GMRT: Winter Park, CO

The final stop on our Great Mountain Road Trip was Winter Park, CO. Now Winter Park is a well known ski resort, but while planning for this trip, we discovered that it's a fabulously fun summer destination too! They've set it up with lots of outdoor activities, and of course the scenery was amazing.


We had wristbands that allowed us to do all the activities as many times as we wanted. And with school back in session, we practically had the park to ourselves!

The first the we did was the maze, and we had so much fun we did it multiple times.


We also went back several times to the bungee trampoline (although once was enough for me).


The rock wall was pretty fun too...


...but, really, the alpine slide can't be topped.



You ride a ski lift to the top of a mountain and slide down on these luge-type things.

Griffin, of course, was the biggest daredevil of us all, and he smoked anyone who dared to race him.

Bill, another daredevil, might be the only one that had a different favorite activity. He spent the afternoon doing a private lesson learning how to downhill mountain bike. Apparently Bill was a natural, and his teacher kept taking him on higher and higher jumps. He got a little beaten up, but overall he thought it was awesome. I'm just glad I didn't see the spills!


All in all, a completely wonderful vacation. We can't wait to go back!

GMRT: Boulder and Denver

After our three nights at the national park, we were desperate for a shower. We were so desperate that we ended up at Dad's Laundromat and Showers in Estes Park and took the best $5 showers of our lives. Finally clean, we headed toward Denver.

On our way, we made a quick stop off in Boulder for a tour of the Celestial Seasonings tea factory. What a fabulous tour! We were able to see how the tea is made and packaged, and the mint room isn't something we'll soon forget.

After our little detour, we made it to Denver easily. We checked into our hotel (it's a little surreal to go from camping out in the mountains to a nice hotel in the middle of downtown Denver).


From our hotel, we walked the few blocks to Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies.


We saw the Rockies play the Phillies, and although we were baked in the sun for the first half of the game, we had a fun time. Well, some of us did...



...others of us were less enthused.

GMRT: Rocky Mountain National Park

We were able to make it to our site and set it up before dark, while the kids busied themselves with a rousing game of "pinecone baseball."


It got pretty chilly at night, but we were well prepared and managed pretty comfortably. In the morning, after hot chocolate and warming by the fire, we decided to spend the cool morning on a scenic car trip to the highest peak of the park. The drive up was beautiful...


...but I don't think we were prepared for just how cold it would be at the peak. Snow? In August?!


Although the mornings were cold, the afternoon weather was perfect. We spent the afternoons hiking, playing baseball at our campsite, reading, and enjoying the sunshine. It was such a wonderful, relaxing few days.

GMRT: Estes Park, CO

From Colorado Springs, we continued our trek north up to Estes Park. We didn't have too much time to explore the town because we wanted to make sure to get to our campsite before dark, but we did allot enough time to take the aerial tramway to get a fabulous view of the town.

GMRT: Colorado Springs

From Santa Fe, we headed north to Colorado Springs. We weren't that impressed with Colorado Springs as a city (which couldn't have been helped by the icky, old hotel we stayed in), but they sure did have a handful of fantastic attractions!

Our first adventure was to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox ballpark. While some of us were underwhelmed...
...the rest of us had a blast!

We were especially entertained by the antics of the Sky Sox mascot and the guest Louisville mascot. They sure put our local mascot, Spike, to shame.


The next morning, we got up early to take the cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak.

The views out our windows were incredible as we made the chilly climb to the top of the mountain.


But the view from the top was beyond compare.


And cold. Veeeeeery cold.


After Pikes Peak, we made our way over to the Garden of the Gods. Wow, was that place incredible!

Then, on a whim on our way out of town, we decided to stop and check out the Air Force Academy. I didn't expect to be very impressed, but I was blown away by the beauty of the campus.

And the chapel was absolutely breathtaking.