A Colorado Weekend Mini-Vacation

A Colorado Weekend Mini-Vacation  June 19-21, 2015

 

This weekend we decided to stay around Colorado and do all the fun things that we have always wanted to do, but have never gotten around to.  We headed out to Colorado Springs to the Florissant National Monument to hike around and see all the amazing petrified trees.  The trees are massive!  Scattered throughout the valley are giant petrified tree stumps and some pretty cool other vegetation along the trails.  We did a few hikes and then headed into the visitors center to learn more about the parks and history of the area.  We didn't have much time to spend, but we were really happy to have been able to see it.  And Jadeyn got his Junior Ranger Badge too!

Back to the Colorado Springs area to ride the Pikes Peak Cog Railway!  This cog rail has been functioning since around 1890 and is the world's highest cog train.  In sections of the track, it takes us up at a 25% grade! and eventually takes us to the top of Pike's Peak at 14,155 feet!  It was a pretty cool thing to experience and of course we loved the scenery along the ascent.  It reminded us of all our RZRing trips above tree line looking out over vast valleys and alpine lakes and chubby marmots!  The reward at the top was not only the incredibly beautiful 360 degree views, but also the world famous  high altitude donuts!  They had to create a special recipe for them to cook specifically at 14,000+ feet!  I must say, we were really hungry and they tasted great!  Jadeyn enjoyed playing in the snow and we soaked in the incredible views! Wow!  Such a fun experience.

 

After the railway, we decided to find a hotel and checked in at the north end of CS.  So, its 7pm, we are really hungry, but gee, there is a movie theater less than a mile away! Hum.... What to do?  We decided to go to Inside Out, the newest Pixar movie and bought a foot long hotdog to share between the three of us and a large slushie!  It actually all tasted delicious and was the perfect amount.  Now for the movie:   Wow! So much fun.  This movie had something for everyone and kept us laughing and smiling through the whole thing!  We were so glad we went (and skipped dinner)! 

 

Renaissance Festival!  Saturday morning we got all decked out in our renaissance costumes and headed for Larkspur.  It has been way too many years since we have been there and were so excited to introduce Jadeyn to it.  He was dressed up in a Robin Hood costume that we modified to be more renaissancy and added Frodo's sword Sting hanging on his side.  Me and Kevin's costumes were the same as before with a few small modifications: adding leather boot covers and Gandolf's sword for Kevin, and for mine altering the corset a tad to make up for the years and a baby! What fun! It was just as awesome as we remembered it to be: winding though the land with unique shops on all sides, old time food vendors selling stuff like artichokes and pickles, about half the people decked out in costume and acting the part...We saw a few shows, at some fun foods, watched Jadeyn joust and win!!!  He was on a wooden horse on a wire and was sent shooting down with a lane to catch a small ring from a dragon's mouth.  In all the time we watched other kids to it, no one succeeded.  Jadeyn concentrated and nailed it!  Way to go!  When we took him to the real jousting match, he was amazed!  Four knights against each other on horseback.  Very exciting!

 

 

What a great weekend getaway!!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Great Sand Dunes National Park

June 5 - June 8 2015

Can there be  a better playground for a kid than a giant sand box?!?!  We were so excited to go back to the Great Sand Dune National Park and even more excited to spend it with cousins and Shawn and Stephanie.  The crazy day begin a little more than unusual.  We have decided to take a break from RZRing.  Kevin has grown a bit weary of towing it around and with all the rain this summer so far, most of the trails have been damaged or are still closed.  We decided that now is the time to sell it and then come back to the sport in a year or two.  Well, the day of the trip  Jadeyn and I met them in the morning out in Boulder to make the transaction happen.  We felt good about who it was going to: a nice family who would love it and take care of it.  But it did make the morning a little crazy getting prepared for the weekend trip.  

When Kevin, Jadeyn and I got up there Thursday afternoon, we were shocked to find that both campgrounds were completely filled.  Oh no!!!  We frantically found a private campground what still had availability.  With all our running around, it ended up that Shawn and Steph arrived about 20 min after us!  Sweet.  Great spot with tons of room for the kids to romp and explore...and explore they did!!

Our first day on the dunes was a perfect one.  Warm breeze, bright skies.  With all the rain, the river flowing through the dunes was really wide and fast, and cold!  The water comes through in surged; its pretty cool.  A nice even layer or water over the sand and then suddenly a wave will come down that is extra cold.  Apparently, it is caused by little ripples of sand that create a dam across the sand holding back the water.  When the dams break, a large rush of water is released.  It is one of the few places in the world where this can be seen.  Very cool.    But because of the high water, the 4x4 road with all the water crossings was closed, so we only got to do that road partway.  It's a really fun road of sand where you have to gun the engine to keep from getting stuck and then hold up your vehicles skirts to cross the water!  The section we did was fun, but not was fun as the whole road would have been.

Off to the dunes.  Crossing the cold river was invigorating and we all did a bit of running until we were sufficiently numbed to it.  Then on to the hot sand.  The kids were off with boundless energy up and down the rolling dunes while we adults tried to keep up.  We raced down the slopes and enjoyed watching the kids roll down and explore.  So much fun.  Mid afternoon brought wind, so we headed back to camp for lunch and games.  It seemed like each day was like that: a nice morning and then thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening.  It was fun to be able to come back to camp for games, food and laughs.  We played Kub, horse shoes, Apples to Apples and then the highlight: Telestrations.  That game is so much fun and I know we could be heard laughing from several campsites over!

On one of the days we did a short hike up to a waterfall, but as it turned out, we couldn't see the actual falls from the trail.  We had to cross the creek and then hike partway up the water to be able to see it.  And, well, out of seven of us, only Kevin made it all the way.  If we thought the dunes water was cold, it was nothing compared to the frigid snowmelt water of this creek!  Wow! Instantly bone chilling so badly it hurt instantly!  We all made it across and I know we could have gone further, but the water was really fast and actually pretty deep in placed.  Me and Steph and the kids turned back while the boys pressed on.  At the head of the narrow canyon, you'd have to hike in knee deep water to a bend in the rock, wade past that to get to the falls.  Shawn returned to us and Kevin dissappeared around the bend.  He was out of sight for about 8 minutes and I actually got worried.  As it turned out, there was a rock he could stand on while he took pictures of the falls, so he wasn't dying thank goodness.  But when both boys made it back they both agreed that anyone who does a polar plunge is insane!

On Saturday, we discovered that the park was celebrating National Junior Ranger Day!  No way!  All three kids jumped on the opportunity to participate in the activities and earn their badges.  It was much more involved than the regular certificate.  It was 9 activities including walking a mile measured by a pedometer, a bucket brigade, building sand castles, nature walks etc.  They each earned a t-shirt, frisbee and a badge!

Overall the weekend was a blast.  Campfires and smores, walks through the campground, exploring and storytelling and really good food! And the stars were amazing!  So much fun!