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.

Mountains, Snow and Elk

Our cabin in Estes Park has a family of fox that lives nearby.  Sunday morning I was able to get pretty close to one of them and get some pictures.  He seemed pretty comfortable with me and only ran off when a dog came up and sniffed it back into a hole.

We are staying in McGregor Mountain Lodge, just outside an entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The grounds surrounding our cabin are beautiful with lots of trees, birds, flowers and wildlife.  My mom told us that after seeing all the beautiful birds here, she can understand why people get into bird watching. 

After breakfast in the cabin, we rounded everyone up and drove into RMNP.  It was very crowded.  Lots of cars, people and slow moving traffic.  We stopped first at Alluvial Fan, the site of a flood in 1982, with splendid waterfalls.  A truly majestic and beautiful spot. 

The kids all had to touch the water to feel how cold that melted snow was coming off the mountain.  We took so many pictures at this nice spot in the mountains.  

It started to rain, which chased us all back to our cars and off to find a potty stop for the kids. (That is the trouble with consuming large quantities of water to ward off altitude sickness). 

We decided our next drive should be to take Trail Ridge Drive up to the Alpine Visitor's Center over 12,000 feet above sea level.  To get there, we drove up and up, winding around the sides of the mountains on a road with severe drop offs.  It was slow moving due to congestion.  At some point, it started hailing and our drive became a crawl.  All through this time, Dad was busy on the walkie talkie with David’s car behind us.  Mom started to get scared of the heights and the hail slowing us down.  She was determined that we needed to stop and turn around (where, I’m not sure).  Dad passed her the walkie talkie so she could convince David and Leah we needed to turn around.  It was actually just a tactic to distract her.  I think Cameron was on the other end of the walkie talkie, not a grown up.  The hail cleared up and on and up we went. 

As it turns out, David’s car was having a bit of drama of their own.  Ashley decided she HAD to use the restroom during this winding drive.  Unfortunately, all of the pull offs with restrooms were jam packed with cars.  She was crying and offering to go squat in the snow when David managed to get her into a rest stop. 

As we came to the highest point in the drive (12,183 ft) and onto the tundra, Dad was inspired to begin singing The Sound of Music.  Drivers all over the mountain with walkie talkies got to listen to Dad warble, “The hills are alive, with the sound of music, ah –ah –ah-ah…” not once, but twice.  It was a huge hit in our car as the kids were laughing and cackling hysterically.

Elk sitting by the roadside

The tundra was so beautiful and not what I’d expected.  I was expecting the top of the mountain to be rock, covered with parts of snow.  Instead, it had grass, flowers and lots of elk.  We saw several herds of elk at various points in the tundra.  Some were so tame, they just stood and posed for pictures while cars stopped. 

 

When we made it to the top, we realized we’d left all our jackets back at the cabin.  Oops.  It was a little chilly, but the wind was blowing so hard, we didn’t spend much time outside anyway.  There was a nice visitors center with a café where we had lunch.  While up there, several of us started having problems with altitude sickness.  Mine started upon arriving in Denver, but was made worse during our drive.  Lots of dizziness, headaches, fatigue and queasy stomachs.   After buying a few souvenirs, we started the drive back down, hoping our symptoms would subside a little.

Daniel had been so excited to see all the snow on the way up, so we made a point to stop on the way down to play in a big patch of snow.   Brenna didn’t stay out long, her head was still hurting, and Alex and Megan were not thrilled with it.  But the other four kids had a ball throwing snow balls at each other.  It wasn’t quite long enough for them and protested as we went back to the car to continue our descent down the mountain.

At the end of the day it was really nice to have the cabin to come back to and relax.  A good storm rolled in and kept us all inside for a couple of hours before dinner.  Would you believe we built a fire in the fireplace in July?  It was fun and really nice.  

David and Dad grilled steaks after the storm passed so we could all sit outside and eat.

It has been a great vacation so far.  We miss Brian a great deal, but I have gotten to video chat with him via Skype a couple of times.  The kids love the opportunity to see and talk to him while he is in Alaska.

