Just a few leftover July pics...

All Aboard...Riding the Train to Glenwood - AWESOMENESS!!!

In July, Mommy, Harlow, and Olivia rode the Amtrack to Glenwood Springs with Grandma. We got up early, boarded the train in Denver around 8:30am and set out on the 6 hour journey through the mountains. We had no idea how beautiful it would be. We went high up into the mountains to Winter Park, got off for a stretch, went on to follow the Colorado River through Gore Canyon and down the Pumphouse run until we got to I-70. Then we crossed I-70 and followed Glendwood Canyon into the town. We were a little worried that 6 hours would feel like a long time, but it passed by in no time. Daddy and Aunt Tesha met up with us and we had a terrific weekend at the hot springs. Aunt Tesha wasn't feeling great, so the Hotel Colorado gave us an upgrade to a HUGE beautiful room. The hotel is historic and had all the original features and furniture.

 

  Here we are waiting for the train...it was a bit late.

 If you look closely here, you'll see a rock sticking out of this clear, still little pond along the side of the tracks. Amazing!

 



This is Gore Canyon, and we think this is Gore Rapid. There is a little kayaker standing on the rock, running safey for a boater in the water.  You would have to zoom in to see. This is a tough rapid and it was fun to see these guys running it! 

This is a stretch of river that we run a lot as a family. Few rapids but beautiful scenery. We always see the train passing from the river.  Now we were the ones gawking at the rafters! 

Here's grandma enjoying some quiet reading time. This train was plush! 

Once we finally crossed over I-70, we were in Glenwood Canyon. This is the stretch of river that we did our river float on. It was really fun to be back there, but on the train! 

Harlow was ready to get off the train by the end. She loves grandma, and her glasses!

The New Elephant Exhibit at the Zoo

The zoo has this really great new Elephant exhibit. The elephants have a huge home and can roam from one area to the next. It includes grasses, water, indoor areas. And they do this really fun show where they explain how they train them. Did you know that elephants love to swim and get totally submerged. It was really fun to watch.

4th of July in Meadowglen

4th of July in our neighborhood is really fun. We do a parade behind a fire truck with all the kids on decorated bikes to the pool. Then the firemen hook up their hose to the fire hydrant and spray all the kids. It's total chaos at first (but that video was too long to upload!) Instead here is one of Emmett and Olivia spraying the hose. There there are a bunch of swim games and food and activities. It's become our tradition! (when we're in town).

 





Rock Salon

Olivia has a very active imagination and is always makinug up game with everything she gets her hand on. One night while camping she did rock art with Daddy and then went on to give him the full salon treatment with a stick and some pine cones. He returned the favor!  Later, Mommy got her nails painted with sticks. 

I guess that's what you do when you're a Mountain Girl!

Exploring Beautiful Crested Butte, CO

 

We continued on our camping trip through southwestern CO and made 4 day stop in Crested Butte. We have not been there in the summer before and it is truly an amazing place to visit. The mountains are huge and we enjoyed the cool water of Lake Isabel. We hiked all over the place, found waterfalls, and even a stash of some of the first river kayaks ever reproduced (the Dancer).

 

 

The wildflowers were bountiful in Crested Butte. So many varieties and colors! Olivia had fun exploring all the nature around us. We even made these neat dried flower keepers to bring back home to show Grandma all the things we had seen along the way.

We all had a great time on the SUP - stand up paddle board. We rented this one from a shop in town and Olivia would ride on the front. She couldn't get enough of this!

 

This has got to be one of the cutest pictures ever. Daddy is in his full fishing get-up, while helping his little cowgirl ride her bike to the lake. It was hot, and a bit frustrating, but they both got there ready to fish the day away!

South Fork, CO - site of mixed reviews :)

After Silverton, we camped outside of South Fork for a couple days. We have mixed feelings about that place. A few things were really nice - the wildflowers and river - but overall, not a lot to be desire there. (For our own memories...we liked nearby Lake City much better. That was a really beautiful, quaint little town nestled in some pretty HUGE valleys).

Nonetheless, we had a great time snuggling up in the camper while it poured cats and dogs outside. We felt lucky to have the cool wet weather, as fires raged around Colorado. We missed all the fires back home on this two and a half week camping trip.

Southern Colorado Camping

After Telluride, we travled on to Ourady, Silverton, and Durango. We camped at a beautiful lake outside of Silverton, CO. We realized that we had million dollar real estate at this spot we found. We are sure that there was not a more beautiful view to be had those days! Check out how the sky is reflected in the water.

In this picture, Daddy and Olivia are out for some twilight fishing. Daddy took her fishing at least 5 times on this trip. He is patient and such a great teacher!

This is the view from our camper. Literally, this is what we woke up to each day. Stunning.

Here is the view of our camper, nestled in the trees. A beautiful spot!

This was an easy little walk around the lake - perfect for a three year old (and a mama carrying a baby while trying to take pictures!)

Sometimes a hike just ends up with some time huddled in an outhouse! What?  That's right...we attempted a hike on the Colorado Trail, just a short trip down the hill from our campsite, but typical of Colorado afternoons, a thunderstorm built up and starting lightning, hailing, and raining on us before we could make it back to the camper! To get out of the rain and hail, we took cover in the only thing we could find - this facility! A woman who came to use it as the rain let up thought it was so funny that she insisted on taking a picture of us. She said we would love the memory down the road. She is right - this was a pretty exciting adventure!

Daddy couldn't help himself...isn't Harlow so little and cute up on that big camper!?!?!

And one last look at the view as we packed up...wish we could stay here forever.