Family is what it's all about

Gi and I spent most of the day at Lou and Patti Junker's home in Erie, CO unwinding from the long haul, and we couldn't have asked for more gracious hosts. It was no small feat for them given that Lou had recently entered the rarefied ranks of "Dinosaur Dads" with the birth the birth of his second daughter in January, and they are the typical family with two youngster requiring all the care and attention that entails. (Thank God Patti's in charge.) I managed to crawl out of bed in time to catch Dad enjoying a little morning quality time with his youngest, Bridget. And then in a flash the whole family was out the door and off to their respective destinations -- work, a golf game, tennis camp, and day-care with the nanny. (I'll leave it to you to guess who went where!)

After a couple of hours catching up emails, double-checking itineraries for the next leg of the trip and confirming appointments with other friends in the area, we hopped on the bike for a short ride up to Loveland and lunch with Mark Hynes, an old friend from high school days in Rock Springs. Mark used to do some semi-professional motorcycle racing in his younger days, and after retiring from HP a few years back has managed to accumulate quite a collection of tales about motorcycle trips in exotic locations. So, as we've done the past couple of meetings, we swapped stories about past trips and ideas for crazy new trips, this time over sandwiches and beer at Schmidt's Bakery and Delicatessen. As always, our visit was too brief, but one of these days I have a feeling that Mark and I are actually going to take one of those crazy trips we talk about.


I did manage to get some work in on the grant proposal in the afternoon, before Lou and the family all came flying back in. Before a lovely dinner, we were treated to a special floor show from, Ella, Lou's eldest daughter, who is now working under the stage name of "Hula Lula." It seems she's a natural talent with a hula hoop and after only 5 days of practice is already a pro with double hoops, tap-dancing while hooping, and balancing various items on her head while hooping. I'm sure she'll be doing everything simultaneously by next week, and her next stop will be the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.