It is really really late, so I must get myself to bed.  It is too easy for me to stay up late with the kids all sleeping in the bedroom.  I've put myself on the sleeper sofa just so I can get some "alone" time on this trip. What that actually means is I stay up late watching tv or reading, then throughout the night, the kids come out and get in bed with me.  Maybe tonight I'll go sleep in the bedroom when they get up and come in here.  

First Full Day in Colorado

Saturday found us getting in the car for our last long drive before we get to stay for a few days in one spot.  We started out with a nice breakfast at Mickey D's.  It was funny, one of Shelly's girls (I think it was Brenna) informed me that they do not get to eat breakfast, nor any other meal at McDonald's, so this was a real treat.  The kids have gotten ordering in a restaurant or fast food place down to an art with our large group. I’ve been impressed how smoothly it can go.  We were thrilled to get more compliments on how great our group was behaving.  

Leaving Pueblo heading towards Denver the kids were very excited getting a peak at the growing mountains.  We got a little frustrated at the crazy Saturday morning summer traffic leading up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  After passing through Boulder, we were surprised by the shear number of bicyclists on the winding roads.  The ones riding by themselves weren't a problem, but at times we passed five on one side of the road and a couple on the other.  Within 45 minutes we passed a couple hundred cyclists.  Guess people take this outdoor living very seriously here in Colorado.  Course, if I had to put up with their winters I would live outside all summer also.  

Our favorite quote during the drive came from Papa.  The kids were talking about which cute little cabin they would want to live in next to a stream on the side of the mountain and asked Papa he preference.  His response, “I don’t want any of those houses cause I’d have to drive on this stupid road with all these stupid people every day.”  Yep, it was lots of fun encountering all the tourists who had our same idea of where to go for vaca.

The best part about arriving in Estes Park was catching up with my brother and family.  David and Leah flew to Denver the day before with their three kids.  The children all acted like long lost cousins who hadn't seen each other in ages when we met for lunch.  

Our family is staying in a cabin rental just outside the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park at McGregor Mountain Lodge.  The cabin is broken up into a four-plex of which we have 3 of the units.  I do feel a little sorry for the couple in the other unit because we have lots of kids and can be quite loud.  Mom and Dad have a wonderful view off the upper porch, but down below, we have several picnic tables, Adirondack chairs and porch swings.  We love hanging out while the kids play in the yard, porch and patio.

Laurie & Megan

 We weren't here an hour before the kids noticed all the small squirrels and chipmunks (which we discovered aren’t chipmunks, but another type of squireel) running around the yard.  We have beautiful birds everywhere and a family of fox roaming about.  We've been warned a bear has been sighted around the cabins at night, but we don't really feel the need to wander around at night to see it.  

The weather here is a little strange.  One minute it is sunny and "hot" (80) and the next, storm clouds are rolling in with a spectacular lightening show over the mountains.  After a brief rain, we saw a glorious double rainbow driving through town.

David and Leah, having already been in Estes Park for a day, filled us in on what there is to do in the area.  It was quickly decided we needed to go to the Rooftop Rodeo that night. This rodeo has won national awards the last three years for being the best in small town rodeos. I've of course been to the Houston Rodeo many times, but can't think I've ever been to a small town rodeo.  What a treat!  

It was a blast.  Alexander's favorite was the mutton busting (little kids riding sheep, holding on for dear life), Daniel loved the bull riding, and the big girls all seemed to love the barrel racing.  There was lots of interaction between the announcer, the rodeo clown and the crowd.  There wasn't a bad seat in the house, but boy – it was packed.  What a great first night all together in Colorado.  

The kids were so cute.  Alex & Laurie had their own cousin bonding going on during the rodeo.  Adorable.

They just love being together.

It was a great rodeo and lots of fun!!!

When the kids and I got back to our cabin, we spotted Brian's first catch of Alaska King Salmon on FaceBook.  He arrived in Anchorage Friday night and to his spot on the river sometime on Saturday.  He and his friend, John, are living their dream of salmon fishing this week while the kids and I are here in the mountains.  

