Sunday, September 16, 2007

Welcome to My Neighborhood!

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Thanks to Kathleen for this great idea of visiting everyone's neighborhoods. I hope you enjoy your visit! Having been in a parsonage growing up, I lived in many towns and many abodes. But I have lived in this location for over 35 years. We won't go into how much the town has grown in those 35+ years, nor the controversy over having 2 super Wal-Marts, a Sam's, a Home Depot and Lowe's, Target, and tons of new growth in every direction. Does any town need a new bank every week? Or yet another liquor store?? But it's a great place to live and I'll show you only the good parts!



Our 35th anniversary is coming up in December. This was our first apartment - a nice brick duplex, with a very quiet single lady next door, so we didn't have to worry about getting frustrated with noise. The tree that you see behind the house was a small sapling when we moved in. (Double click on any pictures if you want more detail).
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When we began our family, we bought a small, new house - 900 square feet, but it was ours. We landscaped and fenced, and lived there for almost 4 years.
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When we had two kids and no room to move, we bought our second house, where we still live. It is at the end of a culdesac, and it was great fun raising our family here, with up to 32 children on the street at one time.
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Now we'll take a little tour of town and some of my favorite spots. We are driving down the main street toward the library . . . looks like they need to replace that poor tree on the left!
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On the right is one of my favorites stores - Probasco's. This is a family-owned Bible and Christian book store, which also specializes in wigs. Frieda add the wig shop when she realized how many women in town needed that service during chemotherapy. They have provided a great service in so many areas and are wonderful people.
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We're at the library now, and enjoying the sculptures and the fountain. . .
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In the same area as the library is the first school in this town. The sign says "Washington School 1905. It sat in a falling down condition for years until someone decided to refurbish it and turn it into the city government building. I am so glad they did this instead of tearing it down. They did a wonderful job of restoring the brick , the marble, the brass. Then they built a "twin" building and connected the two with a glass walkway. It was a stunning addition to this part of town.
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On the way back from the library, we like to stop and visit the classic old Dairy Queen. It has been on this extremely busy corner for over 50 years. My youngest brother used to work here when he lived here and was in high school.
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We're not quite ready to go home yet, and it's a beautiful pre-fall day, so we headed west down the highway toward the lake, then across the street to one of the really nice parks in town. We call this one the "Cannon Park," though it's really named in honor of the first young man from our town to die during World War II. We call it that to differentiate it from "the train park", where the kids can ride a child-sized train for 75 cents.
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This town has turned into quite the art mecca. We have quite a few bronze casting foundries. In August, we have an influx of artists who come to show and sell their lovely products. They take over this park for the week-end. But the rest of the year it is one of the favorite places to take your company for "show and tell." There are many varieties of sculptures - I prefer the realistic ones to the abstract, but those who seem to think they know keep telling me "art is in the eye of the beholder."
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I especially love this section named especially for the children:
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Here's a shot of the place I don't get to often enough - the gym!
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On Sunday, and often several other times in the week, we go down the street about a mile to our church. We consider this body of believers our extended family. They are very important to us.
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On week-days, we head in different directions. The kiddoes go here:
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I don't have any pictures of DC's place of employment, but here is my view to the east as I head north to work.
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This is the entrance to my office building.
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Our evening bike rides give us this beautiful view.
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Come and visit sometime! We'll check out all these fun things and lots more.

37 comments:

groovyoldlady said...

What a fun tour! You really did a nice job putting it all together. The parks and library are lovely.

I wouldn't even know where to start here. We live in a blob of several towns smooshed together and everything is bit hither and yon. You know, the library is that-a-way and the grocery store is this a-away and Walmart is in the ugly part and the one bad neighborhood is down south.

Ooo. I could've got a pic of the sunset behind Home Depot - that's always impressive!

Susie said...

Lovely tour of your town. It looks like a wonderful place to live!
xo

kpjara said...

I love your tour and I recognize some of it even...I sure miss that view of Colorado, even if I don't miss the winter!

Thanks for the note recently! I miss this blogdom so often!

nancygrayce said...

What a great tour! I loved seeing your town.

someone else said...

Nice tour! Of course, that last photo is MY favorite!!

Linds said...

I loved seeing where you live! It is so good to be able to visualise where you are now that I have seen the photos. You have put it together beautifully, Dawn.

Carole Burant said...

I'm on my way...first stop...Dairy Queen! lol Oh Dawn, I loved the tour of your neighbourhood and seeing what you see every day:-) Those sunset pictures are just amazing! I also love all the bronze statues, they sure do add to the area. I was taking pictures of my neighbourhood today for my post and was getting all kinds of strange looks! lol xox

Linda said...

What a lovely tour Dawn. Your Chamber of Commerce would be very pleased. It looks like a really wonderful place to live and raise a family. I love the church. It reminds me of the one we attended when I was growing up.
Thanks so much Dawn. I really enjoyed it.

