COLORADO 2017
July 1st
Around 2:00 Saturday afternoon we picked up Daddy from work and hit the road!!
Colorado Bound!
We are a few 100 miles into the trip! Yay!
We stopped for gas and a quick supper at a gas station that evening.
The kids fell asleep around 10 and Kent kept driving through the night. I dozed off occasionally.
July 2nd
The kids woke up Sunday morning to this view!!! The mountains!
And only 100 miles left to our destination!
We drove into Buena Vista around 6:30 Sunday morning...exhausted and hungry.
It was still to early to find a place open for breakfast so we found a parking lot and slept in the van for about 45 minutes.
Praise the Lord! We made it in 16.5 hours.
Here we are stretching our legs at Cascade Falls along the Chalk Creek.
Sunday Morning church...Sermon on the mount!!
We couldn't check into our Bed and Breakfast until 4 so we decided to go to Mt. Princeton hot springs.
It was a beautiful day to swim...that is until the afternoon mountain thunderstorm came through.
It was only 3:00 when we left the hot springs so we decided to just park in the drive of the Bed and Breakfast and sleep in the van again until we could get in and unpack. The day seemed to go on FOREVER...that tends to happen when you stay awake most of the night!
Here it is!! Liar's Lodge.
After we got settled...and showered we drove into Buena Vista for supper. We had supper at Eddieline and then ice cream from Louies!
Then back to the lodge and in bed by 8:30!!! What a day!
Front porch view.
July 3rd
The next morning we woke up to a delicious breakfast of Apple french toast, scrambled eggs, sausage links and mixed fruit! It was amazing!
This is the view out the back of the Lodge dining room to the Arkansas river.
Here the kids are all ready to hop in the van and drive up to St. Elmo's Ghost Town.
Instead of turning left out the Lodge drive way to go the St. Elmo's we went right to see what was farther down the road that direction. We come up to these really cool tunnels!!!
Here we are at the Ghost town.
St. Elmo's is at the very end of the road. After the town you have to either drive a jeep or a
side-by-side. We decided to hike the trails instead.
And of course...throw rocks in the rivers!
There were humming birds everywhere and Sarina got to get really close to them!
And they got to feed the chipmunks too!
Eating right out of Reilly's hands.
Having a picnic lunch in the back of the van!
There were so many cool views of the mountains!
The flowers were also beautiful. Kent made sure we got a picture of every single different wild flower we saw.
Reilly and Sarina met these to kiddos (twins) at the Lodge and quickly became friends.
They spent a few afternoons together playing hide and seek and building rock towers.
The next few pictures are all views of the front "yard" at the Lodge. Mostly rocks and no grass.
Our mountain van!
In the afternoon Kent went fly fishing while I stayed at the Lodge and played with the kids.
He caught a rainbow trout.
Around supper time we road our bikes into town looking for a place to eat. It was exactly 1 mile to get there. We ate outside at the Lariat and then biked around town until almost dark. 
Two excited kiddies to sleep in their loft!
July 4th
On July 4th Kent got up early to go fishing...and I went on a walk.
For breakfast we had a hash brown egg casserole, almond cranberry oatmeal, and melon.
Delicious once again!
We road our bikes into town to watch the parade!
Sarina got a fan!
After the parade we walked around the park where they had tents with vendors set up...the kids got some refreshing Italian ice and also participated in a 3 legged race...but they didn't win.
At one of the local churches they were singing and playing patriotic music. We stopped in for a while to listen.
After that we road our bikes to a food cart...ate Lupper and then road our bikes around town.
Reilly got to try out the pump track Trent told us about!
I did too...it's pretty fun!
That afternoon when we got back to the Lodge the kids and I took naps while Kent went fishing again. In the evening we drove up cottonwood pass to see the sun set! It was Amazing!
Before it got too dark we went back down the pass to find a place to park and watch the fireworks!
It took the kids a while to get settled....here Sarina is having a monstrous fit...
she was cold, she was tired, she didn't have enough blanket, she could't see the fireworks...you get the picture! Kent and I didn't really feel sorry for her...just laughed!!!