Check back to see our pictures from Sunday taken at 12,000 feet.

Texas, Oklahoma & Colorado

You might have noticed I didn’t get a post up last night about lastest leg of the journey. It was a long day. We started out the morning by heading back into Palo Duro Canyon for some exploration.  Stopping first at the Visitor’s Center, we learned a bit about the formation and history of the canyon. Mom did a little shopping; buying a new Texas purse, a gift and books.   But, she forgot to use her 15% off coupon! 

Daniel spent most of the time looking through the telescope looking at the most popular rock formation for the Canyon, the Lighthouse.  We never got close enough to it in person to get a picture but the pictures we saw (and through the telescope) showed an interesting formation.

We spent some time driving through the canyon looking around.  Dad was fascinated at the white stripes running through the bright orange rock layers on the cliff walls.  He really wants to know what caused the color change in layers.  Remind me to google that later.

It was a beautiful canyon, but summer during a drought is not the proper time to visit.  It wasn’t even 11 a.m. but the temperature had already climbed to 100 degrees.  We passed over six low water crossings with dry cracked earth.  The wind was blowing but felt hot and dry.  Your mouth was just parched thinking about it. 

We jumped out of the car to visit a dugout replica of how people lived when they settled the area.  The kids were not impressed with the idea of living basically in a cave. It was hard for them to imagine needing to live in the earth like that.  

What they really wanted to do was go hiking and check out the trails.  We  adults ruled the day and vetoed hiking due to the harsh heat.  But, we did stop and take lots of pictures of the canyon.

After saying good bye to the canyon we continued our drive into Amarillo where we stopped at a Chinese buffet.  Wow, can these kids eat Chinese food.  It’s a good thing we weren’t charged for the number of times they went back to get more food.

Since we were so close to the historic Route 66, I convinced Dad (and it did take some convincing) that we should stop by and see the Cadillac Ranch on Route 66.  It was a great example of “hippie art”  - Caddies sticking up out of the ground that you are encouraged to deface and vandalize.  Strange, I know.  But it is one of those cultural, Americana things we had to see since we were so close.

To sum it up - old cars sticking up out of the ground in the middle of a dusty field, a hot wind kicking up dirt and the smell of spray paint in the air.  It was strange and weird but you couldn’t help but look.   We looked, took pictures and headed back to the car. 

 

What else did we see in Texas?  More windmills.  They were everywhere.

More windmills in Texas

Say Hello to Oklahoma!

While looking at the maps, I realized how close we were driving to the panhandle of Oklahoma.  It was my bright idea that we should detour from our planned route to drive straight up from Texas through the panhandle of Oklahoma into Colorado, then cut over West to Pueblo.  It didn’t look any farther than our planned route.  If I ever want to detour again someone just tell me – Google Maps is your friend.  Trust it to tell you the best route to your destination.  While the mileage wasn’t much different, the roads were very different.  The one I chose had you driving 35 mph through every small town.  It was “nice” to see a different part of the region, but mighty frustrating to not arrive in Pueblo until 9 p.m.  (which was 8 pm local time due to moving into Mountain time).  

Packed in like sardines

The plus side of the drive, my mom volunteered to sit in the back with the kids.  Bless you Mom.  That saved my sanity today. 

Did I mention the wild lightening storm as we drove through Eastern Colorado?  Crazy weather.  And the kids denied we were actually in Colorado since there weren’t any mountains!  We tried to explain that not all of Colorado was mountainous, but finally gave up. 

I would say all of us were a little frazzled after the long, long day.  Mom ran down to the motel restaurant and brought us back margaritas. Not quite a Hacienda margarita, but it was ok in a pinch. We made the educated decision not to go out to dinner, but stayed in and ordered pizza.  Dad ran out to pick up some wine, dessert and napkins.  It was our best dinner of the trip yet. 

 Saturday we reach our first mountain destination in Estes Park and catch up with David, Leah and kids.  Maybe the kids will finally believe we are in Colorado when they catch a glimpse of the Rocky Mountains up close and personal.