COLORADO - Summer of 2002

Saturday, July 27th

We began our summer vacation at about 5:30 a.m. We had gotten to bed pretty early the night before so it wasn't too bad getting up. We knew we had to make the 12-hour drive from Dallas to Manitou Springs and wanted to get there in time to swim a little in the motel pool. The day went pretty quickly. The kids slept most of the morning. Ed and I took turns driving changing every 2 hours. We ate lunch in Amarillo at a Braum’s although we couldn't find the Braum’s we usually eat at with Linda. We kind of got lost and Ed got frustrated. I never can figure out how to get around Amarillo without going through the town.

Going through Pueblo, about an hour from our destination, we got in a bit of a traffic jam. A NASCAR race was letting out and we inched along for about 10 miles. Nevertheless, we got to our hotel right on time. The hotel was really nice--the room was bigger than normal with a little kitchen area--table, 2 chairs, stovetop, microwave, and refrigerator. We got a rollaway for Andrew and there was still plenty of room. One really good thing was the bathroom was split between toilet/tub area and sink/mirror area. And the best part was the sink/mirror area even had a door so it could be used as a changing room. That's always nice when you have boys and girls staying in the same, big room.

We headed down to the pool pretty quickly, but as soon as we did, it started to rain. Apparently showers pass through around that time every night. We didn't let it bother us --I went in the hot tub and the kids went in the pool. Ed came down after the rain stopped and hung out. We talked with a rather drunk couple in the hot tub who had been to the race. They were from Cripple Creek and told us we just had to go there. It was tentatively on the agenda, but they convinced us it wasn't to be missed.

After relaxing in the pool/hot tub, we dressed for dinner. We ate at a pizza place that was really nice. Everyone was in a good mood. I had a fancy beer so I was feeling pretty laid back. The pizza was great! The girls had spaghetti and Andrew a calzone. After dinner, we grocery shopped. We planned to save lots of money by only eating out one meal a day. We spent $97 at the grocery store! It made me start to wonder if my plan would really work.

Once we got back to the hotel, Ed and I went on a little walk, exploring the town. Downtown Manitou Springs was only a few blocks from the hotel. We were looking for the perfect place for breakfast and we found it. We also stopped and got coffee (for Ed) and mate for me. It's a South American tea that is supposed to have properties similar to green tea. It tasted pretty bad until I put gobs of milk and honey in it.

Sunday, July 28th

In the morning Mike and A.J. came to the hotel at 8:30. A.J. is Mike's girlfriend's grandson who they are raising. What a cutey. The girls fell immediately in love, and I did too. We got lots of pictures, so you'll see what I mean. Mike is the typical, doting father. I actually think Mike is the primary caretaker. Lori is so busy with work that Mike is with A.J. more than she is. We walked to the restaurant that Ed and I had picked out the day before. The food was very good and everyone but Katie gobbled it up. For some reason she didn't like her breakfast burrito.

We walked back to the motel and jumped in the van for the 1/2-mile drive to the Pike's Peak Cog Train Station. It's a good thing I had made reservations as the place was packed. We picked up our tickets and went into the gift shop. I got a magnet souvenir and headed to wait in the restroom line. The train takes an hour and a half to get to the top and, of course, there are no bathroom stops along the way. Linda had gone two years before and so advised me about a lot of things to do or watch out for. She also told us we had to eat the "high elevation donuts" at the top, which we did.

That brings me to Andrew's and our first big fight of the trip. It started in the gift shop. Andrew was feeling pretty bad because he didn't have any money and the girls did. He had spent most of the money got from Linda to watch her cat while she was in New York at Six Flags the week before we left. He wanted me to buy him something and I wouldn't. He crabbed all the way to the top in the train. Once we got to the top, Andrew argued that Linda and I had said that the donuts were FREE and they weren’t. I had never even been there so how would I know how much the donuts were?

It might have had something to do with the elevation. We were told that unless you breathe deeply on the way up in the train, you could get altitude sickness that starts with a bad headache and dizziness. Andrew was complaining of not feeling well. Also, the temperature went from about 85 at ground level to 32 at the top. In fact, when we got to the top, it was snowing!! Luckily we were prepared and all had pants on with sweatshirts or sweaters.

We took lots of pictures on the way up and at the top. I felt like we didn't have enough time on the top though as we were let off around 12:15 and had to be back on the train at 12:50. By the time we got the donuts and went to the bathroom, it was time to get back on. We did get a few pictures though that turned out pretty good.