And Reilly wasn't much better...he got woke up to see the fire works, he was cold, couldn't find his pillow and didn't have enough blanket either!!! After about 10 minutes of arguing and fits about nothing we sat and shivered through a good show of fire works. Whew! Off to bed with these cranks!
July 5th
I think this was my favorite day! Again we ate a big delicious breakfast.
Pancakes, egg omelet casserole, sausage and fruit.
We packed our backpacks with water and snacks and drove up Cotton Wood Pass.
It was BEAUTIFUL!
Here we ran into our first piles of snow. Kent and Sarina are trying to hit me with a snowball.
Ready, aim...who can hit Mom?!?!
Yes, someone did!
He found a sunny spot to eat his morning snack!
Kent explaining what the continental divide is...
Love my hikers!
Rocks, rocks and more rocks!
Admiring the view...
Favorite Family Photo!!!
With my littlest hiker...
The Puddle got soaked in the snow...no surprise there...and even threw a fit when she couldn't change into dry clothes!! Here she is still having fun getting wet.
Little miss rock collector...
On the way back down the pass we stopped at Cotton Wood Lake so Kent could fish again.
The kids had fun putting their feet in the water and throwing rocks.
After that, we drove into town to eat a late lunch before going back to the lodge to get cleaned up.
In the evening we went back to the Lariat and Kent got to sing some John Denver songs on stage!
His dream come true!! He did a great job.
The patio flowers at the Lariat were so pretty...had to get a picture!
Since we had had such a late lunch we decided to just go get ice cream for supper!
We went to Louies again...and this time the kids got to play in the court yard there.
It was a pretty cool place with lots to keep the kids entertained.
July 6th
Good morning! The kids played a game in the loft before breakfast.
Kent's sunny, study spot!
The girls at breakfast!
And the boys!
This is our wonderful host couple who made our delicious breakfasts every morning!
Playing or more like teasing the dog.
We drove to Leadville to ride the train this day!
The train cars had open sides. On the way back down we road in a car without a roof!
My Man!
Punching our tickets.
Where are you from???
The hour back down the mountain got long...and made the Puddle very sleepy!
After the train ride and lunch in Leadville we started driving back towards Buena Vista.
I had taken some Dramamine for the train ride and it was starting to make me really tired.
I fell asleep while Kent and the kids walked around a lake...when I woke up Kent had driven up the continental divide...half way to Aspen! I was so car sick I didn't want to go any farther knowing we would have to take the same windy route to get back!!! We got out an hiked when we got to the top of the divide and he persuaded me to stick it out and go the rest of the way to Aspen...so I tried!
At the divide.
And we made it to Aspen...without puking!
It is a beautiful city!
AND this is why he wanted to go to Aspen...to see the John Denver garden...
In their glory....
GO DADDY GO!!!
On the way back down the pass we had to stop so I could get out and walk around for a while...still feeling very car sick....
A view of the roads...very windy and hilly!
Our last stop off was this pretty water fall.
We hiked up a ways until it got too muddy.
We saw this mural right before we walked into Eddieline for Pizza and snapped a quick picture of the kids in front of it!
July 7th-8th
Before we left for home on Friday morning I took a few pictures of the view we had out our windows! It was an awesome place to stay!
We were served my favorite breakfast on our last morning at the lodge!!!
Waffles, Italian egg casserole, strawberries and yogurt.
After we packed up we stopped at the BV Brewery to get a Mexican Coffee per Trent's request and Eddieline for some beer.
After a few hours on the road we ran into some hale! Thankfully no damage done!
These two thought it was pretty cool to eat supper in the van...It was so dusty and full of rocks, dirt and vacation grime that we would never notice if they spilled.
We had a very safe and loooooong trip home! It was a wonderful vacation that we all enjoyed so much! Maybe some day we can go back again...go on some longer hikes and hopefully eat at a lot of the same restaurants!!!!
WHEW! This post took FOREVER!
