Our family vacation (a first for FOUR of us) was to Colorado.
Before I get into all of the fun details from our trip, I must divulge a secret about this vacation. Since spring we had been talking about going on vacation to see the mountains. Lucas was so excited! In June, we identified a week that we could go - it went on the calendar - and that was about as far as vacation planning went. Until the night before we left. Seriously. We talked about it several times and debated if Colorado (the original destination) was a good idea. Brent and I have been a few times and thought maybe somewhere new would be good. The Smoky Mountains were appealing but the drive wasn't as easy as CO. We discussed other (non-mountainous) locations; we kept coming back to Colorado. We planned on leaving for vacation on Saturday. Friday night, at 11:30PM, we finalized the decision to to go Colorado. This is VERY unlike me to not have a printed agenda and flexible list of things to do. We didn't have any hotel arrangements or concrete plans.
We simply packed up and headed west.
Our first destination stop was to visit our friends Matt & Abbie and family in Denver. We had a great time visiting and catching up with them. From there we headed into the resort towns where we thought we would spend most of our time.
On Monday, we went to the Country Boy Mine in Breckenridge.
Lucas wasn't very excited about entering the cold, dark, narrow tunnel to go into the mine so Daddy carried him. See our hard hats? Hannah had one, too, but it was so stinking big for her that all it did was fall onto her face and cover her eyes.
Listening intently.
After the tour, we panned for gold. Okay, Brent panned for gold. He must have thought he was going to find something amazing because the kids and I were moving on to other activities and Brent was still panning.
See our riches?
The Ore Chute was used to move rock from one location to another with the help of gravity. This converted ore chute is now a fun slide.
It was very steep, very small and very fast.
And fun!
It was fun to put our heads in this cut-out and pretend we were miners.
But even funnier was Lucas' reaction - he thought it was so funny to be "the horse," a.k.a. a donkey.
Also funny was the reaction Lucas had when a pet donkey that roamed around the mine area meandered towards him. He crawled into the basket of the stroller. I was laughing out loud at him. The donkey couldn't have cared any less about Lucas, he was just wandering around like he did every other day.
There was a large outlet mall near our hotel, so after the morning at the mine, we had to check it out. This was from a bridge connecting some of the stores. Lucas could have sat their all day and watch the fisherman.
That evening we took a Chuck Wagon ride for a cookout. We rode in the wagon, pulled by these two pretty horses.
We were serenaded around the campfire with a guitarist/singer.
Have you noticed our constant change of clothes? The weather was gorgeous. It was cool overnight and in the mornings, but when the sun came out it was warm. It was never above mid-70s, just felt much warmer in the sun. As soon as the sun disappeared, it was time for sweatshirts.
Lucas had fun with the lasso and roping the calf.
Cowboy taking a rest.
The other cowboy trying to figure out the lasso. :)
Our chariot.
The next day - our drive to Leadville.
We rode the Leadville, Colorado and Southern Train high in the Colorado Rockies overlooking the Arkansas River Valley. We boarded at the restored Colorado, Leadville & Gunnison Railway depot built in 1893.
Look at the grin on Lucas' face!
We just happened to be sitting near the middle of the cars; there is a bend in the track that you can see the engine and caboose at the same time.
A content rider.
A goofy rider.
We drove into Leadville on the road shown in these pictures. We commented on what an impoverished town it was. It was interesting to learn that at one time, Leadville was the second most populated city in Colorado, behind Denver.
The scenery was gorgeous! Don't these Ash trees look fake?!
The train ride was two and a half hours and halfway we stopped to get out and take photos.
We also got to tour the engine car.
The French Gulch Water Tank was once used for steam engines.
Another famous "hold on tight" picture.
A retired steam engine on display at the depot.
Stay tuned for part 2...
