Summer 2010 Family Vacation

5 States, 1800 miles driving, 34 different state license plates spied (G kept a list for us), all made for a FANTABULOUS vacation! Enjoy our pictures...

I forgot to charge my batteries in my cameras before we left, so our pictures at the beginning were sparse.

We started out with a beautiful sunrise, then many more hours of driving with some scenic moments...

After taking a day to adjust to the elevation (we browsed through an art show that was in town and saw some AMAZING art then took a little walk to the local playground), we took a ride on the chair lift to the top and did some hiking.

The hike took all day and my batteries died within the first hour!

The next day we went into town and tested out G's tennis lessons. It was a close match, but G and GA beat Granna and A. (E sat out for the match and had private lesson time afterwards.)

Then of course we had to make a stop at another playground for a while...
There was a river coming down from the mountain that the kids spent time on several different days playing in... how they could stay so long in the under 40 degree water beats me, but I guess when you are motivated in dam building, you can withstand anything!
Got dried and warmed up and then off for a rousing round of mini-golf... GA beat G by only one stroke! Part of that win was because G had a 7 on one hole, so at the end of the 18 holes, we had G redo the hole with the 7 score and he made it a hole-in-one! So while GA won technically, we made G the unofficial winner with 2 holes-in-one!

There was also a pool and a water fountain that we played in several times...

Another water activity that we LOVED was a white-water rafting trip! I didn't take my camera because I didn't want it ruined, but here's the before picture.... the first 30 minutes were in Class III rapids and even G, sitting in the bottom of the boat, had a blast! Then we stopped and picked up Granna and E to continue another 90 minutes in calmer (Class I) rapids... The kids got to "ride the bull"... i.e. they sat up front on the edge of raft with their feet hanging over the front. They had a blast... we even went through one rapid section with the left side of the raft paddling forward and the right side of the raft paddling backwards causing the raft to twirl clockwise downstream as we bumped through the rapids!

That night we were still awake enough (and the daily afternoon rain showers had stopped) that we taught the kids to ice skate. They caught on quickly, although we gave the "most improved award" to E. She was bound and determined to be an "olympic princess"!More hiking the next day...

with an unexpected pony ride opportunity...

After such a full vacation, G was really needing a rest!

But he still kept hold of the map and kept us on track!
More fountain time
Even a rodeo (in the rain)!
On the way back home we stopped at a fish hatchery... G was intrigued and told us how all the holding tanks worked... (my little engineer!)

But by far, one of the coolest places we stopped, was the Great Sand Dunes near Alamosa, CO. I HIGHLY recommend scheduling a few hours (or more!) to stop there if you are ever in the area. As you are travelling on the road, you can see the lighter colored sands up against the mountains.
Then when you finally get there.... WOW! There is a stream that runs through the area... it was black with soot from an upstream fire burn... we got a little sooty, and a lot sandy!

We made a few more cool stops before we made it home...

The kids completed activities in a booklet to become Jr. Rangers with the National Park Service. Many National Parks offer this program... after completing their activities, they received certificates, badges, and patches. Very cool! The Petroglyphs were neat too!! :)

And of course the trip would not have been complete without a stop at yet another playground! Lucky for us that this one was at a rest area... Another place I'd recommend stopping with kids!