Alex and I were out of school ALL last week, but we didn't leave for Buena Vista until Tuesday around naptime. Mom and Alex dropped off Molly and Moses with Susie while Dad and I loaded up the Pilot.
Packed and ready to go!
Alex and I slept almost the entire 2.5 hour drive (good timing, Mom). The Loomis Family had arrived about an hour before us. I was happy to see my buddy Gavin, and was excited to get to stay the next few days with him.
Hanging out eating junk food on our First Day:
Selfies!
Chilling outside getting acquainted with our surroundings:
We stayed on a very nice property that had a total of 3 cabins. We stayed in the larger cabin right along a very mild and shallow creek. Here is some video Mom captured of a panoramic view of the back area of our cabin, and the creek that we enjoyed:
Cabin Scene
Gavin and his family stayed about 50 yards back, and the Landlord of the property visits his cabin that is also close by. We did have some excitement after dinner, the first night we were there. Ms. Larissa was heading back to their cabin to grab some baggies for leftovers, and looked up as she was about to cross over the path...to see a grown Black Bear!! Mom heard her hollering as she was coming back to where all of us were, and everyone quickly rushed inside the cabin. It turns out this black bear is the "neighborhood bear" who enjoys coming by the evening before trash day looking for food. He sure was stubborn and did NOT want to leave the area. He eventually left, but we kept an eye out for s/he the rest of our trip. Thankfully, s/he never showed back up again! 30 years of camping around Colorado, and Ms. Larissa had never actually seen a Black Bear! We are glad that s/he was only interested in the trash. Phew!
Gavin and I had fun on this swing all week:
The cabins we stayed in were "minimalist cabins." Meaning, basically a step up from camping and very, very, basic. Mom was a little skeeved out the first few days until she wrapped her brain around it all and got over it. We had places to sleep, a toilet, a shower, and a full kitchen with running water and that was about it! Mom didn't sleep very well the first few nights...she was actually ready to go home after two days. But, she "put on her big girl pants" and took one for the team so we could enjoy ourselves and have fun--and we sure did! On the 2nd Day, we visited the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. We didn't actually go into the Hot Springs area. We spent most of our time across the street in the bigger pool, and the kiddie pool area. Dad, Mr. Shawn, Gavin and I also got passes to ride the Water Slide. We went 5 times...and would have gone more had we not run out of time. We had plans to return to the cabins for lunch and naps, and then go BACK to the swimming pool later in the afternoon...but by the time everyone was up from their naps...it got to be a little late. Mom locked her camera in the locker, so she only got a total of TWO pictures of our morning at Mt. Princeton. Darn!
Hanging out the afternoon of Day 2. We cooked pizza on the grill for dinner!
Alex and Gwyn hanging out with their pacifiers:
It would rain for a bit almost every afternoon we were there. Just enough to get everything a little wet and muddy! The cloud cover sure was nice though.
Fun with Dart Guns!
We also roasted s'mores by the campfire almost every night. They were AWESOME. Dad is really good at PERFECTLY toasting Marshmallows.
Dad had a really great time and thought our location was perfect.
Since we were on "private land" we were able to have a campfire. Dad and Mr. Shawn were very good at maintaining it, and making sure it was completely out every night before bed.
On Day 3 (Thursday, July 4th), we visited the Buena Vista 4th of July Parade. It was really neat to see a "small town 4th of July celebration." The park wasn't extremely over-crowded with TONS of people, Gavin and I got front row seats, and we sat right next to some older girls that kept giving us all the candy they would catch being thrown off the floats. We totally scored!!!
Waiting for the Parade to begin:
Poor Gwyn was running a fever off and on the entire trip. She felt really crummy on the 4th, so they ended up taking her to Salida's ER to get checked out. The doc said she just had a virus, and with a little Motrin...she perked up quite nicely later on.
Alex had a BLAST running around the park, saying "hi" to people, petting random dogs, and sucking on a DumDum. Mom was exhausted from chasing her around for a couple of hours. Non-Stop!
Later in the afternoon we grilled hotdogs and hamburgers and had a good time visiting and playing around the cabin.
Mom caught some video of me enjoying the creek with the huge stick that I found:
4th of July celebrating!
Gwyn feeling much better:
On the 4th Day (Friday), we drove up to a little ghost town called St. Elmo. IT was only about 8 miles from our cabins. Mom and Dad sure would have enjoyed being able to read about the history of St. Elmo...but there was little time for reading when chasing us kids around!
It was a very cool little town, and we would love to go back. Mom captured some video of Alex holding Gwyn's hand as we toured the St Elmo area:
The highlight was getting to feed the chipmunks and squirrels. They would come right up to you and eat the sunflower seeds right out of your hands.
Cute that these little guys were not afraid of people. Not so cute when big black bears are not afraid of people! LOL
I got a Push Pop from the General Store, and we ate snacks in the trunk of the Pilot before heading back. It was a great time!
We had Pizza and Beer at the Eddyline Brewery in Buena Vista Friday night. Mom didn't capture too many pictures as she was too busy trying to keep Alex and I content!
We left around 10:00 am on Saturday morning. Alex and I snoozed the majority of the way home, and we stopped for Wendy's in Woodland Park for lunch. It was very nice to be back in our nice, clean, spacious home! Mom was ESPECIALLY happy to sleep in her own bed Saturday night. TONS of laundry and unpacking on Saturday afternoon took place so we could enjoy Sunday with little to have to get done.
We are already planning our trip for next year. Next year...Mom will be better prepared with cleaning supplies (lots of them), towels, blankets, and LOTS of coffee! The kids got along so well, the adults got along great, and we thought our little vacation was a great success.
Molly and Moses were also very happy to be home:
Alex and I took daycare drop-off surprisingly very well this morning, after being away for 9 days. I have music camp all week, and on Wednesday...Mom is going to pick us both up early so that we can go to the RT Logic Company picnic.
No comments:
Post a Comment