After leaving Dinosaur National Monument, we quickly crossed into Colorado and it was time for lunch. For the umpteenth day in row we had PBJ sandwiches, individual chip bags, and grapes. The variety bag of chips works well for us because Andrew likes Fritos, I like Ruffles/Lays, Dani likes Cheetos, and Matthew/Carolyn like Doritos. Michael is a good sport and takes what no one wants and it’s the Cool Ranch Doritos. It should be noted that Dani may have had her fill of Cheetos because she is no longer requesting them. I think we’re all PBJ’d out - with the exception of Matthew, whose highlight of each day is still lunch. He still holds his lunch and just waits patiently for us to say “Okay…you can eat your lunch.” Within seconds, he’s halfway through his sandwich.
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| Excited for PBJ....again! |
Colorado’s landscape had many faces - it started with the red rock hills that were prevalent in Utah, then changed to more traditional gray rock hills. At one point, we were following along a river with rapids and a train track - it was very picturesque. The rocky landscape became greener and tree-lined. We passed several ranches tucked into the hills and those hills eventually turned into mountains. Although the scenery was great for the adults to look at the, the kids were getting a bit bored with the third day of driving in a row. We ended up buying several Imagine Dragons songs and the Moana soundtrack - we had already listened to Frozen and the Greatest Showman too many times (luckily, they are both good soundtracks!). Matthew’s eyes got wide with excitement when I played the first Imagine Dragons song - he knows the words better than I do. Michael and I have been enjoying the podcast “How I built this” - great entrepreneurial stories from the founders of companies like Instagram, Ben & Jerry’s, Melissa & Doug, Expedia/Zillow, Angie’s List.
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| Driving along a river and RR tracks - the picture through the windshield detracts from the pretty scene! |
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| Another Colorado landscape - gently rolling green hills (and lots of farms/ranches) |
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| Getting closer to the mountains... |
The Rocky Mountains were soon within sight, and my first thought was that they were not how I recalled them when I traveled out west as a teenager (admittedly, I was in southern Colorado and Utah, so perhaps they were different there). I thought they would be more rock-like with jagged gray peaks that reached above the clouds. Instead, they reminded me of the Smoky Mountains - tree-lined (mostly spruce and pine) and green with rounded tops. They also didn’t seem as high as I remembered them.
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| First view of the Rocky Mountains after entering Rocky Mountain National Park |
We drove through Rocky Mountain National Park to get to Estes Park and it was a beautiful drive. There was a Flash Flood alert with dark ominous clouds covering the area, so that was a little disconcerting, but it only sprinkled. Because the mountains have so many trees, you don’t even realize how high you are getting - and then suddenly you’re above the trees and WHOA - the Rocky Mountains became THE Rocky Mountains I was expecting! Jagged rocky tops that impressively reached the clouds and we were surrounded by them on all sides. The mountain still had a grassy/green covering - we even saw elk grazing and big horn sheep at the very top. Michael commented how pretty everything was, and Dani - in her true contrarian way - retorted “It is NOT a pretty view!” I’m pretty sure she only said that to be disagreeable and not for any other reason - she’s done that a lot on this trip. Not long after that she said to the boys “That’s ANNOYING” when they were doing their “baby-talk” voices (I have to agree with her on that one though…)
We were in awe of the view but suddenly the drive became a bit anxiety-provoking. When we were in the trees, you couldn’t see the drop below - but we were very aware of a steep drop now and there wasn’t any barrier (or shoulder) on the edge. At times, the edge was a gradual slope down - but it was a still long way down. I’m grateful I wasn’t the one driving, but Michael didn’t fare much better. He gripped the wheel tightly and had shallow breaths. He asked for silence in the car as he navigated the twisty (and wet) roads - I think it’s the most nervous (and uncomfortable) I’ve seen him in the car. He pulled over several times in the pull-outs so others could pass us. At one time I rolled the window down so I could take a better picture and he asked me to roll up the window because it made him much more aware of how high we were. The highest point of the drive was an elevation of 11,769 (taller than Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens).
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| Spotting an elk toward the top of the mountain |
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| Feeling the grandeur of the mountains |
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| Spotting a big horn sheep - with the mountains as a beautiful backdrop |
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| It doesn't come across in the picture, but this was near our highest point and the drop was quite drastic - very anxiety-provoking! |
At the peak, there were trails to hike, but we didn’t have time to stop and it was rainy. We continued to make our way down the mountain and soon we were leaving Rocky Mountain National Park. Shortly after leaving the National Park boundaries we arrived at the YMCA of Estes Park, and it was beautiful location. By this time (5:30), the rain had stopped and the sun was coming back out. There were lots of people playing volleyball, basketball, and kickball on the main grounds - and it looked like a fun place to stay. We quickly checked in and grabbed some dinner at the dining hall because we had a hayride to get to.
The hayride was at Jackson Stables - located on the property of the YMCA. When we pulled up to the stables, Carolyn was mesmerized by all the horses (around 85, per the wranglers) - all she wanted to do was pet them. The wagon was pulled by two Belgian draft horses named Willy and Waylon. Our wranglers were Hayden and Levi. The ride took us through the grounds of the YMCA and we had lovely views of the mountains.
