Tuesday, August 2
ANNA: It is now officially day three and I'm going to quote Papa- "Every day I think it can't get any better and then it does." That is one of the truest facts here... because we've been stating a bunch of those.
We started of this morning at 6:45, thank you Papa. All those times I said I was okay with waking up early was one thing, but before 7 is a whole other story... and not a pretty one. Once we got up it took us about 2 hours to get the RV all set up for the road and the campsite packed up (this is a little longer than the usual because Papa had to teach Evan and I all the packing up jobs). Another hold up was the constant "Where does this go?" from us kids.
Before we left the Academy, we had to take another couple of pictures of the
B-52.
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| The biggest thing Papa ever flew and the the biggest thing Papa ever drove |
We drove about 4 hours, or by we I mean Papa. And man did he drive. This road was questionable for regular cars, let alone RVs. Those turns were insane. Like 180 degree shift with a cliff on either side of you. And Papa full on dominated. Professional driver status right here.
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| Racing trains. |
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| Anna decides to pick a few wildflowers |
When we finally got to Snow Mountain Ranch around 1:30 we decided to move tomorrow's climbing wall reservation to this afternoon. We got to the outdoor climbing wall and watched for a while until it was our turn... and you just know that once we got all of our climbing gear on an absolute downpour started. Evan was bummed but to be honest I was kinda sorta relieved (Cause I'm terrified of heights.) But oh thank goodness the staff came to the rescue and moved us to the indoor climbing wall in the KIVA center. No I don't know what KIVA stands for but I intend to find out. It's in all caps so it has to mean something right?
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| I know I can make it to the top |
Ok. Back on topic, we start up on this indoor wall. Now just some background information- Evan has been to track out climbing camps, loves climbing and weighs literally nothing. I have been climbing all of one time at a retreat and that was a one time thing, I'm afraid of heights and climbing scares the living daylights out of me.
So given that information we can start. Evan climbed the wall 10 TIMES. I know. Totally crazy. He made it to the top on every route and even started climbing just using the rock (no little rainbow things to stand on.) I on the other hand attempted the wall three times, which was more than enough for me. The first time I made it about 1/3 of the way up (according to Mimi and Papa), the second time maybe about 1/2 way up, and finally ended on about 3/4 of the way up. I may not have made it to the top but let me say, I am pretty darn proud of that.
After climbing we hung out in the KIVA center. Evan played basketball while Papa and I peppered with the volleyball. When Papa and I stopped I got some skates and went rollerskating. Definitely easier than I remembered. (Evan is still playing basketball like the champ he is.)
We finally headed back to the RV to freshen up before going to Winter Park for supper at the Crooked Creek Saloon. Apparently this was a big part of Dad, Mimi and Papa's time here when they were here years ago. Dinner was fantastic and the saloon was very intimidating with a bunch of tough guys yelling and playing pool.
Papa and I ended the day taking a walk around the campsites and then editing more of our crazy pictures and writing the blog.
Wednesday, August 3
This morning the bright and early wake up put the others to shame. Last night we forgot to put the shades down over the huge windows so at 5:57 when the sun rose, the RV was lit up. So we were up nice and early.
We cleaned up the RV and got dressed for summer tubing! This was something else. It was a huge turf hill with water sprayed on it to keep it slippery. Evan and I took single tubes and went down the hill 5 times!
Papa even went with us once!
We came back to the RV for a quick rest period before heading back to the KIVA for Evan to play basketball and for me to roller skate and play volleyball.
When we headed back to the RV for lunch we changed into clothes for our horse ride later in the evening because we didn't know when we'd be back.
Our next activity was the forest zip line, I was super pumped for it because I love zip lines right? Well we pull up and see this huge 30 foot ladder. That's scary enough... definitely scary enough for me. I'm over here talking myself into it trying to stay calm as I watch someone start up it. AND OH MY GOSH YOU JUST KNOW THAT THE LADDER SHAKES. Like full on moving sideways as you climb it. Then to add to the terror, the belay that's keeping you from dying starts pulling you farther off of the ladder the higher you climb (angles and stuff.)
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| This thing is a million feet tall!!! |
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| I know this is 2 million feet tall!!!!! |
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| It's at least 3 million feet to the ground!!!! |
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| Wow!! This is easy |
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| I know I can climb this 4 million foot ladder |
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| How far is it to the ground?????? |
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| Ah shucks!, this is easy! |
Evan climbed up the pole one of the times and the ladder the other time. I did the ladder both because the pole was very similar to the climbing wall situation. The zip line was awesome and made it totally worth climbing the shaky ladder of death. We both had a great time and were lucky enough to get to go twice!
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| That wasn't bad at all. And that tower is only a couple feet tall. |
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| Wow! What a great view |
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| Mimi does great on the horse! |
For supper we had steaks, bread and baked potatoes. A gourmet chef prepared the steaks for us and oh my goodness it was absolutely delicious.
After supper we had a quick 15 minute ride back to the stables and my horse (Velma) got to be the lead horse! It was really nice being able to ride up front because the dust wasn't being kicked up by other horses in front of me.
When we got back from supper we changed into shorts and tshirts before driving down to the KIVA to play volleyball, basketball and rollerskating. Once we got tired we returned the equipment and headed back to the RV for water and showers.
EVAN: Hey, its Evan, if you may not know it is my first time doing the blog! Today we started off the day sliding down the summer tubing hill, it was a blast! Anna and I told the staff pushing us down the hill to make us spin each time. Our head felt like "noodles" after that. We had to come back to the RV to get situated and then went right off to the next activity!
