Monday, November 30, 2009

Colorado

For our 15th anniversary, Mr. M and I flew out to Colorado. We are thinking of settling there post Navy yet neither of us have been there so it was time to check it out! Scooter came with us cause he still needs his Mommy, but the other 3 stayed at home with Nana. It was fun traveling with just the 3 of us and the flight went really well. We rented a neat little car, I have no idea what it was, hubby could tell you, I just thought it was fun to have a small SUV...can't do that anymore with 4 kids!

We had so much fun and we absolutely LOVE Colorado!! We put over 700 miles on the rental car and we were only there for 4 days! On our first day there we went north to the Rocky Mountain National Park. WOW!! It was gorgeous!! We went on a little hike to see an area where there had been a flood and then we went on another short one to Bear Lake...where it started snowing! We also were driving around and came upon a herd of elk!








The first day was also our actual anniversary so we decided to stay in a chalet right outside the park. It was so neat! All the furniture was log and we had our own private backyard with a hot tub! For our anniversary dinner we went out to a very nice restaurant and ate some of that elk!! We also both tried duck for the first time, we enjoyed both! It was a very cozy restaurant and we got to meet the people sitting next to us, he was a WWII Vet, what an honor it was!







This next pic was the view when we left the chalet the next morning and the one after that was a herd of mountain goats that were just hanging out on the side of the highway!


Day 2 we headed south to Colorado Springs to take the COG railway up to Pikes Peak. What an adventure! That elevation stuff is no joke, at the top I started to become short of breath and a little dizzy! But I drank some water and I felt much better. It was also VERY cold and very beautiful! The views on that trip are what inspired the song America the Beautiful. There was a little house about half way up and there was once a family who lived there and the woman had a baby there! Crazy! One of the men who built/funded the COG railway was from my hometown!







That took up most of the day but we did go to Garden of the Gods as the sun was setting, that was gorgeous as well! We were only able to get a few shots before it got too dark.



On Saturday we started out our day by going to Manitou Springs. It was a quaint little town at the bottom of Pikes Peak and it was neat to walk around and look at the little shops. We almost bought an antique toy box for Little Man's room, but then decided it would be really hard to get it back home! Later in the afternoon we went back north to Denver to go to my cousins baby shower. He and his wife were expecting their first baby...a boy. She just had the baby last week and he is so stinkin' cute! Below is a pic of them with our little Scooter who shares the same name as their new precious little boy!




After that we drove around and just looked at different towns and then came back to Denver to spend the night. On Sunday we went to the church where an old friend of mine is the worship pastor. It was so great to see him and his wife again and to be led in worship by him again. After church we headed back down to Colorado Springs to go to Seven Falls. I am so glad we went, it was amazing! We climbed 224 steps to the top of Seven Falls! Then when you get to the top they tell you there is another 20 minute hike to go see another waterfall which was Midnight Falls. When we first got there I told Mr. M there was no way I could do it, but of course I did. Here are the pics from Seven Falls.

























Colorado was so great, there wasn't anywhere there that wasn't beautiful...I can't wait to go back!