Rocky Mountain High

It's been seven years since we last visited Colorado (way too long) and about a year since we started talking about doing a trip out there with Uncle Curt, Aunt Cheryl and Cousin Hagen. Finally, just a couple weeks ago, we got that whiff of country air, saw some wildlife and took some scenic hikes to last us another year or so.

We tried to extend our trip out there as long as possible, and ended up having two different Colorado vacations during one week. Each were lots of fun and came with plenty of adventures and down time.

Colorado - Part One
For the first half of the trip, we flew out to Denver and met up with Curt, Cheryl and Hagen from Houston. We then loaded up a suburban and were off to Estes Park. In order to make the most of our time together while the kids were awake but also napping, we rented a two-story cabin that had plenty of room for "playing" Jenga (a game left by the renters), cooking dinners, grilling smores, watching meteor showers on the deck, dancing (Hagen loves Lady Gaga and Park prefers the Black Eyed Peas ... or really, any good beat), jumping in piles of pillows, running little hands against (and hovering over) the air vents, coloring and running/scooting after each other. It was an ideal set up to say the least. The property was also just half a mile from a park that provided hours of fun (for both kids and adults).



When we weren't at the cabin, we enjoyed walking around the town of Estes Park. We also checked out two of the easier hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park. And we made a day-trip to Ft. Collins to see what all the talk was about. (We weren't impressed.)

Fun at the park




Fun at the cabin








Rocky Mountain National Park -- Hike around Nymph Lake and then off to Lily Pond for a picnic lunch












To be continued ...