Rocky Mountain National Park

So, we're moving, it's Thanksgiving week, and I just got back from my second vacation in two weeks. To say the last few weeks have been busy is the understatement of the year. In an effort to not get too behind on my blog, I am rewarding all the work I've done the last three days by sitting on the couch and watching football... but also blogging. Yay multitasking! 

Let's rewind to a week ago yesterday, when Calib, Peyton and I were off on our next adventure... Denver, Colorado! 

We had been invited to Denver months ago, and I thought surely by then it wouldn't conflict with the new house. Of course we'd be in there by mid-November (ha!) For the last couple Novembers, we've met up with my mom at the AMATYC conference. You might remember that time Peyton and I got to stay with her in that massive hotel room, and when we all made the trip to New Orleans last year for the same conference. My mom is no longer president of AMATYC (She's the past president now!) But, my mom's friend, and the new President of AMATYC, Jane, needed someone to help her get some food and drinks and entertain her guests in her room during the annual conference. When she asked me to come to help, I happily obliged. (And Jane if you do need someone for San Diego next year, I'm sure we could do that too!) 

We got there on Saturday night, got our key and headed up to Jane's room. It was pretty impressive, and massive! She had a huge couch, a couple of seating areas, and a bar, complete with a mini kitchen off to the side. 

Our room was a regular hotel room (it was pretty big though!), that connected to the big room. It was similar to what we had in New Orleans. 

Mom was a floor above Jane's in her own big room! The boys were convinced her TV was bigger. 

She didn't have the connecting hotel room, so she just had her bedroom. But, somehow she lucked out and got the big bathroom too, complete with the soaking tub and the shower bigger than the boys whole bathroom! 

She also had a couple of seating areas, a huge dining table, and her own mini kitchen. 

Oh, and our keys got us into the Club Lounge, which is always awesome. We spent our Sunday going to two different Costco's for snacks and drinks for the evening receptions (apparently not all Costco's in Denver sell alcohol- I should have looked into that before we drove all the way out to one). Then we came back to the room, collected some afternoon snacks, and then watched football on the giant TV (Peyton was so excited to see the Bronco's play in Denver- even if it was just on TV. When we were out at Costco, he just kept noticing everyone in their Bronco's gear.)  Peyton also took a bath in the gigantic bathtub every chance he got. The view was pretty good on the 8th floor, the hotel was right off the 16th street mall, which made for excellent Pokemon hunting for Peyton (he made me run out there with him several times to catch something), and 

For dinner we took the bridge across to the tower for 'hor d'oeuvres' at the Club Lounge. But really, you could make a whole meal out of the food they had out at dinner time. We did that a couple of nights, or at least had a little something to make the cost of dinner a little less. 

Sunday night, we finally got to see grandma. (Calib liked to sit at her desk with her and say he was 'going to meet grandma in her office', and then pretend to talk all official like). We watched some more football, and then Skyped with my grandma and Aunt Patti in Toledo to show off mom's fancy room. 

Monday we had a lot more free time, so the boys and I drove out to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. We were lucky to have really nice weather when we were there (except for our go-home day!) so it made for lovely outdoor trips. 

Apparently, as a kid, I also visited Estes Park. I didn't remember it nearly at all, but mom said it was one of our first camping trips, and that I sort of remember (Specifically climbing up a very steep hill back to the campsite with heavy firewood). 

Once we got into the tiny little town at the base of the Rockies, we stopped by the visitors center, walked along the Riverwalk, and took in the scenery. (You're just going to get a ton of pictures the next few blogs- I took SO many the boys would be like 'ok mom, one more picture while we're here') 

This seemed appropriate to take a picture of. I'm still digesting things. 

The weather may have been nice, but that water was seriously cold. 

After the visitors center, we stopped by a little shopping center for brunch. Our meal times were all kinds of screwed up, because I don't think we ever time adjusted. Two hours doesn't seem like much, but you feel really lame when you're ready for bed at 10:30. The food was good, we all got breakfast stuff- and I got a Denver omelet, because I had to. I don't remember the name of the place though. We just googled 'good places to eat near me', and this came up! 