The whole way up and down on the train I was sitting across from a boy of 10 who kept kicking me in the shins. I kept moving to avoid his kicks, but somehow he always managed to find me again. The train did make one stop on the way down. The little kicker had to make an emergency bathroom stop (behind a tree). That’s probably why he was so fidgety. Andrew slept most of the way down--just as well, at least he wasn't crabbing.

But Andrew started up again when we got back to the motel and I noticed he got chewing gum all over the seat in the van. I told him to get some ice to get it off. He ranted and raved that I wasn't being fair making him do it as he didn't purposely get the gum on the seat. Mike couldn't believe how ill mannered Andrew was being and tried to talk him out of being so angry and rude. I appreciated someone speaking in my defense.

We ate a picnic lunch together in the room and then Mike left with A.J. who needed to take his afternoon nap. We spent a few hours poolside. We met some more nice people in the hot tub. They had kids and the kids all played together in the pool. It was a very friendly crowd at the motel. We swam until it was time to go to Mike's house. He wanted to take us out to dinner and for rides on his Harley.

A few words about Manitou Springs. It's a small, artsy/craftsy, sleepy little town. It didn't seem real touristy--maybe most of the tourists stay in Colorado Springs about 15 minutes away. Ed remarked that he thought Carla would really like it as it seemed an awfully lot like Mt. Adams. Most of the residents looked like old hippies. There were a lot of restaurants and bars with atmosphere. The town also boasted the oldest games arcade in the country and in it we found pinball games, little kiddie rides and other amusements that were ancient--things we used to see when we were young.

Our motel was the closest to town in a strip of motels about two miles long. Most of them looked very similar--Mom & Pop operations with a pool/hot tub out front.

After swimming, we drove the hour south to Pueblo where Mike lives. The kids all fell asleep on the way and were a little groggy when we got there. A.J. was still asleep from his nap but we all went in and woke him up--he was very happy to see the girls again. Unfortunately, he was going to an outdoor concert with his other grandma (A.J.'s father's mother) so we didn't get to see him for long. Mike took us on a tour of his house--a big, old house with a nice yard and big basement. Lori's other daughter (not A.J.'s mother) lives in the basement--kind of like an apartment of her own that she doesn't have to pay for. We met Lori--nice, but in a cool sort of way. She didn't welcome us with open arms, or even say anything for that matter; she just went about her business. But she did come to dinner with us and I ended up liking her a lot.

Mike got out the Harley and took each one of the kids and me for a ride. I took videos of each one of them driving off and then again when we heard them coming back. They all liked the ride a lot. Mike said he doesn't even ride the bike much anymore--one of those things that at one time he really wanted, but now that he has had it for a while, the newness has worn off.

After A.J.'s grandma came to pick him up (with a few tears from him that he had to leave Ali and Katie), the rest of us drove to the Mexican restaurant in our van. The food was very good, authentic, Mexican. Mike and I each had a margarita and Lori had a different fancy drink. We talked a little bit about the metaphysical shop she started that is only open one day a week. She's hoping to eventually make it a full-time thing so she can quit her job at Boston Market. She has carpel-tunnel from putting all the chickens on the spit and has to wear braces on her wrists.

Mike seemed good but he told us later that he really wants to move back to New York where his Mom, Dad and brother, Doug, and family live. Originally Lori said she would go with him but lately she's backed down and is saying she can't leave her kids. Mike is pretty bummed out because he doesn't want to leave A.J. Apparently Lori thinks her daughter (A.J.'s mother) will eventually straighten up and take A.J. back. She's pretty heavily into drugs and can't hold down a job--it could be years or never. From listening to Mike, I know he hopes it's never. It was sad saying goodbye but we couldn't stay as they both had to get to work early in the morning. I know Mike would have liked to see us again, but it just didn't fit into our schedule. We drove back to Manitou Springs and were in bed by 11:00 p.m.

Monday, July 29th

Ed and I got up early the next morning and ran. There really wasn't any good place to run, but we ran two miles down the street the hotel was on and then back. There was a lot of traffic and the sidewalk was uneven. The sun was in our eyes on the way down and I was afraid I might turn my ankle so I didn't see much of the sights. Ed was running too fast for me and wouldn't wait up. The whole two miles were down hill so the way back was even worse--except the sun wasn't in our eyes. It was nice weather though--probably about 75 degrees.

