Rocky Mountain High

Somewhere between the month of never-ending sickness this past winter, and my recent whining about being so very tired, Peter got fed up with my bellyaching and suggested a vacation.
(To be fair, he was also fed up with all his never-ending stress from work/school/army stuff). So that's what we did last week--took a real, live, relaxing, fun family vacation in which we turned off the phones, remembered each others' names, and unplugged from the stresses of daily life. Since Peter knows that I love a good globe-trotter diversion, he let me plan the whole trip. So I picked the location (within reason--something close by in the Rockies), found activities, and planned the meals at all those award-winning gluten and dairy-free restaurants that exist. We somehow managed to snag a whole week when Peter didn't have to play Army, and the world would (most likely) not catch on fire if he took off of work, and neither Marie nor Peter had school.

Boy, was it ever worth it. 

I found a perfect little cabin on the Colorado River, just west of the Rocky Mountain town of Glenwood Springs, CO. The town is known for its hot springs and lots of outdoor adventure-y type stuff like hiking and biking and rafting and all the other things that crunchy Coloradoans like to do. We told the kids that our stay in the cabin was "camping," although it was more my speed of camping...you know, with tiled showers and stainless appliances to cook gluten-free goodness and comfortable mattresses and a separate bedroom for the kids. (Thank you, Army, for destroying all the fun of bivouacking for me). The cabin came complete with the soothing sights and sounds of the river that flowed in front of it, a stocked fishing pond so Peter could teach me the kids how to fish, and a fire pit next to the river in which to roast marshmallows while watching the sun set over the mountains. Because it just happened to face northwest...the small details, you know.

I spent a lot of time like this:

And we went to some of the coolest places I've ever seen. (Which is saying a lot after spending so much time in this little corner of the world). I debated writing a bajillion-part series to try and convey the awesomeness with the help of the 1,815 pictures I took. But it's your lucky day because I decided that I would limit myself to just a little summary with a few collages (and maybe a video) per event. So you'll only be subjected to about 3% of the shots...unless you visit us in person. Then I'll be sure to shove the 50-page scrapbook in front of your face.

Day 1: Hanging Lake
I decided before we even moved to Colorado that I wanted to do this hike someday. I'm not sure where I first read about it, but basically this limestone lake is a gorgeous geological wonder suspended in the cliffs of Glenwood Canyon a few thousand feet from the base. I'd kind of forgotten about it until I started looking into places around Glenwood Springs; when I realized how close it was to the town, it sealed the deal.

We left right after breakfast on Friday and got there early in the morning when the trail wasn't too crowded. It was a (really looonng-seeming) mile hike almost straight up the entire way, but we planned well with a bunch of snack breaks and the kids did awesome. (Minus Ethan who had the Tantrum of the Year after our first snack break when we put him back in the carrier on my back. I think I still have some bruises). Every step was more gorgeous than the last--the trail follows a stream the whole way with little cascading waterfalls that became bigger as we went. The kids loved crossing all of the little bridges and watching all of the falls. And eating all the m&ms out of the trail mix, of course.

The top right before the lake involved some minimal climbing (there were railings to help out) and allowed for some gorgeous views of the canyon below. And the lake itself was gorgeous. Three waterfalls cascading into crystal clear teal waters, like something out of a fairy tale, and a perfect view into the canyon below. It was fairly small, and being an east coast girl I'd consider it more of a pond than a lake. But it was worth every last bit of the hike to see it.

There was also a petrified log that stretched almost the entire way across the lake which some people were walking out on for pictures, and the timing worked out for Peter to go 'walk on the water.' (I thought it best not to take chances--and possibly a dunk--and walk out too since Ethan was content in his carrier at the moment). 

All tuckered out.

We got down the mountain in time for a late lunch and enjoyed the rest of the day back at the cabin relaxing.

And learning to fish.

Daddy is the best.

(You know those memes? I feel like me "fishing" should be one of them):

Hey where'd the hook go?
And what are all these knots in the line?

Day 2: Camping
So we did actually promise the big kids some "real" camping. It entailed setting up tents a few feet from the cabin next to the river on Saturday night...for Peter and the kids. While Ethan and I slept in our cozy beds in the cabin. Win-win. We roasted more marshmallows, of course, before tucking the kids in. Marie and Erik all nestled up next to each other in their little tent was possibly one of the cutest things I've seen in my entire life.

First s'mores:

Also, earlier in the day Peter came up with the idea of building "boats" and having a race down the river...the bridge was the finish line, and Ethan's boat won by a good mile! The kiddos loved it.