A few miles from Estes Park is the official entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. 

They even help you out with a picture post so you can use the timer on your camera! I thought this was an awesome idea. 

We stopped by the visitors center first, I forgot the boys National Park book to stamp, but we stamped little pieces of paper, and I have them to put in their books. We also nosed around the gift shop, so I could find a magnet for my collection. 

And we found another Benny the Beaver! (Calib would NOT let me get him for Hayden though). 

Peyton thought all the trash cans being bear proof was funny. 

After paying our entry fee, we had two options of which way to drive into the park, but one had 'caution: icy' signs (and because of that, it was closed something like 15 miles down the road). So, I went the other way, and turned left toward Bear Lake. The road takes you through some very scenic spots. I mean, it's the Rockies, it's obviously gorgeous. 

And there's quite a few places to park and take some trails. We picked a few of them. This is the one where we 'pretty much survived a bear attack'. Which, in actuality, we heard something rustling. It was either definitely positively a bear, or less likely, maybe a chipmunk. But, somehow Calib and I evolved the story into the survival of a bear attack. So, that's what we're going with. (Peyton on the other hand, rolled his eyes everytime we told someone about the bear attack, and called us pansies.) 

If you follow that road to the very end, it dead ends at Bear Lake. We stopped to take that trail too. It's a pretty easy trail, not like that bear attack one, just around the whole lake. There's tons of rocks to climb on, which of course Peyton loved. Calib, however, was less than pleased with the unnecessary risks Peyton and I were taking. He claims his shoes have weak grip, but I don't buy it. He's more cautious than me about some things. 

Oh, and even has high up as we were at Bear Lake (it was decently chilly up there), I still got reception on my phone when Asa was calling me to update me on moving progress! Asa and Hayden really killed it at home, by the way, they moved a ton of stuff, and got a lot done while the rest of us were off playing in the mountains. 

Anyway, the trail around the lake is awesome. Cold, yes, but it was up there with my favorite thing we did all trip. Again, enjoy the pictures. I took a lot! 

About half way around, Peyton spotted some snow on the ground. It wasn't a lot, but he picked up the little bit that he could. He was so excited about it (little did he know we'd see more than our fair share of snow on Thursday!) 

On our way back down the mountain, we had to stop for a whole bunch of deer. We saw a few of them off in the distance in a few spots, but we got to get close to these, we pulled off and Peyton and I got out of the car (Sometimes Calib's a bit of a party pooper). We didn't disturb them or anything, we just wanted to take a few pictures, and they didn't seem bothered by us. We were bummed we didn't see a moose (I heard they are much more common in the west side of the park though), or a bear (except of course for the one that nearly attacked us), but all the deer we're cool. 

After our trip the park, some hot chocolate and shopping was in order, so we went back to Estes Park to walk up and down the street and see the sights in town. 

I had a rule that I always wanted to be back in the hotel by nightfall, because I had a big rental car, an SUV is great for the mountains, but it made this girl who likes to drive her tiny little Honda Fit a bit nervous. Although, I have to say, Denver drivers are the nicest! They never followed too close, cut me off, and they always let me change lanes when I needed to. It was a far cry from Florida drivers. They are just the worst. Anyway, we were back in time for evening hor d'oeuvres, so the boys and I headed up for some light snacking. 

If nothing else, Peyton would bring a whole plate of cheese and crackers back to mom's room everynight. 

Although on Monday, mom invited us out with some of her conference buddies to the Cheesecake Factory at the 16th street mall. The whole place is outdoors, but pretty much the only vehicles driving that street are the free mall shuttle drivers. It's a fun little area. After dinner, we all got some cheesecake to go, and headed back to the room for Monday Night Football. 

That's it for our first few days in Denver. I thought it best to split up the blogs a bit, since there are so many pictures. Plus, then I can feel like I got some of it done, but I didn't have to sit down for the whole thing. And now, I'm out of excuses to not continue cleaning out my closet. 

Next Up: The Denver Mint & Zoo, and Red Rocks!