Midway through the ride, the wranglers made a fire and we roasted marshmallows. The kids had fun doing that, but Carolyn quickly finished her marshmallows to pet Willy and Waylon. Andrew and Matthew found the green space in the field and threw a pinecone as if it was a baseball.
The sunset was a beautiful backdrop for our ride back to the stables. It was a great ride, but it ended with Matthew falling off the wagon (he was trying to jump off) and landing directly on his arm. By the way he was screaming, you’d think it was broken - but luckily, it was just scraped with a nasty bruise.
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| A sticky marshmallow mess |
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| Loving every minute of it - she left the fire pit (and marshmallows) early to pet the horse some more |
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| The grounds at the YMCA |
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| The porch on our room |
We got back to our room around 9, so the kids went straight to bed. Michael and I enjoyed the quiet night on the deck for a bit and then I worked on the blog since we had wifi.
July 23
Everyone woke up excited because it was full of activities. First, we had breakfast at the dining hall again. Andrew took full advantage of the buffet and piled his plate high - three donuts, 4 waffles, eggs, sausage, pineapple, and I’m sure there was more. His eyes were bigger than his stomach and he barely even touched his waffles. The weather was beautiful so we ate outside with a great view of the mountains around us.
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Breakfast
The first activity for the day was pony rides for Matthew and Dani and they were very excited to do it. Matthew rode Tater Tot and Dani rode Buttons. Michael and I had led the ponies around the Minnie Mouse Pony Trail. Dani started the ride by saying “Hee-yah Buttons!” and “Giddy-up, Buttons!” I don’t think she realized that meant nothing to the ponies and they just walked when they were led. The trail was a small wooded circle and we made about 6 laps. At one point, Buttons pooped on the trail and every time we passed that spot Matthew made sure to say “That’s Buttons’ poop.” |
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| Ready for their pony ride |
At the end of their ride, Matthew and Dani went with Michael to load the car up, check-out, and play on a playground. Meanwhile, I stayed with Carolyn and Andrew and we took a 1-hour horseback ride on the Glacier Basin trail. Carolyn kept pointing out the horses she hoped to be assigned while we waited for our turn - basically, every horse except black one. She got assigned Romeo - a small black and white horse - and she loved it. Andrew was assigned Rex - a larger brown horse; and I was assigned Barley - a white horse with light brown flecks. Carolyn got to lead the ride (there was about 11 riders total) - she was the first one behind the wrangler - and she loved that.
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| Anxiously awaiting their horses |
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| Carolyn with Romeo |
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| Andrew with Rex |
The trail was beautiful - it wound along the edge of a mountain and we could hear a river in the background and see the Rocky Mountain skyline. The weather was perfect - sunny and not too warm. Andrew’s horse liked to stop and was a bit slower than Carolyn’s, so the wrangler and Carolyn had to wait for the rest of us a few times, but we generally maintained a good pace - nothing faster than a walk though. I think the reason Andrew’s horse stopped so much is how he held the reins - he tended to hold them up which might have felt like he was pulling back on them. The ride ended up being closer to 1.5 hours, and we all enjoyed it (though our legs and bottoms were a little sore!)
While we were riding, Michael took Matthew and Dani to a playground and they also made crafts. They created a “spaceship” on the playground and dug around in the sand. For their craft, they painted pencil holders - they were both very proud of their creation.
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| Their spaceship |
After the ride, Michael quickly grabbed Carolyn and Andrew to do archery with Matthew. I wasn’t there for that, but Michael’s report was that they all had a great time - especially Matthew and Andrew. Matthew was proud of himself for hitting the target many times and Andrew challenged himself by shooting at the long range target. He hit it several times, but several of them hit the ground before it got to the target and bounced into the target. Carolyn enjoyed it at first when she was on the short-range target, but when more people arrived, she moved to the long-range target and didn’t have as much success (so she didn’t like it as much). When Dani and I arrived to pick them up, Matthew was still excitedly shooting and would jump up and down anytime he hit the target. He was also a great listener and carefully walked to pick up his arrows (he never walks to anything). He told us later that the archery was his favorite part of the day.
We left around 4 pm with the goal of getting to Sterling, CO so our trip to Omaha the next day wasn’t as long. We drove through the town of Estes Park and it was really cute - lots of cute shops where I probably could have gotten a Colorado flag t-shirt or a glass-blown ornament, but we didn’t take the time to stop. The journey must continue…
We had a great time and it definitely ended up being a stop at the top of our list - but we were all exhausted! It took no time for Dani to pass out and we were all pretty quiet in the car. We went through some awesome-looking rock formations/gorges as we followed along the Canyon River. It amazed me that within 5 minutes of that gorge we were suddenly driving through green hills and red rocks, and then within 15-20 minutes you’d never know we had just been in the Rockies - gently rolling hills/farmland.
Our stop for that night was Sterling, CO (about two hours east of Estes Park), and it turned out I made some bad decisions regarding accommodations - something we'll laugh about in the future, but, in the moment, it was a sour end to our otherwise great day...but that's a story for the next blog post! Stay tuned (gotta find a way to liven up our post about driving through Nebraska..haha)..
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