In August 2001 Will & I travel up to Colorado, USA. Again to pick up a Tundra Winds' puppy and to celebrate a vacation in the Rocky Mountains. It was a trip never to forget ....... We would like to thank all the people we met and who gave us such a wonderful time, but most of all: Kent, Donna & Patrick Dannen and all the dogs at Tundra Winds' & Scott Vail (he picked us up from the airport)!!

On the first weekend of our stay in Colorado, Kent and Donna take us to a dogshow in Greeley. Kent shows Katie (a full sister of Aspen from an earlier litter) and Donna shows Scrimshaw (Sterre's Mum).
Dogshows are pretty much the same as in Holland, and it is quite interesting to see all the booths with dogstuff.

After having spend time with the puppies and make a final choice (Rainbow is to be Aspen!), we leave Allenspark for our tour around Colorado. Our goal is Mesa Verde National Park in the Southwest, close to the border with New Mexico. We drive through the mountains and pass Breckenridge where my Mum and Dad go skiing. We can imagine how beautiful it must be in wintertime. And guess what: in a gallery we discover the art of Scott Kennedy and find an old and blind Samoyed laying near a shop.

We stop in Mancos to spend the night in the Mesa Verde Motel. The next morning we drive to the Park. At Mesa Verde (which means Green Table) ancient houses where found in the late 1800's. Two cowboys searching for cattle discover these dwellings where there Anasazi lived so many years ago. Anasazi is the Navajo word for "Ancient Ones". It is just unbelievable how these people must have built their houses in those deep canyons. One feels very small realizing that.

Although very impressed by what we have seen, the most impressive thing happens when we leave the Park. Just around the corner there sits a BABY Black Bear on the road. Ofcourse we can't find the camera and once we have it doesn't work, so we have only a picture of the hill where it disappeared again. What an experience!!
After that we drive to Cortez to see many of the Native American arts. We see rugs, pottery, jewellery and sandpainting and see some Native American women paint the pottery. Real great.

The weather is still beautifull and lucky Will finds some great trucks, he even speaks to one of the drivers. We travel up to the North again and stop in Montrose for the night. After a real American breakfast in Arvin Starvin', we pass Aspen, THE famous ski-resort. On our way to Indenpendence Pass we see the Aspen Daisies and the Aspen Trees, where our little girl Aspen got her name from.

When we get back at the Dannen's we spend more time with Aspen. She is very clever and already respons to her name. The next day we go to Fort Collins to shop and we got back with some nice things.
Then Kent and Donna take us to Rocky Mountains National Park. Having worked there as a Ranger, Donna knows a lot about the park and they show us neat places. We also drive up to Grand Lake, where many of the sleddograces are held. Here the puppies have another photoshoot and now we understand how hard it is to take THAT picture of 3 puppies who never sit still.

Next big event is a hike to Isabelle Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. We walk for about 6 miles through the mountains, each one of us with a Sammie to help us. As Will and I are not used to the altitude, we are very proud of our accomplishement. It was a fantastic day and we like to thank Donna, Kent, Scott, Anne, Lori, Dan, Lorrie, John, Marnie & Paul with their company and the great BBQ at the Dannen's afterwards.

The day before we leave is a surprise for Will. We drive up to Scott's place first to have a real American breakfast over there. Then Scott drives up to Golden for a tour at the Coors brewery. Will likes his surprise and we have a great time.

And then it is time to go home. Things with Aspen go very smoothly during checking-in and again no one the plane knows that we have a puppy with us. At Washington Dulles we take her out of the bag so she can play and pee. She is ever so sweet.

Home for a short 2 weeks, we learn about the terrorists attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC. Just spend a great time in the USA, it hits us very hard. Ofcourse the dogs are not aware of this tragedy, and we place an American flag in front of our windows to think of the people who have lost their lives in this horrible attack.