Day 10 was not very fun for me. for the family, yes we went on a 4.5-mile hike (Hiking is not my thing). being me I complained the whole way. but my parents said if I had a good attitude we would get ice cream so, I put on a smile and filtered all my thoughts. (insert mom's eye roll here)
Day 10 Addendum from mom:
We survived another cold night. It was in the 40's again...brrr. We got up and were kind of lazy around the campsite. We enjoyed some breakfast and watched the sun come up over the mountains.
Aaron brewing his coffee with the jet boil and his new coffee contraption
Lucy was (and is always) the 1st one awake and up
She is always freezing, no matter what, so she hangs out covered up by the fire.
Our campground is in an amazing location and we could hike right into Rock Mountain National Park right from the campground. We discovered that we could hike to Sprague Lake (where our good friends Joe and Gwen were married) so we decided we would try to hike to it. We went for a good bit but we weren't exactly sure how far it was so we didn't ever make it. But we took a beautiful hike!
We went back to the campsite for some dinner.
When Eli gets bored, he likes to find sticks to whittle
We did promise ice cream for our kids if they had good attitudes. So we went back into Estes Park for the evening and a stroll and ice cream. It was REALLY crowded and we could barely find a parking spot. We were a little surprised; being that it was a Sunday. But then we realized it was a holiday weekend so that probably was why. We asked the kids to compare Estes Park and Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. They thought that Gatlinburg/PF was much more crowded than EP. We walked around more of the town and the Riverwalk area. There were all of these pockets of areas around town where they had pipes to play different songs. It was really fun!
At the visitor center, we could see the top of the Stanley Hotel
We taught the kids a card game called Baloney (also know as BS). They are slightly obsessed. We have played non stop this whole trip at the campsite AND including inside the tent!
Once back to camp, we began packing our things up so that everything was in the car except the tent and our sleeping things. We went to bed pretty early because we were hoping for an early exit in the morning.
There's not much to it we woke up at 6:30 a.m and arrived around 3:45 p.m to stay with mom's family (uncle & cousins) we at some delicious stouffers lasagna (The Best!!) and the girls and mom & dad went to the pool so I the condo to myself I was watching the college home run derby & playing madden mobile while listening to spotify. I decided to put myself to use and sit at the table (listening to spotify) and write the blog.
Day 11 Addendum from Mom:
I was super proud of the kids for their help this morning getting the campsite taken apart and put away. From start to finish it took us 46 minutes! We drove route 40 to Utah so we got to ride along the Trail Ridge Road through the park again. It is absolutely terrifying but also absolutely breathtaking! This was a fun route to take. It went North from Colorado into Utah through these small little towns. Aaron and I really enjoyed the little towns and were especially taken by some of the schools. We imagined what it would be like for these kids who live out here in the middle of nowhere to travel to these little schools in town! This road was also cool to watch the terrain change. There were major areas of what could only be described as the desert, with nothing in view as far as your eye could see. No houses, barns, crops, fences. Nothing except "Public Land". It was pretty remarkable. Then we would come to places where there were lakes and rivers and the terrain was completely different. It was lush and green. Watching how the power of water impacts the landscape was really exciting!
So now we are relaxing and catching up on some laundry while hanging out together. We are excited about July 4th tomorrow and are wondering how we will celebrate it this year!
Eli (but mostly Juli)
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