Saturday, August 7, 2010

Got up early this morning and headed home...spent the whole day in the car. Left around 7 a.m., got home probably around 8ish...can't remember for sure. Loved the vacation, not so much the car ride with the 3 kids. It was tough on them. We stopped to eat in Amarillo and did not stop again until we got home. The last 30 minutes, Addie was crying and saying her bottom hurt, but we were so close we could not bring ourselves to stop.

Got home and left everything in the car, got the house opened up and just relaxed.

FRIDAY, 08/06/2010

Last day of vacation. Today we got up and around (at lunch time again) and Travis wanted to try Red Robin for lunch. Good french fries!


After that we made our way back to Garden of the Gods after I told Ty it would be over $100 for all of us to ride the cog railway up Pikes Peak. Since I did not have my camera, it did not bother me not to go back up, especially at that price. We'll do it next time. :)


So, off to Garden of the Gods we went....again. This time we started at the visitor's center...which had a lot of the history of the area , a restaurant, a gift shop, etc. Then we went over to the park area. Can I just say it was, in a word, Awesome! There was a movie about the park and the rock formations and how they got there that we did not watch but I had read online that you "can't see the park w/out seeing the movie" so now that I have seen the park, I wish we had watched the movie, because after leaving the area, I was wondering to myself how they DID get there. Anyone seen the movie?


Anyway, here are some photos...with my phone camera, of course...










to give you some perspective on this next photo...we were shorter than those trees at the bottom. Much shorter. I had a hard time fitting all of it in the viewfinder on the camera (phone).

This was taken from the car. IT is called "balancing rocks".

Love the expression on her face...this was from the visitor's center.

This is the best photo (in my opinion) that I got with the phone camera....shows the colors really well.

We did not ever get all the way through the park when, true to form, a storm blew in. This was a pretty heavy storm...and cold...and you can see how we are dressed. We had to run all the way back to the car, carrying Addie (Ty did..I would have had a heart attack if I had tried). and of course, true to form, we got to the car and it let up. We went back to the hotel anyway, as we were all soaked to the bone.

Tonight we just ordered dominos at the hotel. got out stuff packed up for the lonnnnnggg ride home tomorrow.

Thursday, Aug 5, 2010

We had lunch at Olive Garden today as it was lunch time before we were up and around for the day. If i said we had lunch there yesterday, I was mistaken. It was today. Good. I just had soup and breadsticks.

Afterwards, we headed out to Garden of the Gods. Garden of the Gods. http://gardenofgods.com/home/index.cfm?flash=1

We had just gotten there and came to a fork in the road, chose a path, and it ended up taking us away from the actual park/tourist area. We drove for probably a couple of hours, though, on a very scenic route....stopped several times to get out and look around and "hike" around. It was pretty, but I knew we had completely missed the actual area that is Garden of the Gods because it was nothing like what was in the brochure. ironically, this ended up being Ty and Travis' favorite part of the trip.

After we got back, we went swimming and hot tubbing at the hotel pool.

Travis is at the top of this rock with his hands up in the air. Third tree from the left, just to the left of the tree. Maroon shirt.

Ty joined him....

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Day 2 of vacation. Got up and went to IHOP again...only this time went to the one closer to us. While we were there, this elderly couple said what a cutie Addison is and then asked me if she was my granddaughter. WHAT? I just laughed and said "No, she's my DAUGHTER. Jeesh, do I look THAT old? Oh well, I knew that day was coming!

I asked Patrick what his favorite part of the zoo was yesterday. He said the bears. Travis also liked the Bears. Ty liked the bald eagles. Addison liked the train ride and feeding the giraffes. She said she did not like the monkeys because they would not let her pet them. :)

so, since my camera broke yesterday at the zoo (did I mention that yesterday, I don't remember), we went to a camera shop to see if it could be fixed while we waited...but it was not meant to be. They said it would be $290. to fix that that was about what the camera was worth. I told him we were from out of town so if I fix it, I would do so in town. So now I have to decide...fix or replace? Anyway, guess it's the cell phone camera for the rest of the trip. I was bummed but determined not to let it ruin my vacation. I promised Ty if he took me to the shop and it could not be fixed, I would not mention it the rest of the trip.

So, off we went to Pike's Peak. We decided to drive up it again . We saw this funny sign on the way up...

It says "Due to sightings in the area of a creature resembling bigfoot, this sign has been posted for your security." I could not believe my eyes. Are they kidding?

Anyway, so up we start up the mountain. If you have ever been on this little journey, you might have an idea of what I'm about to say. The drive starts out really nice and scenic. Then you start to get higher and higher...and before you know it...you are on a slow-moving roller coaster like ride. If you look out your side window, all you see is straight down...no road. There are hairpin turns where you can't see the road in front of you. It's a little nerve wrecking but kinda fun and very beautiful views. However, today there was a storm coming in. And we did not know it. So when we got further up...we were driving in the clouds. Which meant you could not see the road. Had Ty not been the driver...I would have been really nervous. But I knew he is a good drive and he had done it before, so I did not worry.

This is driving in the clouds....

and this before the clouds, but above the timberline....

so, we continue on and get to the top. We get the kids out of the car, go into the gift shop...and notice a light snow falling on the way in. Cool! Snow in August. I noticed a little bit of a headache...which I experienced last time we were here in 2004...from the altitude. No big deal. I popped one of the kids Tylenol chewables.