After our breakfast of donuts, bananas, juice and fruit/nut bars, we left for Canon City and the Royal Gorge. We packed our lunch and brought our cooler that we filled with ice. The drive was beautiful, although longer than we thought. We wasted some time right off the bat because we missed the exit on the expressway and had to go back around through a lot of traffic. I think we left the hotel about 10:00 a.m. and didn't get there until close to noon. Coincidentally, Ali had gone to Canon City for a whitewater rafting trip while on vacation with her Dad a few weeks earlier. We went right by the place where they rented their rafts.

It had gotten a little hotter, probably about 85 degrees, but it still felt pretty good. The admission to the park/bridge was pretty cheap--only $15 for adults and $13 for Katie (with my $2 off coupon). The first thing we did was the aerial tram across the Gorge. It was scary to look at but wasn't once we got on. The Gorge is unbelievable--I hadn't seen anything like that in so long. I know we went there when we were young, but I really don't remember it.

Once we were on the other side of the Gorge, we walked along a path and took some pictures on our way to a little theater. There we saw a show about how the Bridge was made and a film clip. There were also lots of exhibits under glass. Then we walked across the bridge--it's just wooden planks and you can see through some of the cracks to the Gorge below. That part seemed familiar.

We went back to the car and got our lunch as, by that time, it was getting pretty late and we were all famished. The picnic lunch thing really worked for me but I felt like I ate much more than I would have had we gone to a restaurant. That was the only thing I didn't like about it. There were many picnic tables in the park and we ate at one that was overlooking the Gorge. The only bad thing--it was very windy and we had to hold onto everything for fear it would be blown over the edge.

Andrew was, once again, being a pill. He always wanted to do things that no one else wanted to do; and then when we wouldn't do them, he'd get mad and say we never did what he wanted to do. Ali was a little bummed because her camera broke. She dropped it twice and then hit it against something and it rewound even though she had only taken 5 pictures. I thought it was just as well as she had one of those cameras that take panoramic shots. The bad thing about those is the cost of the developing. I promised I'd buy her a disposable one at the grocery store. Katie bought two disposable ones before we left and had already used almost all of those pictures, so she needed a new one too.

After lunch we took a little train that goes down to the bottom of the Gorge. We took many more pictures down there. Andrew was still being a pill--I think he wanted to leave. He had seen enough of the Gorge. We were there about 4 hours and got back to the Motel about 5:30 p.m. We swam again for a little while and then walked into town for dinner. At first we were going to try to go to Seven Falls that night, but we decided it was too late and to wait until the next night.

Dinner was good again--greasy hamburgers. We ate at a bar that the "hot tub/Cripple Creek" people told us was really good--and they were right. Ed had a buffalo burger that looked kind of gross and was bloody. I did not try it. There was a pool table in the bar and Andrew wanted to play, but someone else was playing and we didn't want to wait. Of course, he wasn't happy about that.

Instead we went to the old arcade. Luckily a lot of the games there were very cheap--$.05, $.10, even $.01 so even Andrew got to play some. Unfortunately though he put 4 quarters in a dollar changer that took dollar bills and he had to wait to get his money refunded.

Ed and I let the kids play and we went out and sat on a bench and had an ice cream cone. Luckily they were too engrossed in their games to notice or they would have wanted one. We got home about 10:30 and went right to bed.

Tuesday, July 30th

Ed and I got up early and ran again. This time it was better--we went exploring and found some great running roads off the main street. Still lots of hills and Ed still left me, but I enjoyed it a lot more. When we got back to the room, we got the kids up to get ready to go to Cripple Creek. Unfortunately we were running out of a few grocery items already so Katie and I ran down to the store while Ed watched Bruce Springsteen on Good Morning America. We also needed gas so Katie and I stopped on our way home. Everyone was pretty much ready by the time we returned so off we went.

The drive was really pretty--up over a pass called Ute Pass and then down some very winding roads. It took a little over an hour. The Molly Kathleen Gold Mine sits on a hill overlooking Cripple Creek that is down in a valley. It was our first stop. I realized when we got out of the car that I was glad I brought a sweater. It was quite chilly.

We bought our tickets for the tour and spent some time in the gift shop while we waited for our group to be called. I had a 10% off coupons and so bought the obligatory magnet while Katie bought some colored stones. Ali wanted to buy a key chain but decided to wait to see if she could find a cheaper one in town.

