Colordado Mega Post A

In our minivan we had: one iTouch, two iPhones, one netbook, one laptop, and two portable DVD players. Well.... the bickering over the various devices was so unpleasnt that on the trek back to Texas, they were technology free. And.... they survived it!

We were all a little stunned to see so much snow at the end of June!

On Day 1 we stayed in the Steamboat Springs area and visited Fish Creek Falls. We hiked together for a bit...

and looked at the falls from afar. But the boys wanted to continue up to see an old uranium mine. Nora and I had other plans.

We hiked down... and down... and down....

and rested.... and then hiked down some more...

to see the Fish Creek Falls close up!

and then we hiked a little more and found some cool little places to hang out while waiting for the guys.

It took them awhile. We were tired and a little slap-happy.

When the guys caught up, Nora was ready to head out, but we made her pose for some pics instead.

It was really warm that day and the UV index was awful BUT... as we approached the falls, the breeze was icy cold and the temperature dropped at least 20 degrees. Yep - the falls are breaking records this year because of the snow melt! Nature's own little air conditioner.

Then we headed back to our home away from home and the kids played miniature golf in the equivalent of our backyard.

And while we are talking about our "home away from home" let me say this: I. HATE. MAGPIES. The sun rises around 5:20 in Colorado in June. And so do the stupid noisy obnoxious magpies. Consequently, so did I. If you've never heard one, say a prayer of gratitude.

The next morning we headed north to Dutch Creek Ranch. It's no longer possible to take a child under 6 horseback riding due to the insurance companies, so I (on Sylvan) got to go with Alek (on Stanley) and Nora (on ??) for a 90 minute ride through absolutely gorgeous country.

Walter got to go on a pony ride on Socks!

more in a bit!