After the tube rights we went on to the zip line when we got to the zip line we realized how high up the platform was that we had to jump off of it was about 50 feet up! There were two ways to get up, both were pretty sketchy, first you could go up a shaky ladder or you could climb up a pole, and this was a wooden pole that had shaky metal nubs for you to put your hands and feet on, now people would usually think oh well just go up the pole well the numbs for you to step on would pop off if you pushed up on them! I went up on the pole first because you already know that I am a dare devil, It was pretty fun! Back to the actual zip line we got up there and he said "alright we got you clipped in lean back and jump" well those directions were very straight to the point, I needed to gather my self before I jumped so all I said was "Am I going to die" he said no so I said "Ok bye" and I was off he said we got up to 30 mph it was great!
So lastly we went horseback riding, I got a nice big horse his name was Block Head! Yep you read that right Block Head and he sure did act like he would stop eat grass move 10 feet and then eat grass again. And then we had our instructor and every horse that he went on he could make it move, It was so annoying because he got his horse and then there is me, watching my horse eating grass. So after we ate THE BEST MEAL EVER we were on our way back to the stables and I had to ask how he got the horses to move, so then he taught me how to make the horse move AND TURN it was great I just wished that he told
me that first because I only got to see my horses full potential for ten minutes because we were already back!
So after that full day we got back to the RV and are ready for a great nights rest!
Thursday, August 4
PAPA: It seems that every place we go with the kids, we can't get it all done. We always leave wanting more. I guess that's better than getting bored - which will never happen with Evan and Anna around.
Tomorrow morning, we leave Snow Mountain Ranch. It has been a fun-packed 3 days. We've done just about everything we wanted to do, except climb Snow Mountain. This was something we had really wanted to do, but today while we were in the Rocky Mountain National Park, it started to rain and it has rained off and on most of the afternoon. We all probably needed a little break anyway.
My primary blog writer (Anna) apparently is exhausted tonight. She has created an outline of today's adventures, but is unable to write coherent sentences (because she's already asleep at 8:30.)
Anyway, it was another fun filled day with a trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park, lunch at the historic Grand Lake Lodge, and a tour of Camp Chief Ouray, where her father was a counselor. Evan did all this and then went to the Kiva Recreation Center and played sports until 8:30. I bet he sleeps well tonight.
Tomorrow we're headed West toward Moab, Utah, with a stop at Rifle Gap State Park on the way.
ANNA: So this morning we got up somewhat bright and early, packed up cold weather gear and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park.
This park was drop dead gorgeous. The mountains were really high up and some even had snow on them! A lot of the trees there were dead because of this darn beetle that killed the trees, so that was kinda a bummer, but also really pretty because it let us see more around us.
Once we got to the store and cafe (11,000 feet) we (Papa, Evan and I) decided to hike up the little trail they had to the top of that mountain. (We thought we could see the top because of the whole no trees thing but once we got to the “top” we realized it was another 10 minute walk to the very tippy top. This sounds kinda easy right? Just a quick ½ hour hike to the top- no problem.
Now let’s factor in location. We’re almost 12,000 feet up walking up stairs. STAIRS. Those are hard enough at sea level! So we finally get to the top and we’re doubled over trying to catch our breath, but it’s okay because it’s warm right? NOT. It was 42 degrees up there! With wind- 8 mph wind! So we can’t breathe and we’re freezing because of course, we wore shorts. Who checked the weather? No one.
Okay, quick recap: we’re cold and we can’t breathe. To add onto that it starts snowing. That whole thing that’s supposed to happen at 32 degrees? Yup.
Now I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m really not because the view was breathtaking (haha see what I did there? Cause we couldn’t breathe! Get it?) We could see the mountains everywhere, since we were at the top we could see the valleys as well as the summits. Some mountaintops had snow, some had trees and others were completely bald. Everywhere we looked it was different and a totally unique view. So yes, it was totally worth the hike.
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| It really doesn't look that far, but believe me, at 12,000 feet, it's a long ways. |
As soon as we got down from the hike (now in the rain) we got Mimi and went straight to the cafe for hot chocolate (because we were numb and all that.) Now let me tell you, that might have just been the best hot chocolate I have ever had, we all had that whole face thawing feeling and the warm fuzzies as we finished our cups.
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| These two pictures contrast the view in the winter and the summer. The first picture I didn't take, it's from a sign on the trail. It is dramatic the difference |
On our drive back towards Snow Mountain Ranch we stopped at Grand Lake Lodge (a throwback for Mimi and Papa) for lunch. This lodge was right on the edge of Grand Lake, so we had a view of the pretty waters and the sailing team practicing. Definitely a great spot!
We drove back home in the rain, parked the car in the rain and got warm clothes on in the RV (which was in the rain.) We were very lucky to be at the Y for this one, because when we decided we had to do something, we went to the KIVA (apparently it means gathering place or something like that) to play volleyball. These people really knew what they were doing, so it was fun for Evan and I to learn some new things.
Mimi and Papa picked us up from the KIVA about an hour and a half later so we could go tour Camp Chief Ouray (still in the rain, but more of a drizzle now.) We got to see Dad’s old cabin, the mess hall, the archery range, totem pole, and the grounds in general . Mike Ohr, the new camp director of CCO (the job that Papa’s friend Kent Myers had few years ago) was our ‘tour guide’ and gave us a lot of insider info on the upgrading that they’re planning for the camp.
Once we got home from CCO, we had dinner and kinda chilled for the rest of the night, I think Mimi and Papa have almost worn us out!
