For those of you that appreciate detail..... (don't feel obligated to read through it all -- it's more for our own memory's sake)
Tuesday - June 19, 2012
Today, we embark on a journey to Colorado. It's our first real vacation/road trip as a family and we're all pretty excited. Caleb loves the Ford Escape that we rented and is sitting in the back seat with his journal. He loves to write. Sonya is reading her Children's Bible that she insisted on bringing the last minute.
We had lunch at a rest stop just as we got into Iowa. Tim taught the kids how to get truck drivers to honk their horns. They actually got one semi to do it. We've been marking down different states license plates to see how many states we can get. We also tried cow poker where you get points for seeing cows and a few other things and then you lose points for going past a cemetery.
Hotel in Bellevue -- dinner at Fazoli's and then swimming in the hotel pool. There was also free beer and wine in the lobby area. Sweet!
Wednesday - June 20, 2012
Halfway through Nebraska, we stopped in a town called Kearney. There was a cool archway museum called: the Great Platte River Road Archway Museum that spanned over Hwy 80. The museum was pretty neat and there was also a human maze that we did. After lunch, we meandered the the grounds where the kids were enthralled with the fish. We stood on the bridge for a while so they could feed the carp. Sonya was pretty excited to watch them. Then we visited the earth dwelling where the guide explained about the artifacts and the Indians who would've lived in one.
Now we're almost to the Colorado border. We're currently at 3,357 ft in elevation. It seems like we're climbing faster now that we near the mountains. We've seen some pretty hilly areas already and higher ground off in the distance. The anticipation to see Colorado is building up. I can't wait!
We arrived at Paul and Paula's at 4:45pm MT. (Keenesburg -- 5000 ft) It was funny because the twins were at home and another lady was keeping an eye on them so we ended up watching them until everyone else came home. The kids all went swimming and then Danielle and Amanda decided to play a "guess their middle name" game with us.
Paula finally got back with Sarah at 6pm and started getting dinner ready. [spaghetti noodles + straws + trampoline] The kids played hard together and go along really well. Paul got home with Emily at almost 8:30 and we all had ice cream. The younger kids watched Scooby Doo in the master bedroom and then most of them slept in the tent downstairs. It took Sonya a while to settle down. I finally rocked her to sleep out in the living room while talking to Paula until midnight.
Thursday - June 21, 2012
We drove to Lafayette, CO with Paula and the girls to visit the WOW! Museum. It was a children's museum with lots of kid-friendly activities to do. We brought lunch to eat there and Paula bought a pizza since the girls apparently didn't like sandwiches. The twins put on a play at the museum and all the kids dressed up in tiger costumes. It was pretty entertaining. (We could also see the Rocky Mountains off in the distance while driving to Lafayette -- Beautiful!)
When we got back to the house, the kids all went swimming with Tim and then we had ice cream. I did the girls' hair except for Sarah's. It was close to 8:30pm before we finally sat down to eat walking tacos for dinner while watching Tim Hawkins. Tim and I snuck out for a quick walk just the two of us.
Friday - June 22, 2012
We said our goodbyes at 10:45am and hit the road again. We just drove through Denver and are headed for Colorado Springs.
First stop -- the Air Force Academy. The mountains here are absolutely breathtaking!! 7,200 ft in elevation.
Second stop -- Focus on the Family
We hit up Chick-Fil-A for dinner and then visited Garden of the Gods. We saw 2 mule deer and Caleb had an awesome time climbing rocks!
Saturday - June 23, 2012
Since we didn't see all of Garden of the Gods, we decided to drive through there again before moving on to our next destination. It was fun to climb rocks with Caleb and do a little exploring.
Cripple Creek, Co -- 9,700 ft -- We happened to be in town for Donkey Days. It's a pretty big deal in Cripple Creek. As we were getting closer to town, we stopped at the Visitor's Center for a little bit. Then we went to the museum to see Betty, a friend of Tim's grandma. We toured around town and watched people riding donkeys. Caleb panned for gold with daddy and then we went over to the playground.
On the way to Canon City, CO, we took Phantom Canyon Road. It's an unpaved road that you have to take pretty slow in some areas because it becomes one lane and the drop-offs are pretty steep. It was a little nerve-wracking to be going around all the twists and turns at those elevations, but we made it through safely and the views were quite worth the drive.