They called us pretty quickly and we all went over to the mineshaft. There were about 14 of us on the tour and we all had to put on hard hats. They loaded the 5 of us in an elevator with two other people and banged the bars shut. Carla would not have liked it--we were like sardines. They raised our elevator up while they loaded the one underneath us. It didn't take long to get to the bottom--and I forget how far down in the ground we went. It was something like going down the equivalent of a 40-story building. It was actually pretty neat down there.

We had a great tour guide--he was an actual gold miner for 9 years even though he was only 27. His grandfather and father were also gold miners and he really had the fever. He would have much rather been mining than conducting our tour but most of the gold mines in Cripple Creek are shut down. They'll open up again if the price of gold goes high enough to make it worthwhile. There are some 40 gold mines in the Cripple Creek area and only 2 of them are in production now. He also told us the Mollie Kathleen mine still has 80% of its gold untouched! The tour was about an hour long--we learned about all the different equipment that has been used over the years to mine and to haul the gold out of the mine. We also learned about the different methods to extract the gold from the ore it's attached to and how to know what it looks like when you see it. Katie got to drive one of the air-driven rail cars--she was the volunteer. You could tell she thought it was pretty neat. Ed asked some very astute questions--he knows something about mining as his Dad was a coal miner for years. We each got a piece of rock from the mine with a small amount of gold attached as a souvenir. We hung around the mine for a while after the tour taking pictures and feeding the chipmunks. Then we left for town.

By that time we were ready to eat lunch but we were freezing. Andrew hadn’t even brought a jacket and was only in a short-sleeved t-shirt. We found a picnic table at a park in the center of town and shivered while we ate. It kept threatening to rain. After lunch we drove to the train station and bought tickets for a tour that went by many abandoned mines. We had about an hour to kill so we shopped. I bought my magnet and also a sweatshirt that I loaned to Andrew. You could tell it wasn't “cool” enough for him though as he kept taking it off and saying he was hot. We walked around town and quickly realized it was all casinos!! Terry would have loved it--it was so quaint. We ended up having to run to the train in the pouring rain. Luckily the cars were enclosed.

The tour was just OK. Our conductor was very hard to understand so that didn't help. Also, gold mines don't look like much on the surface. But it was incredible the amount of gold that came out of that little valley. The conductor kept emphasizing that the $10 million in gold that came out of a given mine was when gold was $20/ounce! I had heard of Cripple Creek but hadn’t realized it is one of the richest gold mining areas in the world. After the train ride, we headed back to Manitou Springs for a quick swim. We still had lots to do that day.

We ate outdoors at a Mexican Restaurant. Andrew was upset that the sun was in his eyes. Shortly thereafter he got upset because he wanted to change his order once the waitress came and I wouldn't let him change it. He does that frequently and it really annoys me. I like to know what everybody is getting beforehand so I can make sure it's not going to break the bank. I also don't particularly want everyone to know how cheap I am. We had plans to go to Seven Falls that evening and he kept insisting that we take him back to the hotel--he didn't want to go. By the time dinner was over he had calmed down some and wasn't protesting anymore.

Seven Falls is very close to Manitou Springs--it only took us about 15 minutes to get there. We had heard we should go at night because the falls are lit up with multi-colored lights. When we got there, it was about 7:00 p.m. so it wasn't dark yet. The area surrounding the falls is gorgeous! It's in a huge canyon. At first we walked up the 185 stairs to an observation deck--the best place to view the falls. It really was breathtaking. We took some pictures, but they don't do it justice. After watching some Indians dancing at the base of the falls, we walked up another flight of stairs (some 215 more) to the top of the falls. It really gave me vertigo to be up that high even with the guardrails. Helen Hunt Jackson (who wrote the book, Ramona) used to be buried by the falls. I wanted to walk the mile trail that goes by her former gravesite, but the path was closed. The first of the seven falls is called “Ramona Falls”.

I forgot to mention that there were signs all over the place when we first came into the parking lot that there were no bathrooms by the falls, only the ones by the entrance. Of course, Katie and I had to go, but nobody else did. About the time we got to the top of the falls, Andrew said he had to go. When we explained that there were no bathrooms nearby he claimed that he didn't know that---why didn't we tell him? Sometimes I wonder how he misses all the memos. Anyway, he went back by himself while we took more pictures and went into the gift shop. When we got back to the car, there was no Andrew in sight. Ed walked back to get him but didn't return immediately. The girls and I waited for about a half hour before Ed found him. Not much else to write about that day. We crashed as soon as we got back to the room.

