about that one, but when you have a continuously wet wall in the middle of the dessert, the water has to come from somewhere.

These flowers were everywhere. I'm not sure what they are, but they're beautiful.

Looking down through Zion's Valley.

At the end of our first hike was this view. You can hike across the river into the "Narrows" which is where the canyon becomes even more narrow - imagine that - and it was carved by the river. I don't think I would do it that day since they were calling for flash floods.

John at the end of the trail.

Me striking a pose circa 1997 senior photo shoot.

The park's shuttle system. There is no place for the cars to park in Zion, so they have everyone park at the visitor's center, and then the shuttles come by every 10 minutes or so and pick you up, drop you off at the next stop, etc. It's a great system, but when we got there in the morning, I thought John was going to turn the car around to go home. The crowd was monstrous! He ended up having more fun when the crowds thinned out toward the afternoon. During our first hike to the river, it seemed as if people were hiking on a mission and not enjoying what was around them as they went, so you felt like you were slowing traffic if you stopped to enjoy or take a photo. But it is good to see that so many are enjoying our national parks.

A taste of Zion's monoliths

Birthday Vacay: Bryce Canyon NP

A month late in updating you on our birthday trip, but here's the first day. John and I flew - John flew, and I rode along - to Bryce Canyon National Park the weekend before our birthdays. We landed at the airport, which is nothing more than a paved runway a barn and the "terminal."

We made our way to Ruby's Inn, which is near the airport and run by the same family for generations. There's a few hotels, couple gas stations, rentals, etc. Basically it's a tourist trap, but it's the only thing available near the park. We rented the last car available and made our way into the park.

I had been to the park before with the train tours, but I never got to do any of the hiking. I didn't even know there were so many great trails! I guess when you're touring with a more mature audience, you don't realize such things.

On a hike at Sunrise Point.

The hoodoos at Bryce Canyon. The hoodoos are caused by the natural erosion process of water flowing through the rocks, freezing, thawing, etc.

Toward the end of the day we were getting pooped from our hikes. I decided to take a breather after a monsoonal downpour.


John being his handsome, jovial self near the Natural Bridge.

Ending our day at the Natural Bridge.

That evening we went to the Western show that Ruby's Inn put on, which came with dinner. The food was good and the singing was great.

What's different?

Can you see the difference between these two pictures? (not counting cleanliness)




That's right ... We put new pulls on our kitchen cabinets! I know it seems like small potatoes, but there will be no more nails breaking, splitting or pulled back painfully while opening cabinets. The extra benefit is it adds panache!

Ridgway to Ouray

Swimming is a very important part of any trip with Levi, so we went to Ridgway State Park. We had heard it was a fun, beautiful place, and they were right. We had a picnic first.


And then Levi froze his tush off in the reservoir.


We then went on to Ouray, Colo., which is known for its springs. It's a beautiful town surrounded by the mountains.

I started to drive the Million Dollar Highway for this view, and had to turn around after a few miles. There is no guard rail and we were driving next to a cliff. My nerves couldn't take it, and I won't do it again!

I had such a great time with Mom and Levi. It was sad to see them go.

Grand Mesa

The third day we made the trek up the Grand Mesa, which was about 30 degrees cooler than in the valley of Grand Junction. Levi and I are posing near the Powderhorn Ski Resort that overlooks the valley. You can see the Bookcliffs in the background.



It was so green on top of the Grand Mesa, and there are a number of lakes scattered about. Absolutely gorgeous!

This is another gorgeous lake. I really like the picture since it looks like Mom and Levi are standing in front of a back drop. It also makes you want to go camping ...

Fun in the Sun

The second day Mom and Levi were here, Levi and I went to the gym, we all went shopping, went to the pool and Levi got a ride in the convertible. Here he is looking too cool for school.




John had a good time taking him for a ride.


While the boys were gone, mom and I got out the mower to attack our little grass patch. I barely started when the boys showed up. Levi wanted to try the rotary mower out...

Then mom ...

And John finished up. There's nothing better than making your chores look fun and having someone else finish them up for you! I'm sure there's a bit of Tom Sawyer in all of us.