The 2007 Colorado Guy Festival was a bit shorter in length with a slight decrease in attendance from last year, but it fit well with the official motto of this year's annual gathering: No drama, no walking on eggshells, no emotional breakdowns, no immature behavior, no nothing but fun, laughter and relaxation!

The "Colorado Guy Festival" is a once-per-year event where I invite my forum visitors (i.e. "regulars") to visit me and others for some fellowship and good times. This year's meeting was held in early September in Ouray, Colorado, a quaint and historic town nestled in the San Juan Mountains. This year, we stayed at the Ouray KOA and enjoyed the campfires, barbeques and shenanigans that camping often brings. Woo hoo!

I must acknowledge all who attended in a general order of physical distance: Rhonda ("Precious" - Arkansas), Kansas City Kelly (Missouri), Kansas Kelly (Kansas), Judy ("Library Gal" - California), Glenda (Texas), Phil The Lurker (Arizona), Sarah and Jason (Wyoming), Dave-O (New Mexico) and some Coloradoans (Scott, Morgan Luver, Jay and Telluride Lisa with their kids and myself).

Once again, Kansas Kelly deserves a huge "thank you" from all of us! Kelly organized much of the social gathering including locating and securing a campground, sending out packets beforehand to attendees and handling many important details. Thank you Kelly ... You are a mean, lean, kick-ass planning machine! :-)

Here are links to pages that show most of the things we did (new windows will open): 1) Sneffels Range Morning, 2) All Day Sunday, 3) Drive to Dunton, 4) Eating in Telluride and 5) Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

As for the 2008 Colorado Guy Festival, I personally wouldn't mind having it among the beautiful saguaros and sunny weather in Tucson, Arizona. In three of the last four years, the gathering has gradually moved more south and west towards the Grand Canyon State anyway (Manitou Springs '04, Salida '06, Ouray '07). Yet, there seems to be a consensus that if our beloved European and Asian friends in Great Britian, Germany, Norway and Malaysia were to fly out next summer, they'd most likely want to visit Colorado and we would most likely host them here. Time will tell!

Below are extra photos and memories of the event that are worthy to show off. I am so grateful for the amazing friends I've made through this web site, and this annual festival is a reminder of how blessed and loved I am.

-Steve

The Attendees Of The 2007 Colorado Guy Festival

The festival officially began for me when I met up with KC Kelly, Kansas Kelly, Precious and Scott in Salida on Saturday morning. After having breakfast at Sonic, we stopped at Monarch Pass for the sappy and sentimental photo on the left. K.C. Kelly wanted to shop inside the Monarch Pass gift shop and took a loooooong time in the ladies room, and Scott (middle photo) and myself were becoming really bored while we waited. We also stopped at an overlook at Blue Mesa Reservoir as we traveled towards Ouray and I captured this nifty photo of "Precious" (Rhonda). Rhonda lives in Arkansas and this was her third consecutive festival she has attended. I am so proud of her! :)

Other attendees: Glenda with her snazzy Texas chair (top left), Jay, Lisa and Maralee (top middle - kids Garrett and Savannah not pictured), Judy "Library Gal", Phil The Lurker and Dave-O (top right), Jason and Sarah with others (bottom left) and myself and Lisa "Morgan Luver" (bottom right).

	We camped at the KOA in Ouray and had two campsites. "Tent A" (top) was the noisy and giggly tent with K.C. Kelly, Precious, Scott and Kansas Kelly. What a nice picture of them! :) "Tent B" (bottom) had Library Gal, Glenda and myself. We rocked! :)
	A shot of the gang on Saturday night in Ouray, as we looked for a place to have dinner.
	Sarah and Jason (bottom photo - couple on right) were the pleasant surprise attendees at the festival. They brought five large packages of bottled water and I posed in front of them ... Don't I look like a model in that photo? :)
	At some point on Sunday morning we stopped by Mouse's Chocolates for coffee. I like this photo a lot!
	The Barbeque Day - It's become a tradition to have some kind of barbeque at the festival. TOP: Scott and Phil The Lurker focus on something with a grin. BOTTOM: Jay and Telluride Lisa. Nice shirt Lisa! ;)
	Drive To Dunton A couple of extra shots from our visit to Telluride and drive to Dunton.
	The Eating Pictures What can I say? Another growing tradition is creating a pictorial of much of the gang eating! :) Last year's eating photos: 2006 Festival eating in Estes Park. At least for awhile, I'm going to put this .gif image below as my avatar on my myspace page! Special thanks to Kansas Kelly for taking four rapid photos of me as I chomped on a fajita! :)
	Black Canyon of the Gunnison - The last day of the festival had us enjoying breakfast in Montrose followed by a visit to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I really love all three of these photos! With all this space here, this might be a good place for links to past CG Festivals: 2006 Festival 2005 Festival 2004 Festival
	Sneffels Range - One morning Scott, Glenda and myself drove to Dallas Divide to photograph the Sneffels Range to the south. (Mt. Sneffels' pointed peak in adjacent photo.)
	After some attendees had sadly left one morning, Kelly, Scott, Judy and myself leisurely spent the day by taking a drive to Silverton. It was a nice and relaxing day!
	I forgot to bring the cake to the festival! :( I stored away last year's 2006 Festival cake in my freezer and after driving 28 miles to Salida to meet some of the attendees, I realized that I forgot it. Awwwwwwww! No worries though, I will hold onto the cake and maybe bring it to the 2008 Colorado Guy Festival! :)
	Kansas City Kelly showed a lot of interest in my long, naturally curly hair and she is rumored to be a possible candidate for the 2008 Hair Consultant election. Kelly generously gave me a bottle of Frederic Fekkai hair mask with shea butter and even gave me a hair treatment. It was wonderful! Thank you Kelly! :)
	Kelly got duped! Poor Kelly ... She gave her laptop to Scott, who accessed the Internet and upon visiting the forums, realized Kelly was automatically logged into her name. So what does Scott do (with Phil and myself laughing and encouraging him)? Scott posts a message on the Friendship Board under Kelly's name and you can see the thread here: Forum Post (It appears Kelly has edited it.) ;) The adjacent photo was taken on an early morning when Kelly realized she'd been duped. She was mad! :p)
	My Cactus Candy - Kansas Kelly kindly gave me this cactus candy during the festival and I created a page about in on my Cactus web site. :)
	Me telling The Story of the Golden Goats Milk. :)