Colorado

I've been slowly going through all the photos from our trip and editing them based on our stops along the way. Instead of one large post published six months after our trip, I'll just pepper each set among my current posts.

We backed out of the driveway with a fully packed car on Friday, May 27 after Jess got home from work. We drove several hours and stopped at a hotel in a small town between Tulsa, OK and Wichita, KS. The next day, we arrived in Denver at the home of good family friends, Evie & Dennis. Oh so many years ago, when I was in middle school, we met their family at our church and my mom and Evie became best friends. The two couples have vacationed together for years ever since.

Evie & Dennis have two daughters, Stacy and Lizzie, and both have children of their own. Stacy's son, Tony, is just a few months younger than Sydney - Stacy and I were pregnant at the same time. Lizzie's daughter, Gracie, is 7 and her son, Joey, is 3. Gracie and Joey were at Evie & Dennis' house when we arrived and the kids became quick friends. I only snapped a few pictures because two of the three were rather unwilling to have their picture taken.

Sydney and Gracie got along so well.



Here is Tony, who kept putting his hand up to my camera every time I'd put it up to my eye. Little does he know, I LOVE this photo of him.



This is Evie's unofficial pet. Every morning, this momma squirrel comes right up to the sliding glass doors expecting breakfast. Well, Evie obliges with a couple handfuls of peanuts. This brings the momma's babies out of hiding and soon three or four little squirrels are bounding toward the patio. It's quite a site to see. So cool.



Here is the other unwilling participant with my photo-taking - even momma squirrel was more willing. Joey was just not down with being in pictures.



The next morning, we headed off to Estes Park. It is the entrance to Colorado National Park, which is where Jess wanted to go for the day. However, snow prohibited us from going any further than Estes Park.



The view was awesome.



We were greeted by a ton of these little guys.



They are so used to people, they come right up to get a snack. Here, Sydney shares a cracker.



My girls



More awesomeness



The scenery was beautiful.



After our day in Estes Park, we arrived back to Evie & Dennis' to a bunch of family and a party. We had food and fun. The kids played and the adults caught up. We ate good food and talked well into the night. It was a great time with great friends.

The next day we packed up, said our tearful goodbyes, and headed to our next stop on the way to our ultimate destination. We headed south and then west to Grand Junction, CO. An hour away from there is a very cool, very beautiful place called Gateway Canyon. We stayed at the resort designed by the owner of the Discovery Channel. Everywhere we looked, the scenery was amazing. I was in photographers overload. I filled up a couple of my memory cards. These are my favorite pictures.

[I love clouds.] This was the entrance to our 44 mile drive down into the canyon.



The scenery on the drive.



This is the site we saw as we arrived at the resort. Look at those clouds!



Have I mentioned I have a thing for clouds?



I couldn't stop shooting ...





We don't see these in Arkansas.



The view outside our room. We had a cute little patio.



Our room was awesome. Jess and I loved the big plushy robes.





We had barely dropped the suitcases in the room, and the girls were begging to go for a swim.



They were so good for the car ride, we felt like they definitely deserved to go to the pool. Just one more nice picture for Momma and we'll go!



And the view from my poolside lounge chair.



The pool was really neat. And we could see some of those beautiful rocks peeking above the buildings. [We were sitting in those chairs that are on the right under the wood awning. But we moved because we wanted to go into the hot tub.]



We went for a walk around the grounds. The girls stopped to look at a momma horse and her foal (not pictured).



This is the retreat center. (Okay, so I was taking this photo more for the clouds. Yes, the clouds. )





The girls bided their time while I took countless pictures of the canyon.



There was a little coffee shop, a tiny grocery store with a few souvenirs and post cards, a restaurant, and a bar. Oh and a gas pump charging almost $5/gal!



Laynie enjoyed the robes, too.



Actually, after a second swim in the pool, both girls enjoyed the nice soft, comfy robes before we went to have some dinner.



The next morning we went to breakfast, the girls had one more swim while I packed up, and the Jess drove us out of the canyon so that I could take more pictures.



About halfway out, we were stopped by these cows who only wanted to cross the street.





Of course, these pictures don't do justice to the scenery, but you can get the idea.





But then I had to take over because we were headed for the Colorado National Monument. And driving on a narrow road chipped out of the side of the mountain required some attention - I tried not to look down and imagine what would become of us if I slipped.

This little hole in the wall was pretty cool.



The road can be seen in this pic, except that this was the easy one. Generally, the road was simply a two-lane cliff hanging out on the rock. Talk about intimidating.



And here is the reason for the dangerous () drive - the Colorado National Monument. Pretty cool, amazingly beautiful.





Someone saw us taking pictures of each other with the girls and offered to take one of the four of us. Pretty as a postcard, no?



Yep, and there's the drop. Nice, eh?



But isn't it awesome?

We stopped at the gift shop, read a few facts about the monument and how it was created, hit the restroom, and headed down the rocks. After shaking the shakes out of me, we were on our way to Salt Lake City to meet up with some more friends.

To be continued ...