Wednesday, July 31st

It was Wednesday and time to move on. Before we could, however, we had to do laundry. Luckily there was a Laundromat a few doors down from our motel, so Ed and I got up early and went to put the clothes in. I actually got up even earlier to meet Mike. Andrew left his sweatshirt at Mike's house on Sunday night and it wasn't much out of the way for Mike to drop it by. He was a little early and I was in the shower, so he gave the sweatshirt to Ed. I called him a little later and told him thanks and good-bye. It was too bad we couldn't have seen him and A.J. again while we were in the area.

After laundry, getting the kids up, and eating breakfast we checked out of the hotel and drove the 5 minutes to the Garden of the Gods. The good thing about that place—it’s free! Linda had told us about it and said it was not to be missed. We first stopped at the Garden of the Gods Trading Post--a huge store. I got Linda a colored ceramic plate, a gift for taking care of Homer while we were gone. Unfortunately, it was made in Mexico. We shopped around for a while, buying our usual trinkets, and then we left to explore the park. We got a map at the Trading Post but were still a little unsure where to start. The day was shaping up to be pretty hot and the kids were already starting to complain already.

We ended up going first to the Visitors Center to see a film about how the big rocks that make up the Garden of the Gods came to be there. The movie was all very confusing having to do with many millenniums before man and having something to do with when Colorado was under water. I didn't quite get it, but I'm sure Ed could tell you where the rocks came from. After the movie, we decided to eat our lunch before starting to explore. We drove to one of the park’s picnic areas and ate. By that time it was probably at least 95 degrees. No one was in a very good mood--the kids were fighting constantly. The main argument was over which trail we were going to walk after lunch.

We ended up not taking any of the trails per se. We walked a little on one of the paved pedestrian walkways. It went by some awesome rocks and most of our time was spent taking pictures. Ali was complaining of feeling faint and not being able to breathe. She was stumbling as she walked and I was worried about her having trouble once we really got up into the mountains. Andrew was pretty disagreeable the whole afternoon. After our little walk, we drove to the "Balanced Rock" and took more pictures. It's a huge rock that doesn't have much of a base. It's amazing how that rock can just stay in that same place year after year without falling over.

We had to leave by 2:30 p.m. as we had a 3-hour drive to Estes Park and wanted to get there close to 6:00 p.m. The drive was really pretty once we got past Denver. While driving through Denver we saw a sign showing that the temperature was 102 degrees. I wasn't surprised. We went through Boulder and then right into the mountains. The road wound right, then left, then right, then left--for about 50 miles. Needless to say, you couldn't do the usual 70 mph. There's only one road into Estes Park and one road out. We didn't have much trouble finding our cabin although we did have some trouble finding the office. An occupant of one of the other cabins helped us out.

We were delighted with our little cabin but we quickly realized it didn't have air conditioning. How could I have overlooked that? It was pretty hot even up in the mountains but not nearly as hot as it was in the Garden of the Gods. The girls had a loft room that was stifling although it did have two skylights that could be opened. There was no pool but there were a lot of things for the kids to do. After we unloaded our gear, they played catch with some lacrosse- type baskets, played on the swings, shot baskets and played with another ball on a rope attached to a pole. Ed and I sat on the porch and relaxed. It had been a pretty harried day so far.

After a little while, we went to dinner and to check out Estes Park. The town was mostly shops and restaurants. We ended up eating at the "Locals Grill" which was very good. Ed and I had a pizza and salad, Katie had spaghetti, Andrew had an expensive sandwich (which we argued about again) and I can't remember what Ali had. Andrew and I had a talk about his behavior and how he was making it very difficult for us to have a good time. I told him he seemed bound and determined to make sure no one had fun. He expressed his views for a while and I listened and it seemed productive. Since Andrew got back from Outward Bound, he seemed less able to stuff his feelings and hold them in. I guess that's a good thing--but it was still very difficult on everyone around him. I told Andrew I was happy he was sharing his feelings. He was much better after our talk.

We walked around town for an hour or so. Ed found a neat shop that had mostly Grateful Dead paraphernalia. He spent it seemed like a long time looking around. Early on, we had decided we could each buy a souvenir from the trip. I had already bought my sweatshirt in Cripple Creek, but he was still looking. We went into many shops but didn't buy much of anything, just trinkets, magnets, key chains, etc. While I was collecting my magnets from everyplace we went, Ali was collecting key chains. She ended up with quite a nice assortment.

