A Weekend Retreat to Colorado

Our weekend was great. The trip to Denver was a much needed get-away for me. Friday evening, Jon picked me up at the airport and we went to the hotel and cleaned up and headed out for dinner. I had asked him ahead of time to find a nice Mexican place to eat dinner and he didn't. We got a recommendation from the hotel clerk but driving by the place, we decided to keep looking! We fired up the GPS and found another place that looked like tit might have potential. We were totally disappointed!! It was AWFUL! I don't think I've ever had bad Mexian food until now! I left full but was very disappointed.

Saturday we got up and headed to Trueheart Alpacas. It's a nice place down in the pines…real shady and protected from the elements! We visited with Heather and Taylor (our new alpacas) for quite a while. Taylor was not where she could run around so she was very typical alpaca. Very curious but didn’t want you to touch. Melinda got her and Heather in a catch pen and I was able to look them both over real good. I’m totally pleased with these girls. Taylor is gorgeous and so is Heather. From there, Melinda drove us to Pike’s Peak Alpacas where we got our hands on a LOT of their animals (the hubby was a good salesman!) anyway, long story short…Apollo is not describable in words. The picture on AlpacaNation is one from his yearling days so that’s what I was expecting. He is a very proud, robust, solid male and when I touched his fiber I think my mouth fell open and nothing came out for a while. I’ve never felt such density in my life. It was like touching a soft LOG. I don’t even know how to describe it. He’s got a real nice, defined crimp too. They’ve got about 8 other offspring of his there and they showed us every one of them and they were all identical. Solid, proud, and just incredibly dense. I am SO glad I saw this boy. I was a little concerned about breeding Heather to a fawn but I’m perfectly ok with it now. I’m even excited to see the cria!

Next, we went to Dundee Farms to see Axtion Jaxon (sire to our male, Callaway Jaxon). Hugh & Sara Jane Maclennon are THE most hospitable folks! We sat in their kitchen for a while and chit chatted and Cheryl Swanson showed up (she and her husband Michael own the other ½ of Axtion Jaxon) to see us. Michael was out of town & she wanted to come and visit as well. The Maclennon’s asked question after question to US just trying to get to know US! I don't know what I expected but I was pleasantly suprised they were so down to earth. I’m glad we went. They’ve got some super alpacas. They’ve got one fawn male that was JUST like Apollo in his density. Amazing. Their animals were all so sweet and friendly. We saw more A.J. offspring and A.J. himself. He is actually a bit on the smaller side. Not what I expected. His ads make him look very macho. They verified that the 2nd shearing is much better than the first and his boys tend to reach maturity in size and stature around 3 years old. So, all is well. They said Callaway is still his only grey that they know of.

Next, we went on up to Fort Collins where our new Suri girls are. I have pictures of our visit there (totally forgot I even had my camera in the car at the other places!) and a short little video. Cheyenne is just a doll. I love her to pieces! She’s totally curly and has great lock structure! She’s got fiber coverage on her face even, which is pretty rare. Best of all she loves to give kisses and loves to have her neck scratched! Just like Callaway did when he was little. I can’t wait to have her & her mama home next month.

We went ahead and stayed at the hotel Saturday night. The bed was oh, so, comfy!! Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast then Jon drove me to Aurora to the Air Force Base where he was stationed for 3 years and took me around all of his old stomping grounds. It was fun. We then hit the airport, turned in the car and came home. Our son, Justin and his girlfriend Jessica were still farm-sitting for us & were still at the house and stayed a few more hours visiting with us when we got home. Their new puppy is adorable! Justin is training it already and has Miranda (the other dog) under his thumb too. He’s been watching “The Dog Whisperer” a lot and has this training thing down pretty well. It was cute. He wouldn’t let us look at the dogs or talk to them until they were quietly laying down on their own! I couldn’t stand it.

One last thing and I’ll let you go.

Heather and Taylor arrived via transport by Dick Hageman this morning! They got on the trailer yesterday morning at 7:20am in Franktown, Colorado (Trueheart Alpacas) and traveled in style. Dick took great care of them and they arrived safe, sound, and curious! I got them settled at one end of the barn and gated the end so they would have fresh air and daylight. I want to get them weighed and look them both over real good after work tonight so I left them in. I also want to keep an eye on their potty habits to be sure all's well and no one is over stressed, then I'll give them free reign of the paddock for a few weeks.


Until next time...