Thursday, July 30, 2015

Campfire Breakfast, Hikes, and a Picnic

This is the last of my posts from our vacation!  We spent the rest of our time out in Estes Park with Josh's mom, dad and sister.   One morning we decided to have breakfast via campfire!  We found an awesome spot right next to a little river and started cooking (well I didn't, I had the kiddos!).





The boys playing in the river.






We had to document us with the fire!






Josh expertly cooking over-easy eggs.













Just down the road from our breakfast spot was the alluvial fan.  It was more like a waterfall when we were there because of all the rain the area had gotten this year.





The kids LOVED this area.




Barry and Divana.










The boys had a blast throwing rocks in and climbing around.  This was a perfect spot for young kids.






We saw a couple of big horn at Sheep Lakes on our way out that morning.









I had heard that one of the trail heads (Lumpy Ridge) in RMNP had some really cool boulders to climb on, so I convinced Josh and the boys to check it out.  The rocks and boulders were really neat at the beginning and so I thought it would be fun to take a "short" trail to see if we could find some more.  Mistake.  Turns out the easy loop I picked out gained quite a bit in elevation.  We lived to tell the tale, but it was not pleasant!







Dave having fun at the beginning of the trail.  This was not the attitude he had at the end, haha!












On our last morning we decided to take it easy and do an actually easy hike in the meadows.  It was gorgeous out and the views were stunning.  Also, the kids found some pretty awesome walking sticks to use.






Ike and I heading out.





Super cheese.





Looks like Dave didn't feel like being part of the family in this one  :)








We then went for a picnic lunch with everybody at Hidden Valley picnic area.  I loved this area, very peaceful and calming.  We took a hike up the mountain to see where the trail went-had to cross a little river using a log, fun stuff!







Grandma D and Ike celebrating the end of the trail.













After lunch, the boys turned in their Jr. Ranger packets and were sworn in as rangers.  Funny story, when asked if you can feed animals, Dave emphatically said  "yes!!".  We sort of fed chipmunks at one point during our trip...guess that was not allowed.  Josh and I were frantically shaking our heads no to Dave and he finally got the hint to say the right answer.  Parents of the year!







Getting their badges.














We were so sad to leave Colorado, but I was definitely ready to be home after being gone for so long.  We stopped in Kansas again to break up the trip, then made it home by Saturday afternoon.  Love Colorado and can't wait to get back again soon!

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