We stopped off at the grocery store again before we went back to the room. It amazes me hour much a family of five can eat in a week. The cabin owners left us cookies and a nut bread so we mostly got drinks, sandwich meat, cheese and fruit. I got a 6-pack of beer from the Estes Park Brewery. I'd rather drink wine but this whole trip I never saw anything but non-alcoholic wine in the grocery store. It must be a Colorado thing.

By the time we got back to the cabin it had cooled down considerably. We had cable TV so we all sat up and watched Richard Gere playing Lancelot as long as we could. The kids beat out the old folks again and we went to bed before the end. It seemed like a few short years ago that we were putting the kids to bed and looking foward to a little time alone.

Thursday, August 1, 2002

The next day we got up pretty early because we wanted to get our hike in before lunch. We decided not to schlep our food with us but return to the room to rest and eat after our morning exertion. We had asked directions to the Rocky Mountain National Park entrance from our hostess and were told it was just a few short miles away.

We stopped to get more information at the Park Visitors Entrance Bureau. There we got our map to the trailheads and directions on where to board the shuttle busses. Because there's limited parking at the trailheads, most everyone takes the shuttle. The entrance fee to any State Park is only $15 and it's good for a week--such a deal!

We found our way to the shuttle bus parking lot marveling the whole way at the majestic mountains. Of course, Katie and I had to use the facilities--and they weren't flush toilets either. Stinkey! On our ride to the trailheads we studied the map and tried to decide on our course of action. We knew the trail to Emerald Lake was a good one as the Metcalfe's had done it, so we decided on that one. It was about a 3.5 mile round trip. We had no idea how hard hiking would be, as we had never done it, so we hoped we'd be able to go that far.

As it turned out, the Emerald Lake trail was gorgeous! We took so many pictures the first hour that I thought we'd never get there. At first the trail was pretty easy to navigate, but the last mile was pretty treacherous with lost of rocks that required you to chose your steps wisely. Katie took a spill and hit her knee, but that was the only casualty. I was very nervous every time the kids got close to the edge, as there were no guardrails. I kept thinking of Carla's friend, Steve who had plunged to his death over a cliff. I kept picturing us on the 6:00 news. I think Andrew has somewhat of a death wish anyway so I figured he'd go over the edge or I'd die of a heart attack because he'd almost go over. Thankfully neither happened.

Emerald Lake was just beautiful; but unfortunately, it was hard to capture in a picture. You could get the mountains in the picture or the lake in the picture, but you couldn't get both. You just had to be there. By the time we arrived at the Lake, I had to go to the bathroom pretty bad so we didn't stay long. We had brought some water, cookies and granola bars, so after we had a snack, we headed back. After we had gone back a little way, we came to a fork in the road and saw a trail sign pointing to another lake--I can't remember the name of it because it was an Indian word, hard to pronounce. We talked to some people coming from that direction who said it was well worth the hike. We consulted our map and decided to go for it even though it was another approximately 3 miles. I ducked behind a big rock and discovered, to my surprise, that some other ladies had done the same thing. There were little pieces of Kleenex littering the ground. That rock was hence to be known as "potty rock".

The second trail was much steeper than the first. At this point, Andrew started complaining and moaning that he wanted to go back to the room. Andrew was upset that we had changed our plans and decided to do more hiking. Unfortunately for him, the rest of us were having a blast and didn't want to go back to the room just yet. Katie and Ali were hiking fools! This trail turned out to be just as beautiful as the last one. When we got to the lake, there were numerous boulders to climb up and around on and we spent some time doing that. Andrew refused to join in and just sat on a rock and sulked. There were a few people swimming in the lake--even though it was quite a cold day. We reluctantly headed back, as we hadn't even eaten lunch yet. It was probably around 2:30 by the time we got back to the room. We were pretty tired but everyone (except Andrew) was in a good mood. On our way back to the room I found the phone number for some stables in the park and made reservations for a 2-hour ride the next morning at 10:30. My cell phone was really coming in handy, as we didn't have a phone in our room.

Also on our way back we saw a coyote dart across in front of the car. We saw quite a few animals on our trip. We saw elk in the stream close to town and many deer in the woods on our way to the trailheads. We also saw prairie dogs and many, many chipmunks. Thankfully, we didn’t see any bears. I think that would have freaked me out. There were signs all over the park telling you to make sure your food was stored in airtight containers and the garbage cans were “bear proof”.