Susie Q said...

his was a wonderful tour! Really complete and personal! So much better than mine! I really get a feel for your area. I think it would be such a great place to live or visit! Thank you for this fun tour of a pretty place that is YOUR neighborhood!

Hugs,
Sue

Sue Seibert said...

What a lovely, inviting town. I am especially impressed with the sculptures! Lovely.

Sharon Lynne said...

How nice that you have a lake! Everything looks very clean.

I enjoyed the tour!

Anonymous said...

I LOVED THE TOUR OF YOUR TOWN.
AND I LOVE THE PICS

Tammy said...

Wonderful job, Dawn! I would love to visit your town!

Those sunset photos are breathtaking...with the hills they look almost surreal!

I just now posted mine, but on a much smaller scale! ;)

Anonymous said...

Wow, I LOVED the park. So beautiful! You have a lovely town. Thanks for the tour!

Peggy said...

Loved visiting your neighborhood!

Jen said...

Those views are breathtaking. Your town is very charming. I really enjoyed your Dairy Queen. They renovated ours about 10 years ago...but that was the place where my parents met......quite different now....thanks for the tour..I enjoyed myself.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed your tour and information about your neighborhood. I'm with you on abstract art, my eye just doesn't behold it well!
blessings...

Unknown said...

I think I know where you live. Could it be thatI recognize the library? We lived in your state 26 years ago, for a summer. But the one place I went all the time was the library.

I don't know if you want people to know of your town, so I will try to email you and ask. I'd love to know it is the same place.

Terri Steffes said...

Neat! I love sunset photos. Please come and check me out!

Susan said...

That was a very delightful tour. I agree with you on the art. I much prefer the realistic vs the abstract. My mind does not see in abstract on anything.....except the Spirit world :o)
Susan

Michelle-ozark crafter said...

Lovely place to live! I really enjoyed my visit with you! thanks!

Overwhelmed! said...

Oh Dawn, I love the pictures of your neighborhood. It looks fantastic! I'll bet you love living there!

Thanks so much for sharing!

My “Welcome to My Neighborhood” post is right here.

inspired said...

Wow looks beautiful ;o]

Ms. Kathleen said...

Wow, what a beautiful area. I love the lake and it is such a nice clean area, with beautiful parks and art work. I don't blame you for loving the area and what a great place to raise kids. Thanks for not sharing Wally World! Ha! They are an eye sore to be sure.

I would love to visit!

Thank you so much for participating in Welcome to My Neighborhood! God Bless!

Anonymous said...

I've heard about how Colorado is growing by leaps and bounds! Same around here-so many houses.
You look like you live is a great place. Thanks for sharing.

Talk..to..Grams said...

Thanks for sharing your pictures of your home town! You did a good job taking them....... I really enjoyed taking the tour..

Jada's Gigi said...

what a fabulous idea for a post! love visiting your neighborhood! It looks like a wonderful place to live and raise the kids and grands.

Nancy said...

I would love to come visit someday. It looks like a gorgeous place to live. I love the mountain views. You are blessed indeed!

Barb said...

As you know, Dawn, I'm pretty familiar with your neighborhood. Rob and I seriously considered moving there at one point but decided to relocate to where our girls went to college and decided to stay, Grand Junction.

Lovely post. All your photos are great. I so hope to get this sick baby back to daycare so I can get out and get some shots of my "neighborhood" which includes the Grand Mesa and the National Monument.

I'll be emailing you within a few days about our travel plans so we can get our meeting set up. Looks like it's going to be on a Saturday. :-)

Sandra said...

I just loved it, it's gorgeous, thank you for the tour :)

peppylady (Dora) said...

Thank you for the tour of your neighborhood.
I too live in a mountainous area plus when I was a youngster I would ride my bile to the Dairy Queen and get a dilly bar for a dime.

Ramblins of a middle-aged goddess said...

What a beautiful presentation of your home and neighborhood!! I loved it!! Thanks for showing me around..Sandy

La Dolce Vita with LeAnn said...

Just loved the visit. You pictures are absolutely beautiful. Would love to stop by and see it for real!

Sherry said...

What a great place to live. I've never quite understood that wig and Bible shop...it always makes me laugh when we drive by it

Robin said...

I loved your little tour! What a sweet little town. I absolutely love the old Dairy Queen - it looks so much like the one in the town I grew up in! I love those memories.
I just posted my tour - I hope you can come and visit!

Gran said...

Dawn, thank you for taking me on an awesome tour of your neighborhood and town. The views are breath taking. I love the DQ too...it reminds me of the one that was in my hometown during my childhood.

Thanks for your visit and inviting me to take your tour. It was great to visit as always.

Have a wonderful and restful evening!
Angela

FarmHouse Style said...

Dawn, your town looks lovely! I especially like your bike riding veiw and the inside of your church looks warm and inviting.
Sorry I have just now come to visit. It has been a busy week!
Rhonda