Wednesday we made a second trip to The Park, since we’d only gotten as far as the Continental Divide on our first trip.  On the way, though, we stopped to make pictures in Byers Canyon, which we drove through every trip from Steamboat Springs.  It literally took my breath away the first time we drove through it – just on this little two lane state road, like it was nothing special. This whole area is amazing.

We got to the park, and the weather was the complete opposite of the perfect sunshine we found on our first day there. It was rainy and there was ice on the road – and the road at the top of the Rocky Mountains is not exactly where you want to find ice. And the fog. Oh my gosh. I was driving, and this was a picture Jeff made out the window on his side as we were barely moving along the road.

As the day went on, though, the weather got better, & we were able to hike to the Alleuvial Fan, a very cool waterfall and surrounding area that was formed when a dam broke back in the 1980’s.  It was another excellent day in excellent surroundings, with excellent company 🙂

We are actually staying in Steamboat Springs on our vacation, and we have been so busy on the go to sites east and west that we hadn’t even had a chance to check out the town.  Tuesday afternoon we spent a couple of hours checking it out.  It was like a lot of tourist destinations – T-shirt and candy shops – but one really cool thing was how the original buildings were all preserved.  On many, many buildings there were plaques that told about the history of the building, which was really cool.  One place Lindee had read about before we even headed over was the F M Light Co, a cowboy store that had been in operation by the same family for over a hundred years.  It was right downtown, so we were anxious to check it out.  Lindee was pretty sure that she’d stepped into a little bit of heaven 🙂

In driving through town earlier Jeff had spotted these cute benches, & he wanted to bring the girls back to get their pictures made on them.  Here are Clara & I hanging out with Mark Twain – Abe Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin were sitting around the corner.  It was good to have some down time together.

Here are a few more pictures of the absolutely awesome day we spent in Utah.  In The Quarry, which is the display building containing the fossils, they had a section where you can actually touch the dinosaur fossils.  Here are Mallory and Clara checking them out.

Here is some more of the amazing desert scenery that we enjoyed seeing that day.  It was just so different from anything we’d ever been around before.

After we finished up on the Utah side of the park, we headed back to the Colorado side.  There are no fossils on the Colorado side, but more absolutely beautiful scenery – and our first exposure to open range cattle.  Hilarious.  One of them did not like us being on his roadway at all – it was a little bull, and he was mooing like crazy at us as we drove by.  SO funny.

Monday of our vacation we headed west, in the exact opposite direction from where we traveled Sunday.  We were going towards Utah, & had no idea what to expect.  State Highway 40 went through several small towns as we left Steamboat Springs, and Jeff & I were excited to see a Sinclair gas station.  Neither of us had seen once since we were kids.  As it turns out, they are in lots of the little towns around here, but we were excited to see the dinosaur at the one in Maybell, Colorado.

Utah, and Dinosaur National Monument, were absolutely beautiful.  It was almost impossible to believe that less than 24 hours earlier we had been in snow up to our waist at Rocky Mountain, and now we were hiking past cacti!

And the scenery was not like anything we had ever seen in real life before.  Absolutely breathtaking.  Just a great, great day.

Here are a couple more pictures from our incredible day Sunday.  I was trying to get a picture of the herd of elk that were hanging out in the field in front of us while we were picnicking for lunch, but we were too far away.  It was neat watching them, though, and the scenery was great.

We went on a couple of hikes, but by the third one my knees were definitely rebelling, so Jeff & I sat that one out – on the porch of this little homestead house that’s left in the park, the oldest one in the area, as a matter of fact.  The sign talked about what a hard life it was for those folks – this was right at the end of the 19th century, I think – and the guy who lived in this one just up & left, & no one ever knew where he went or what happened to him.  Interesting.

We stopped on the way home at the Maverick Grill for supper, where the sign said they served real Colorado Food.  It was, indeed, delicious, but the menu didn’t mention that my Bronco Burger would come with a giant roasted jalapeno pepper on top.  You know I don’t like any spiciness of any kind in my food, so I was sort of surprised.  Luckily none of the flavor seeped into the bun, and Lindee said the pepper was even too hot for her to eat, so I’m glad I didn’t get a smidge of it.  It was a great, great day.

Yesterday morning we got up early & headed a couple of hours east to Rocky Mountain National Park.  It really exceeded every expectation I’d had all my life.  Wow.  Just wow.  Our first hike of the day was to Adams Falls.  It was an easy hike, according to the guide books – a little strenuous for me, but so, so worth it in the end.  Absolutely gorgeous.

Our next hike was on, I believe, Coyote Trail, which took us to the valley where the Colorado River originates.  We did not get to the very source, but did get as far as to where it was a small stream, and we all took turns putting our feet in the Colorado River.  The girls were pretty excited when we reminded them that that was the very water that formed the Grand Canyon.  Actually, so were we.

We didn’t actually get up to the top part of the mountains until the very end of the day, when we drove up just for a quick look.  Our plan is to get back and do that later this week.  If we don’t, though, our vacation to the Rocky Mountains is one we’ll never forget

Today was our recuperating from traveling day – we spent the day hanging out at the resort, enjoying the pool and hot tub, making a grocery store run, reading & just in general being as lazy as we could.  Jeff did find a really good game room here at the resort while he was checking the place out, so we had fun there this evening before he & Jackson cooked hotdogs on the grill for supper.  Air hockey is always a hit.  Can you tell who just scored as I took this picture?

Jeff and Jackson even got in a game of pool.  Tomorrow we’re off to Utah to spend the day at Dinosaur National Monument, so we probably needed some down time to rest up for that.  Great fun so far…

Yesterday morning – actually Thursday night – our vacation of the summer began.  We hit the road from Lindee & Jackson’s, after a couple of stops to go back & check that our coffee maker was turned off, and to get the girls’ birth certificates, we hit the road to the airport in Atlanta.  After parking, checking bags, and going through security, we boarded our plane for Denver.  Flight left at 6:20 AM.  The girls were SO excited – and it was Jackson’s first flight, too.  Mallory was sll smiles as we were waiting for the plane to take off.

After getting off the plane and all that entailed – we’d gotten our rental cars at two different places – we made a plan to meet at the base of Mt. Evans, which was a couple of miles outside of Denver.  We had hoped to be able to ride to the top on what is the highest paved road in the country, but it was still closed due to snow.  In June!  We did, however, walk around the absolutely gorgeous Echo Lake there.  So, so pretty – and such an awesome beginning to our trip.

This morning was the Fourth Grade Awards Ceremony at Bethany Elementary School, where Mallory and Clara go.  Mal really got a lot of awards – most of the academic awards, and then several for the different clubs and activities she participates in.  I THINK this was her getting her certificate for being in the Girls’ Science Club.  That’s Mrs. Broadwater, the assistant principal, giving her the certificate, and Mrs. Churm, the principal.  I believe the teacher calling out the names is Mrs. Sain.  She does love the science club.

Afterwards with her proud, proud momma.  What a special morning.