Ride Em Cowboy!

Stanley Hotel

Monday morning in Colorado we decided to visit the inspiration for the book, The Shining.  The 102 year old Stanley Hotel is very pretty and elegant, but unfortunately, unless you were a guest at the hotel or pay for the haunted tour, there is not much to actually see in the limited public spaces.

So, we headed into Estes Park for lunch. Main street in Estes Park is a cute, quaint, touristy spot with many restaurants and shops.  We found a little family restaurant called, Local's Grill for a quick bite to eat.  Our waitress turned out to be from Rosenberg, just a few suburbs over from where we live.  Small world.

After lunch, we ran into a tourist shop to pick up some t-shirts for each of us to take home. They had t-shirts that said, "My loved one went to Rocky Mountain National Park and all I got was this t-shirt."  We thought about picking one up for Brian, but settled for a nice navy one he'd actually wear.

Ready to Go!!

Our big event of the day was horse back riding.  Nana chose Cowpoke Corral Stables in Estes Park because all 6 of the biggest kids were allowed to ride.  My kids are always excited for the rare opportunity to ride, and this was to be Laurie’s first time on a big horse.  Alex & Laurie seemed a bit nervous about riding the horses until they learned they only walked.  Turns out, they had visions of racing horses across a field at full speed. 

Birdie's Big Smile

When we got there and saw how huge the horses were, I got a little nervous. I couldn’t imagine putting my 4 year old baby on one of those big horses.  The trainers reassured me and Birdie was ready to go.  From the moment they put her up on “Shadow” she started smiling from ear to ear.  I don’t think she stopped smiling until they took her off at the end of the trail ride.  Once again, Mommy was wrong and was nervous for no reason. 

Megan on her pony, Duke

 The little kids did excellent holding on as we rode the horses up the side of the mountain and back down again.  Megan, at 3 years old, was allowed to sit on a pony and walk it around the property with Papa while the rest of us were out riding.  She had a great time.

Alex on Caddy

Daniel on Jaybird

Cameron on Mr. Wilson

Ashley on Socks

Brenna on Doc

Daniel rode an old crotchedy horse name Jaybird.  He would walk backwards and kick my horse, Rascal, if we got to close to him during the trail ride.  Ashley’s horse, Socks, was blind in one eye and she loved him the more for it. Cameron and Brenna rode like the pros they are on Mr. Wilson and Doc.  David rode Rocky, Leah on Cinder and I rode Rascal.

The last time we rode as a group was in Lajitas, just outside of Big Bend National Park.  These two riding experiences didn't even compare.  Lajitas was riding through a dust filled hot desert, this was a beautiful trail ride up a tree filled mountainside with a breeze and nice temperatures.  Really nice. 

Day six of our trip meant that Mom and I needed to do some laundry, so we dropped everyone else back off at the cabin to head over to the laundramat.  First, let me say, I haven’t done laundry at a laundramat since law school and they were never this clean.  Wow.  This was a nice place.  We were able to do 7 loads of laundry and fold them in less than two hours.  Pretty awesome.  I need to do laundry like this at home. Forget doing them one load at a time.  

It stormed really good while we were there, of course.  Have I mentioned that Colorado has the most intense thunderstoms?  The storm clouds roll down over the mountains and create the most incredible lightening shows.  Thankfully, it stopped raining in time for us to put the clean clothes in the car and drive back to the cabin.

We arrived back to find Leah and the boys preparing hamburgers for everyone out on the patio.  It was an enjoyable last night in Estes Park.  Even though it rained every day, it was an incredible stay.