We checked into our hotel at Super 8 and then went to Mr. Ed's Diner for dinner. The temperature in Canon City was around 100 to 105 degrees. Thankfully, it's a dry heat and not completely sweltering or uncomfortable. After dinner, we drove over to the train station to get our tickets for the Twilight ride through the Royal Gorge. It was a pretty neat experience for the kids to ride on a train, but it was getting late and they were a bit tired after all the traveling we did for the day.
Sunday - June 24, 2012
We had attempted to find Skyline Drive yesterday, but only found the end of it and since it was a one-way, we couldn't go that way. So today, we found the entrance and drove along the ridge of a mountain. It was almost scarier than Phantom Canyon Road because there was a complete drop-off on either side of us for most of it, but it was only like 2 miles long so not too bad.
As we drove, we visited Monarch Pass and had lunch at a park in Gunnison. Then we drove through the Curecanti National Recreation area. There was a spot where the Gunnison River was dammed off and became Blue Mesa Lake. We took a bunch of pictures and the kids played in the lake with Tim. It felt so nice to take a dip and get our feet wet. There wasn't much shade around the lake and at 2pm, the temperature was 90 degrees.
After checking into our hotel in Montrose, CO and eating dinner, we went to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Forest. It only cost $15 for a 7 day pass. The views were spectacular and looking down to the river below almost made you dizzy. It was a LONG way down. We found a lizard while hiking so that was kind of cool. We even drove down into the canyon. It was pretty crazy because the grade was 16 degrees and we had to actually drop into low gear to go down -- lots of sharp curves!
We got back to the hotel and realized why poor Sonya was so tired and uncooperative -- she had a 101 degree fever. Poor baby. Gave her some tylenol and she finally went to sleep.
Monday - June 25, 2012
We got a little bit of a late start. Sonya puked up water in the morning, but seemed ok and her fever was gone. We drove back to Curecanti and past the Black Canyons. I think between just eating breakfast and taking the curves a little too fast, our poor Caleb got sick in the car. So we had to pull over and clean everything all up. We brought some dremamine along just in case the kids needed it so we gave some to Caleb and that seemed to help.
We took a stop in Crawford, CO for lunch and enjoyed singing silly songs in the car. Tim made up a song about Potato Chips. The kids were just laughing and laughing. They sure make me smile!
We finally arrived to Sue and Markian's in the late afternoon. (Eagle, CO) Their girls took to our kids right away. And of course they had a trampoline to play on. Caleb and Sonya sure loved getting all the attention!
We had elk steak for dinner. So good!
Tuesday - June 26, 2012
The girls watched Caleb and Sonya while Tim and I went off on our to do some hiking. We decided to go to Hanging Lake -- it was between Eagle and Glenwood Springs. The hike was 1.2 miles long and went up 1,000 ft in elevation as you climbed. There were a few steep places, but nothing too terrible. It was just nice to have some time alone with Tim and and not to worry about having to try and carry the kids along. Once we got up to the lake, we were pretty worn out. There were some benches to rest at and just enjoy the view of Hanging Lake. It's a lake situated on a cliff and the ecosystem is pretty fragile there so they don't like humans touching the water at all. From there, we climbed up just a little more to enjoy Spouting Rock, a small water fall that feeds into Hanging Lake. The whole experience was awesome and beautiful. There was a funny little chipmunk that kept begging for food. He got pretty close to us too. In the end, the whole hike took about 2.5 hours to do.
Back at the house, we rested for a little bit and then hit up the local swimming pool for the rest of the afternoon. It was nice and relaxing and little Sonya fell asleep in my arms.
We had really great tostadas for dinner -- Sue used diced, cooked sweet potatoes on them in place or in addition to re-fried beans. I had both. SO good!
Wednesday - June 27, 2012
We packed up to get ready for rafting with Sue and the girls on the Colorado River. The kids were so cute with their life vests and hats. [So sad that we didn't have our cameras along. Next time we need one that can get wet and go underwater!] We ended up rafting kind of near the pull off for Hanging Lake. This part of the river was much more calm with fewer rapids. That made me feel a lot safer bringing Sonya along.
As we started out, a guy tried to help push us off the beach a little more and tripped, but saved his lit cigarette by holding his arm up above his head. We just cracked up at the foolishness that people do just to save a cigarette.