We ate our lunch in the room and then I walked over to the office to pay for our cabin and get directions to the Post Office so we could mail our postcards. I also wanted to find out if they had any ice so we could fill our cooler for lunch tomorrow, but they didn’t. We’d have to stop on the way to the park. We drove to the Post Office and then into town for more sightseeing and shopping. Our first stop was the Stanley Hotel, the place where Stephen King wrote "The Shining". The hotel was used in the TV movie, but not in the movie with Jack Nicholson. It's a cool-looking hotel and we took a neat picture out front, but the "museum" was not much of anything.

We walked into town so we could hit the shops we missed the day before. It was a very pleasant, cool day--great for strolling. We didn't go into many places as nobody had much money left. We searched for a place to eat dinner and found a nice Italian restaurant that was offering two-for-one entrees. We weren't ready for dinner yet though, as we had eaten lunch so late.

We went back to Ed's "Grateful Dead" store and he bought two t-shirts and a decal for Sapphire. After much agonizing, Ali bought a key chain. Katie also found a neat t-shirt with Estes Park and horses on the front. I caved in and bought Andrew a t-shirt with some rock-climbers on it. After Katie and Andrew got their t-shirts, Ali decided she needed one too so I agreed to give her an advance on her allowance. (This decision didn't go over very big with Andrew as I had already refused him the same request--the difference being Andrew never gets any allowance.) Unfortunately, while Ali was searching for a nice, cheap t-shirt, she put down her new key chain and someone stole it. She was devastated as she had searched long and hard for just the right one and had used the last of her money on it. She coerced me into buying her another one and that cheered her up considerably. I had already bought Andrew the t-shirt and I had given Katie some money because the t-shirt she wanted was a little more money than she had left. So it was all fair. We made one last trip back to the store where Ali had first purchased the key chain so she could get another one and then we went to dinner.

I think the name of the Italian place was Momma Roses and thank goodness the food was worth the wait. The service was pretty bad. The restaurant had a nice salad bar though so at least we had something to do while we waited for our entrees. Dinner was pretty uneventful for a change. Katie was a little miffed that she had to get a kids' meal and so didn't get the salad bar. But when her macaroni/cheese/ ham/broccoli came, she stopped complaining.

After dinner we headed back to the room for some cards, TV and a little more moaning from Andrew. He wanted to go to bed and his bed was in the living room. He couldn't understand why we wouldn't all go to bed because he wanted his room, and we couldn't understand why, if he was so gol-darn tired, he couldn't just sleep in our room so we could stay up. We didn't stay up for long though as we were pretty tuckered out from all the hiking. I think it was about 10:30 when we hit the hay.

Friday, August 2, 2002

We ate breakfast as usual--the food was getting a little sparse. We didn't want to make another trip to the grocery store, as we would be leaving the next day. We all put on our long pants so our legs wouldn't get scratched while riding the horses. We packed up our food for lunch and headed to the park with a stop at the convenience store to fill the cooler with ice. It seemed quite a bit warmer than it had been the day before. I had heard that high was only 67 degrees!

We got to the stables in plenty of time even though we made a wrong turn and went a few miles out of our way. Of course we all headed for the bathroom to make one last stop before our 2-hour ride. We saw a group of riders ambling in and realized there wasn't much chance of getting a good gallop going. We were paired up with our horses and told to wait until someone came to help us mount. It seemed like there were about 20 or so in our group.

While we were waiting, I got a good education about boy/girl horses from a woman whose daughter had the horse next to mine. None of the horses we were riding would really be boys or "stallions" as they had all been fixed so they'd be docile. Girl and boy horses pee differently just like people. When a girl horse goes to the bathroom, it seems like it comes out the back of her. In fact, I thought one of the horses had a really bad case of diarrhea but was told she was just going pee. The boys spread their legs and pee between their legs. We'd see an awful lot of peeing and pooping on our trail ride. That seemed to be a big topic of discussion with the kids because after a horse pooped (and I mean pooped!) the other horses would just walk obliviously through it. Of course, the kids thought that was GROSS!

We had two guides--one of whose name was Ali. Katie was a little concerned she wouldn't be riding with us, but the guides made sure all the families were together. Apparently the one time Katie had gone horseback riding at a birthday party she had gotten in the wrong group.

