Road Trip Day 15

Day 15
Today started out like most of our days here in Solitude have started. We had some breakfast and then we headed to the pool with Colten!

One thing the kids had been wanting to do was to ride a tram up to the top of a mountain. We looked into it in Estes Park but then we decided it would be more fun to ride the ski lift at Solitude. I am so glad that we did this! First because Aaron and I took this same lift 15 years ago to ski down the mountain. But secondly because it is absolutely beautiful! So we bought our lift tickets and went up to the top. Once there there is lots of fun things to do. Solitude has a disc golf course over their slopes so we talked with a man who was beginning the course to see what it all entailed. Then we took about a mile walk up to Lake Solitude. This was exciting because I had never been up here before. The last time I was up in this exact location, it was covered with SNOW as I skied right by it! We had a blast!

One awesome thing we found (thanks to my mom and aunt Paula) were these old mine shafts. When you walk up to them there is freezing cold air that blows out of them. It was like our own air conditioner to cool us off! While we were up there, Eli found a pair of ski goggles just hanging on a tree branch!

Then we made the hike back up to the ski lift and did something I've never done before, ridden DOWN! It was so much fun!

Isn't the Village at Solitude beautiful!?!?

Before dinner, we spent several hours packing up our things. I did lots of laundry and we packed everything away except the things we would need first thing in the morning.

Then for dinner, instead of cooking, we decided to have pizza at the Stone Haus.

Then after dinner, we hung out at the fire pit and made s'mores!

Our day wouldn't be complete without some after dinner swimming!

While the kids swam, I hung out with Ada. (my 1st cousin once removed)

It was a spectacular day and I am sad that we will be headed on tomorrow!
~ Juli

Road Trip Day 14

Day 14
Today, we had lots of thoughts about what we thought we would accomplish today, but our kids had other ideas. We got up and made our way down the hall to visit with Aunt Paula. My cousin Donny and his wife Erika were packing as they were heading down to southern Utah to visit some of the National Parks. We enjoyed eating donuts and hanging out with everyone.

Donny and Erika's little boy, Colten, wanted to go to the pool so we all got ready and headed out to the pool for awhile. It was awesome because we were the only ones there.

Then the little ones needed to rest and take some naps so we decided to head back to our condo. Apparently, my kids thought it was nap time for themselves as well. So they laid around napping and watching tv. (They will be in for a rude awakening starting on Saturday!) So we didn't get anything done that Aaron and I thought that we would do today. While they were resting, Aaron walked around the village of Solitude and enjoyed some of the views.

Later in the afternoon, the kids went back to the kids area and the movie theatre. When they were done playing we decided to leave the canyon and head to Target. We needed a few things for the next leg of our journey so we thought it would be good to get a few of them that we thought we couldn't get on the road in some smaller towns. Then we found this cool Lacrosse Shop where we learned some cool things. We also had Eli fitted for gear that he will need in the fall when he plays! It was a good time. It was SO hot in the Valley, 102 to be exact!

We decided to head back up the mountain. In a few short miles, it dropped 24 degrees! We made dinner and then decided to head up to Silver Lake. It is just a mile past Solitude and it is beautiful. It has a fun little path around the lake and many times in the evening you can see moose! We walked all around the lake but had no luck seeing any moose! But we did see some beautiful sights!

We left a little disappointed and decided that we would try again tomorrow night! Then as we pulled out of the parking lot, guess who we saw!?!

Everyone was pretty excited! It walked right next to our car and then crossed the road right behind us!

Then on our way back down to Solitude, the sunset was just perfect!

Overall, I would consider this to be quite a lazy day but a good lazy day as well!

~ Juli