Around lunchtime, we pulled off and had a little picnic. It started to drizzle a little bit, but we were prepared with umbrellas and the kids hid under the table. haha... Caleb found some railroad stakes and took one as a souvenir.
A little further down the river, we spun the raft to try and knock Tim off. Then Marika and Karlina wanted to try it too. It was kind of fun. We continued on to an area where the Hot Springs merged into the Colorado River. We had to climb up the ravine a little bit where there were rocks creating a few natural pools that weren't disturbed by the river's current. I think the water there was pretty close to 100 degrees. It felt so awesome!
Once we got to the end of our trip, we had to shuttle the vehicles around again. Karlina had a track meet so they had to drop her off and then go get our vehicle while Marika, the kids, and I hung out at the playground. Karlina did really well in all her heats -- 1st place!
Since it was late and we were all just tired and hungry, we walked over to Peppino's Pizza for dinner.
Thursday - June 28, 2012
Tim's uncle Markian works at the Walking Mountain Science Center. Since we had a little time to play around with, we went to go visit him there before driving to Estes Park. It was a really cool place where kids (and parents) could learn more about the environment and how their choices impact the environment, etc.
We drove through the Rocky Mountain National Park. It's only $20 per vehicle for a 7 day pass. With everything we saw and experiences, that $20 was well worth it. Near the Onahu Trail Head, we saw a moose. There were a lot of tourists pulled over trying to capture the moose on film so it kind of took away from the coolness factor of seeing one in the wild. Moving on, we stopped to hike through the Coyote Valley trail. Caleb found some rocks to add to his collection and then it looked like it might start raining soon. So we headed back to the car.
The kids were pretty wiped out and since it was drizzling out, I decided to walk down to Lake Irene by myself while Tim watched the kids. On the way out there, a lady asked if I had seen the moose. Since I hadn't, she pointed it out to me. Sure enough, there was a mama and her baby. The baby was just running around like a big puppy and it came pretty close to me! I took a few pictures and then ran back to the car to get Tim and the kids. I had noticed that moose were headed down towards the lake, but wasn't sure if we'd miss them. As we continued on the trail, there they were up ahead. They were right on the trail itself. We were pretty close to them, but Tim made us start backing up because you don't ever want to interfere with a mama moose and her baby. So we went back to take a trail that still allowed us to see the moose pretty clearly. It was an AMAZING experience. I could've watched them forever as they ate and played in the water a little bit.
We finally left after getting some really cool photos. We saw a few Bighorn Sheep by Milner Pass (another Continental Divide). It was hard to see them since they were further off in the distance. Although I did see a few running down the mountain and captured one in a picture. Otherwise the best way to see them was through the binoculars that we had along.
There were a dozen or more elk just lying down off in the distance while we were at the Alpine Visitor's Center. Just as we got to 12,180 ft (the highest point on our trip), the temperature really started dropping and got down to 53 degrees. This was where we were able to walk out on the snow field in the tundra area. It was kind of strange to have been in around 90 degree weather and go down to the low 50's just in a matter of a few miles.
Right before we got to Tim's aunt Julie's place, there was an elk right by the road. There were so many people stopped to take pictures that Tim just kept on driving. I could've believe how close it was to people. With it's huge set of antlers, I was surprised it didn't try and charge anyone.
We got to Julie's. She's a manager of Streamside Cabins where they rent out cabins. It was a pretty nice place to stay. That night, there was the barbecue fiasco. Brats and hot dogs burned beyond recognition and being edible. lol... It was kind of funny. Luckily, the hamburgers survived and there were more hot dogs to grill up.
Friday - June, 29, 2012
We hit up the Rocky Mountain National Park again. This time we took the shuttle from Moraine Park to the Glacier Gorge Trail Head and then hiked to Alberta Falls. Sonya actually walked the whole mile there! She was very determined and didn't slow down much at all. After a few pictures, we hiked from there to Bear Lake and took the shuttle back to Moraine Park where we ate lunch. The kids were pretty tired after hiking and Sonya already passed out in the car so Tim hiked to see the Alluvial Fan while the rest of us waited in the car.
We got back to Julie's. Sonya continued napping even after we brought her into our room so I read a little and fell asleep too for a bit. The boys went swimming and then Sonya woke up and wanted to swim too so we did that for a little while. Then we took a drive through Estes Park to see the town.