We go in, the boys to go the bathroom...they come out and I ask them to watch Addie, and I go...as soon as I come out, Ty says in a panicky voice
Come on, we have to leave...NOW.

WHAT?

A hail storm has moved in and they made an announcement to leave now or risk being stuck.
I think "a hail storm is coming" I did not realize until we stepped outside that the hail storm was here...the ground was COVERED in it, and we got pelted with pea sized hail all the way to the car. And have you tried to run at 14,000 feet after being a transcriptionist for 22 years? Not an easy task. and the hail hurt! and I'm thinking to myself...It's HAILING. Driving down this mountain is intimidating enough when the ground is dry...and he wants to drive on ICE? Is he NUTS? If the car slides off the road...it's going straight down...about 14,000 feet straight down. NOW I'm scared. and I'm getting sick to my stomach. And my head is pounding. and I'm thinking....well, at least I won't think about the pictures I don't get to take because the visibility is zero. Glad I have been here before and got pictures that time. My only regret is not getting a picture on the bench that has the year on it...with Addison in the family now.

WARNING: TMI (too much information) APPROACHING. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!

So...we go down and we got to the point where they check your brakes, and we are in a wait of about 6 or 7 cars and I hop out of the car and walk to the gift shop because I'm about to be sick. I asked them where the bathrooms are and they were around back...GREAT...hope I make it. So, I trot around back and the second I got in the stall (w/ the door still open), i projectile puke all over...and over...and over...and over. I did not throw up that much with all 3 pregnancies combined. Won't be having IHOP again anytime soon. I don't know how long I was in there...but even after I was done, I did not feel too much better. I still felt nauseous and dizzy and had a headache.

Went back to find the guys, asked for some bottled water, and went back to the car and put my head on the console and did not move until we got back to the hotel. Ty ended up going for some dinner and bringing it back and it was a good 2 hours before I could even sit up.

Can you say "Altitude/car sickness?" Wow...I feel like such a wimp.

and not 1 single picture on the top. sniff, sniff! oh well...have to make another trip. I will HAVE to go back someday. I can't let the mountain beat me.

and while the boys were in the bathroom at the gift shop, I decided I was going to splurge and buy everyone a T-shirt or even a hoodie for the boys, even though the prices are outrageous, just because we never buy them any souveniers on vacation...i was going to this time...and then did not get to because we had to leave...

We heard that someone said that was the most hail on Pikes Peak in decades. Someone said about 2 inches in about 10 minutes.

this is how much accumulated while we were in the bathroom....there was none when we parked. If you look at the car on the right side of the photo, you can see it coming down...hard and fast!

What a day!! :)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Got up and everyone got dressed and ready for today. We decided on IHOP for breakfast. Ty and Travis looked it up in the phone book and off we went....and we got lost. We did numerous U-turns, drove around...and finally found it clear on the other end of town. It was after lunch time when we finished breakfast. So, then we decide to go to Cheyenne Mountain zoo. And it is way back on the side of town we started out on. And guess what? We passed an IHOP out there! :)


Anyway, the zoo was really great. http://cmzoo.org/ You could feed the giraffes and stand on a platform level to their heads. They had a tram you could ride all around the park. They had a train for Addie to ride, and a merry-go-round (which she SCREAMED when Ty put her on, but he rode it with her anyway). We saw a moose and grizzly bears and all kinds of things...it was a really cool zoo. They had a ski lift like ride that you could get on and go up the mountain. We did not get to do that because it started raining and they closed it down. That was a bummer. And we found out that once you pay to ride it ($5), you can ride it as much as you want. Would have been great to get on and take pictures. Unfortunately, just before we left, my camera broke. My high dollar camera that I thought would be the last one I would ever have to buy...the shutter broke. I was devestated.


Addie said her favorite part of the zoo was the train ride. Which she talked about incessantly while we were there. like, every 5 minutes (i wanna ride the train...) I liked watching the grizzly bears....there were behind glass and there was a pond that they were actually playing in the water...there were 2 and they were "fighting." Got 1 good photo of a close-up of its head...but the rest not so good because they were through a dirty glass.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Well, finally booked a hotel yesterday for vacation and we are off to Colorado Springs today! Did not get on the road until 12:30 and then stopped up the road for lunch (Sonic) so it was really about 1:15 before we were on our way.



It was a long day....did not get to hotel until about 2 a.m.
Just over the New Mexico border...in keeping with tradition, we had to pull over and let Pat out to puke. I know...too much information. He always seems to get car sick on our trips. That and too much junk food, I guess. Anyway, got to the hotel and went right to bed.

We started counting how many states we saw (license plates) as we do on all trips to Colorado, since they seem to come from everywhere to visit Col. I'll give you the final talley at the end of the trip.

Tried to talk Ty into stopping at Palo Duro Canyon, but no dice. Never can talk him into it...they don't know what they are missing.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

August already...wow. I think I say that every month, don't I?

Today is my Father-in-Law's birthday. Ty's mom called and invited us over for dinner tonight...catfish. Yum! It was delish, as usual. And lemon pie for dessert. really good. Just like key lime pie, only lemon! Good time, good company.


think we are going on vacation tomorrow, if I can get a room booked at this late date.