Day 3: Colorado National Monument
Let me preface this by saying that I've never been to the Grand Canyon, so by comparison this might not seem like much to some of you. But Colorado National Monument has some seriously amazing canyons that looked enough like the Grand Canyon to impress me. Sunday morning, we went to church, relaxed a bit at the cabin, then drove west toward Grand Junction for dinner and a sunset tour of the national park. During our trip planning I looked up 'things to do in Grand Junction' on a whim because neither of us had been to the area and it was just over an hour away. I read that there was a good spot near Grand Junction to watch the sunset over Books Cliffs in Colorado National Monument. I figured it would be cool and all, but I never expected this kind of amazingness:

A 19-mile drive filled with jaw-dropping views...
a sunset view from one side of the park, and view after dusk from the other side.

Pretty decent place for family photo ops.
Also, not a shabby place to play in the dirt. Marie called it "Mars" because it was all red. 

Day 4: "Recovery" Day - Mini Golf and a Quick Jaunt to Aspen
On Monday we attempted to sleep in, then took the kids to burn off some steam and experience their first round of put-put. Then we decided to go check out Aspen for a bit since it was only an hour away and a good drive was our best bet for getting the kids to nap!

Day 5: Rifle Falls & Spelunkers-in-Training
Rifle Falls was another favorite stop on the trip. I discovered it when researching good hikes in the area, and the description talked about an easy hike to some waterfalls and a few small caves that kids could explore. The description didn't do it justice--they were much higher falls than we expected (about three stories), and we ended up being able to go up to the base of the waterfalls, hike along the top, and even go behind one of them!

Rifle Falls--the views from the top (including the river),
the middle (we were behind the falls on the left!)
and the base (if you look closely, you can Peter and me next to the falls)

The caves also didn't disappoint. We stumbled upon a "secret" entrance to one that went pretty far back and was a ton of fun to explore. I mean, it was no Carlsbad Caverns, but we didn't have to pay for a tour and got to do all of the discovering on our own. It definitely made me want to do some real caving in the future! We probably could've used stronger flashlights because it was still pitch black with our headlamps, but overall it was the perfect amateur spelunking experience. The kids haven't stopped talking about it!

I went up into this little alcove with Ethan (left) and told Marie she could explore the back wall.
But instead of a wall, there was a hole in the wall big enough to climb through (center)...
which opened up into a huge cavern above with a tunnel in the back (right)!

We had to trade off flashlights in order to move around--what you see on the left is from my camera flash.
All we could see (center) was just pitch blackness! Like I said, stronger flashlights would've helped.
We spent awhile trading flashlights to explore, then climbed back down
through the "secret" entrance (right), which Ethan and I barely squeezed through!

Day 6: Rifle Gap Beach
So we had planned to go to the Hot Springs all along, but after driving past it a few times in Glenwood Springs, we decided that taking the kids to a crowded, glorified swimming pool with sky-high prices and warm water on one of the hottest days of the summer didn't sound like much fun. Maybe we'll go back someday without the kids in winter to say we went and be able to enjoy the full experience. But we decided to skip it this time and go to this beautiful beach (near Rifle Falls) instead on our last full day. Of course, the water was freezing compared to the Hot Springs, but I'm a beach girl at heart and the kids had a blast playing in the sand. It was definitely the right choice for us!

Rock skipping, snacktime, Ethan eating sand, and little engineer
Erik building a "boat float." Still not sure what that means...

The talented Sand Castle Construction Team!

Day 7: Across the Divide (and Back to Reality)
We all agreed at the end of the vacation that we achieved a great balance of having fun, relaxing and unplugging. It was the perfect pace, we didn't do too much or too little, and we weren't itching to get home right away...but also didn't feel the need to stay longer (except for Marie who begged to stay another week).

On the way home we took a short detour over Loveland Pass so we could check out some of the ski hills in the area we'll be frequenting with our epic passes this winter (friends and family invited!). Loveland Pass is also home of the Continental Divide, which--if you need an explanation like me--means that all water east of the divide flows to the Gulf/Atlantic, and all water west of it flows to the Pacific. It also means that we saw some gorgeous views of the Rockies, dropped from about 80 degrees to 40 degrees in the space of 20 minutes, and got to see snow again. I won't be sad if it's the last time I do until December, though!

BONUS: Family Photo Outtakes
Because no vacation would be complete without them.

Time to play "Catch That Kid" and "Guess Who's Missing?"!