Tim's cousin, Beckie, and her husband Tim came over for dinner with their nephew, James. We were all set to eat outside and then it started to drizzle. I joked that Julie should have a covered patio and then she said there was a cabin attached to her place that had one and no one was using the cabin so we moved everything down there. Supper was delicious! -- Pork tenderloins, salad, cucumber salad, bread, potatoes, fruit, veggie kebabs, and a wonderful chocolate dessert.
The kids had fun swinging around in the hammock while the adults chatted. It was a fun and relaxing evening.
Saturday - June 30, 2012
Driving out of town, there were quite a few windy roads again. We forgot to give Caleb some dremamine so all of a sudden, he says, "Dad, I don't feel good." Tim stopped the car and Caleb was able to wait just long enough to not get anything on himself or the car this time. Poor kid. Daddy slowed down with driving after that until we got to a straight-away. There were quite a few fires going on in Colorado while we were there and as we passed through Fort Collins, CO, we could see the smoke and haze from them. There was even a slight smell of smoke in the air.
We continued on driving to Wyoming and stopped for lunch at the Oregon Trail Wagon Rut area. It was pretty cool to see the old wagon trails forged into the rocks. I can't imagine trying to travel through that area in just a wagon.
During the drive, we passed a ranch called the Hidden Valley Ranch. I wonder.....
As we entered into South Dakota, the sky started looking really dark. It was actually a combination of rain clouds and smoke from one of the fires in Edgemont, SD. I couldn't believe how scorched some of the terrain was as we passed by. You could even see an area where the fire had jumped over the road that we were on. We saw firefighters and a helicopter carrying water. We didn't want to try and pull over in that area so I didn't get very good photos of it since it was mostly on the driver's side of the road while I was in the passenger's seat.
Finally, we made it to the Black Hills National Forest. We drove through Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park ($15 for a 7 day pass) where we went along Needle Highway. It was so beautiful with lots of rolling hills and some mountains. We saw buffalo, turkeys, a pronghorn, deer, and prairie dogs. We hoped to see some bighorn sheep, but none of them were along our path. The kids got out by the "needle" of Needle Highway to stretch a little bit and climb some rocks. They could never get tired of climbing.
Moving on again, we drove past Mount Rushmore to get to our hotel. Then we had dinner at Patty's Place. (It wasn't worth the extra money to go there -- food was ok, but could've went to Dairy Queen for the same food and less money).
We headed back to Mount Rushmore to get a closer view. ($11 for an annual pass). It was pretty cool to see how they blasted away parts of the mountain with dynamite in order to shape the monument. There was a lot of detail involved with planning. We hiked along the trail they had and got to see the presidents really well. We probably could've skipped it, but we stayed later to see the lighting up of Mount Rushmore once it got dark.
Sunday - July 1, 2012
We set out a little later since we had been up late the night before. I think we were all ready to start getting home. We continued on our way through South Dakota and stopped in Wall to see the "famous" Wall Drug. It was a pretty neat store with lots of shops all connected together with an area for the kids to play and a scary T-Rex!
About an hour later, we were in Kadoka, SD to see my friends Maribeth and Paul. They just had a baby in April so I go to meet and hold baby Jack. It was nice to catch up and see them again. We had lunch together and then we had to head out again.
On our way to Sioux Falls, we stopped at Corn Palace. Who knew that you could do such creative artwork with just corn, their husks, and different types of grasses? It was amazing! Every year, they have a different theme for the outside of the palace.
Finally, we reached our hotel in Sioux Falls. We actually had enough time to go swimming. It was the nicest hotel we had during our trip since we got a free upgrade on our room (thank you Priority Club!) and the pool was fantastic. They had a normal swimming pool and hot tub along with a kids' area where they had a little slide and a mushroom thing where the water comes down. It was nice to let them play around in there.
Monday - July 2, 2012
Homeward bound! -- We made a stop in Austin, MN where we hit up the Spam Museum. It was just something that broke up the trip a little bit and I have to admit that I was excited to go check it out. :-) As we got into Wisconsin, everything was so brown from the drought. I felt like we were driving through Nebraska or even parts of Colorado again. But, we finally made it home and it was nice to sleep in our own beds.
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