Colorado is so awesome. People who live there truly are lucky....at least in the summer. I don't know how they survive the winter, but at least summer rocks.
When we go again, we are definitely staying somewhere that has a stream running thru it. Kids are so mesmerized by running water.
They'll sit there and just stare.
And be completely surprised by how cold it is!
I had no idea that Estes Park was home of the famous Shining hotel! If I knew, we would have taken a tour! We drove up as close as we could to sneak a peak.
This picure isn't that great, but I love the contrast of the red roof against the mountains.
All along the main street there are all kinds of touristy shops. We decided to spend some time perusing. James was in heaven in the old fashioned candy store. We also tried some handmade ice cream and a cute Mexican restaurant with horrible wait staff.
At the suggestion of one my cousins, we checked out a place in Estes Park called Fun Times. It totally lived up to its name.
The kids got about 10 turns on the slide and begged for more.
Because we had to drive into a town with a quick care for Bella, we noticed a Pinball shop...with a sign that said COME PLAY. Well, wouldn't that be fun?! So we did, on our way back down the mountain.
This was the shop dreams are made out of! And we got to share James' love of pinball machines with our kids. Yeah, they'd seen them before....but not vintage ones like these. They had at least 30 machines, ranging from old school to Walking Dead.
We spent a good amount of time (and quarters!) in there and could have spent alot more of both!
After playing pinball, we headed to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.
What an amazing sight! Clear blue skies and a slight breeze in the air convinced us we should hike the loop. So we did and found it was much hotter, we should have brought more water! Ha! Greenies.
We climbed rocks, lots of rocks. Jax scared the crap out of us by climbing too high now and then. We watched a pro climb the face of one of the beautiful rocks, which is so intriguing...I'm glad the kids got to see something like that and appreciate the difficulty. I think they were as amazed as I was.
For a late lunch, we headed to the Airplane Restaurant by our hotel. We wanted to go to dinner the night before, but got there too late, so I'm glad we made it back the next day!
It's an actual airplane, the inside decked out with booths instead of aisles of chairs.
I promptly got a tad airsick.
The kids got the chance to play in the cockpit for a bit. Move all the levers and gadgets and such.
This trip to Colorado made me wish we could visit every summer. As much as I love the beach, there's something healing and beautiful about mountains, streams and countryside.
And spending time with family. There's nothing better that!
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