coloradograds: Sheepwagon.... or BUST!

Wade and I headed to Wyoming for the "annual" Allen Family reunion. Aunt Pi and Brock were our fabulous hosts and Chen Jing and Alan Hogan were the only others who attended. We enjoyed the fresh mountain air, the good company, the starry nights, and the delicious cooking. Wade had a great time on the four-wheeler and getting "monster"rocks for Aunt Pi. I learned a lot about sage, Chinese culture, and making scrambled eggs on a BBQ grill. Overall, an outstanding trip! On the way back to Denver, we ate at Silvermine Subs. Yummy!

Here's the official report from Aunt Pi:

This is a report on the reunion that most of you missed. Those
few in attendance did think of all of you. Six of us showed up. Of
course Brock and I were already there and the real surprise was my son Alan and
his wife, Chen jing, coming in from Michigan. He hadn't gotten the word
that the reunion was cancelled for I thought they were going to try to go to
Alaska this summer or fall. I was real happy to see them. As I said
we didn't know they were coming. He thought it would be a good opportunity
for all the family to meet Chen jing. Anne-marie and Wade drove
up from Denver. Then over the weekend 9 locals did show up at various
times. Yes, Jim, the weather was sometimes a little cool but felt good
except for a cold wind most of Saturday. One morning the temp dropped
to 38 degrees, but the other mornings were like 42. The days were
beautiful.
Anne-marie learned how to cook scrambled eggs on a big griddle over a wood fire, she learned how to make sage smudge sticks, and she carried a baby monster quartz rock down a hill that was a very large quartz rift. The whole hillside was all beautiful quartz. See her photos. Wade was a wonderful cook and wood gatherer and he carried a huge monster quartz rock down for me. He also learned to love riding our new 4 wheeler. Chen jing and Alan gathered a lot of silver tip sage to take back to Michigan to make smudge sticks and Chen jing taught us all a lot about Chinese culture and way of living.

Since the custom has been set at reunions that the site for the next
reunion is usually decided at a reunion, we took it upon ourselves to make some
decisions for the group. It is very obvious that gas prices will not be
going down much in the future, so we decided that perhaps it is best to
have a reunion every two or three years and then people can save for it.
We also decided the next reunion should be in the midwest so we will
need someone to plan it. (any suggestions?) There are a lot of
state parks in the midwest. The geezers should not be the planners.
It is time for the younger crowd to take over that job. Anne-marie said at
one time someone had suggested that renting cabins and a houseboat at Lake
Powell might be a good idea. Brock liked that idea.

We had wonderful food since we pooled our contributions together. We had green chili stew, steaks, barbecued ribs, brots, and super delicious breakfasts. Anne-marie brought delicious muffins and cookies. We didn't go hungry. Chen jing got to try s'mores for the first time and Brock cooked fried pies over the campfire. Monday morning we all went our merry separate ways.
End of report,
Pi, designated chairman of
the 2008 Allen family reunion