I was riding Sergeant; Ali was on Lurch; Ed was on Mary, and I can't remember Andrew or Katie's horses' names. It was funny because our horses were so much like us. Mine made sure he was always in line and "doing the right thing". Andrew's horse didn't mind at all--stopping and starting when he wanted to--and always putting his head down to eat. The scenery was gorgeous. We had a few downhills that were pretty treacherous but other than that there was nothing scary about it. We felt sorry for our horses having to carry our big behinds--but I hoped they felt fulfilled by their work. I rationalized that maybe they don't want to just stand around eating and being bored all day. The two-hour ride was plenty long enough. My knees were aching by the time we rode back into the stables.

We got finished close to 1:00 so it was time for our picnic lunch. We found a spot easily enough but the wind really started picking up. We had a hard time keeping our food from blowing off our plates. We studied our trail map over lunch and decided to go back to the same trailhead as the day before. We wanted to go a different way and see a falls we had heard was really breathtaking.

It was close to 2:15 before we arrived by shuttle at the trailhead. We started off walking with a little grumbling from Andrew who, once again, wasn't into exerting himself. The trail proved to be just as beautiful as the one the day before. The falls were the best view yet and we spent some time there taking pictures. We headed the 2 miles or so to another lake even though the weather was looking ominous. The hike seemed to take longer than the day before, probably because our legs were tired from the morning ride. We finally "almost" made it to our destination. We stood overlooking the lake that was still a little distance in front of us. It started raining pretty hard and it was getting quite cold so we headed back. We got some pictures at the top huddled together, trying to keep warm. The walk back was tiring and long. We had, once again, gone almost 6 miles.

When we got back to the van we were cold and wet. I took a little video of the kids and the surroundings as we hadn't taken anything of the park.

Back at the cabin we relaxed a bit while the kids took showers to warm up. We could hear the rain pelting the roof of our little cabin. Luckily the girls had closed the skylights before we left in the morning. We decided to go eat at the Estes Park Brewery, a wild and crazy place, just right for a last Harrah. More grumbling from Andrew--this time because he couldn't get the onion rings with his $6.25 sandwich and $1.80 drink because they were $.75 extra. You have to draw the line somewhere.

We didn't do much of anything but pack once we got back to the cabin. We decided we needed to be on the road by 7:00 the next morning. We were going to try to make it to Amarillo in time to swim and relax before dinner. We knew we didn't want to try to make it all the way back to Dallas in one day. It's 12 hours to Denver and another 3 to Estes Park. Besides we lose an hour on the way back.

Saturday, August 3, 2002

When we got up the next morning, it was still raining. Luckily it was only a drizzle. We stopped to get gas on our way out of town and were on the road about 7:35. I drove the first shift and it was slow going on the same curvey road we had taken in a few days earlier. When we got to Boulder, Ed spied a Starbucks so we stopped for coffee. We seemed to be making good time as we went through Denver, past our Manitou Springs exit and through Pueblo. We were into New Mexico before lunch and into Texas shortly thereafter.

We stopped for lunch at a Dairy Queen that we had stopped at on one of our trips up to Denver for one of Ali's meet. While I was in the bathroom, Katie pulled a fast one and got Ed to agree to let her buy a foot long hot dog with fries and a drink--in other words, not a kids' meal. It seemed like deliberate manipulation to me. She knew I wouldn't have agreed. Andrew was also arguing about what he was allowed to get. By the time we got our food, nearly everyone was in a bad mood. Call me cheap--I'm Greenie's kid like Ed always says.

The kids watched a movie in the afternoon so things quieted down. Ed and I briefly discussed trying to make it to Dallas that evening--but decided we really didn't feel like driving until 11:00 p.m. We got to Amarillo about 5:30 and found a Motel 6 with a nice pool. The kids and I swam while Ed relaxed in the room. The water was pretty cold so nobody stayed in very long. We left for dinner about 7:00.

We found a super Mexican restaurant and that brightened everybody's mood. After dinner we made one last stop at the grocery store to get breakfast food--donuts and strawberries. We were in bed by 11:00.

Sunday, August 4, 2002

Our last day on the road went quickly. Only one argument--with Andrew, of course. He was upset that we asked him to wash the car when we got home. I never will understand why kids are so ungrateful. Like I told him, we spent $2,400 to take you on this vacation, and you DON'T WANT TO WASH THE CAR!! We arrived back in Dallas around 3:00. Andrew did indeed wash the car, the girls helped with the laundry and Ed did the grocery shopping. We were back to normal by around 8:00 p.m.

What a great trip! Colorado is so beautiful. We talked a little about going back next year--to Durango, Telluride, and into New Mexico to Mesa Verde National Park. I'm sure if we go, you'll hear about that too.