Kansas Reunion

 On our way home from Colorado we stopped in Kansas for two more nights to hang out and enjoy a Hiatt Family reunion.

It was super nice to see everyone and Tony and Ben and Dad and Kyra also met us there so we had a full crew! We had a big cookout at Uncle Steve's house where he and Keri made bomb individual pizzas on his smoker and of course lots of other goodies.

Dave, Josh and Dad getting ready to cook. 

Dave, Aunt Keri, and Kyra getting ingredients ready. 

The boys with my cousin Bree's kids. So cool to watch the next generation grow up!

Brothers.

We stayed at Joe and Claudia's again and Tony and Ben joined us there. 

Ike is obsessed with Archie and Lucy!

Alamosa and the Great Sand Dunes National Park

For the last portion of our Colorado trip, we went to Alamosa to explore the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

First stop was a quick trip to Salida which was such an adorable town! We took a short hike up the S Mountain then walked around downtown a little. 

While we waited for our VRBO to be ready in Alamosa we ate an absolutely fantastic lunch at Calvillo's. Best tamales I've ever had in my life! Did a little thrift shopping, then headed to our home for the next two nights. The boys loved this place-it had a super nice pool table and they each had their own fancy room!

Josh made up this sandwich from pretzel bread we bought in Buena Vista. She was tasty!

After dinner we went to the hot springs pool in town. It was really cheap after 4 pm, so the boys swam for a couple hours each night we were in Alamosa. 

Bright and early the next morning we headed to the national park. On the way Josh spotted signs for a wildlife area...it was not very bumping with wildlife but it was pretty!

Then we waited in line approximately an hour to get a sled and sand board to use at the park. Worth the wait but geez they need to streamline this process!

So much walking on sand! That was a ton of work but we had a blast!

We took the long way back to Alamosa and stopped for some pretty views. 

Back in time to get the lunch special at Lucky Bamboo-another great find! Portions were huge and it was delicious. 

Did a little more wandering around, kids found a cheap arcade, then it was back to the hot springs for another dip in the super warm pool before heading to bed and striking out for Kansas in the morning!
 

Buena Vista Part II

We had two more days in Buena Vista before moving to Alamosa.

MONDAY

We started off the morning on a hike to an abandoned resort called Interlaken. It was definitely off the beaten path but the hike had insane views the whole time. 

I think it was about 2.5 miles to get to the resort. It was popular in the late 19th century but closed because of a new dam causing changes to the lakefront. 

The grounds were really neat, you can go into a couple of the buildings and go into all of the rooms. 

We parked super far from the actual trailhead because the road was crazy bumpy.

After the hike we went and cleaned up a little then met back up downtown for a late lunch/early dinner. We ate at House Rock Kitchen and it was fantastic! 

We stayed on Cottonwood Creek and man did it live up to its name! We had cottonwood everywhere, a lot of times it looked like it was snowing.

Dave and I took a walk this evening. 

TUESDAY

Our last full day in Buena! We kind of piddled around in the morning then we split up-our family of four went for a hike to a waterfall and the rest went downtown to check out the 4th of July parade and pancake breakfast. 

This old schoolhouse was on the way to our hike. It was so tiny!

We hiked to Agnes Vaille Falls and had great views of Mt. Antero. 

After our hike we went into town to check out the festivities but couldn't find any food! So we went to lunch at Simple Eatery. Food was great and we picked up some fresh bread for the next part of our trip!

We spotted a deer just wandering through town. 

Ping pong tournament on our last evening. 

Then we played a little bocce ball. Grandpa Boo and Ike were the winners!

Since it was 4th of July we found a spot to watch the local fireworks. It was pretty hilarious, all these people were setting off fairly big fireworks so we kept thinking that was the actual town fireworks. We ended up watching fireworks for over an hour because of all the displays and the real ones were awesome!

Wednesday morning we all got around and headed our separate ways. Em and Meranda flew back to Indiana, Josh's parents went to Georgetown and we went Southeast to Alamosa and the sand dunes. Huge thank you to Barry and Divana for this trip! We had such an awesome time hanging out with everyone and exploring this part of the mountains.