Colorado...

I can't believe it has already been a week since we have been back from vacation.  In some ways, it seems like forever ago (LONG week here...save that for another post.)  We had a fabulous time in Colorado and we kept saying that we wouldn't have changed anything about the trip - except maybe to have had one more day (that is always the case though, isn's it?)  We really enjoyed the quiet time in the car - talking, reading, listening to adult music, and just enjoying the silence and beauty of the drive.  We love our girls and can't wait to take them with us to the mountains someday but now was not the time.  This trip was to celebrate our 8 years of marriage (a little early) and to catch up on some much needed time just for the two of us.  I hesitate putting up too many pictures below because pictures don't do mountains any sort of justice.  They were breathtaking (literally at times...while hiking at steep inclines in the snow!)  We are SO thankful that we could go and that our girls were so well taken care of while we were gone!  God is SO good to us!

So even though I hesitated about posting pictures, I still went a little crazy...

Our sweet Olivia - not the world's greatest traveler.  This was after only 15 minutes in the car on the way to Ames to drop off the girls.  A long car trip would not be her idea of fun right now.

Abbie on the other hand has always been a great traveler.  I have no doubt she would have done great all the way to Colorado but she also was SO excited to see her grandmas and grandpas.  The girls got into Peter's disc golf bag...can you tell?

We didn't really take any pictures on the way out to Colorado but Peter got a kick out of this gas station along the way!  =)

We did stop to stay with some good friends in Nebraska overnight.  However we were so busy catching up that I never even brought my camera in the house overnight (UGH!)  Thankfully they invited us to stay with them again on our way home from CO later in the week and we gladly took them up on their offer.  I DID get out the camera that time so pictures of that to come later in the post...

Hello Colorado!

The drive into Estes is SO beautiful!

 Looking out the back window as we climbed our way up the mountain...

Got checked into our place in Estes Park - nothing super fancy but we left the sliding glass door open at night so we could hear this...it was nature's best sound machine!

We got settled and then walked downtown for dinner.  I had this (see picture below) while I was waiting for my buffalo meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes.  Buffalo tastes a lot like beef but much more lean.  It was SO good!

Got to bed semi-early that night and then took off early in the morning to hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.  This was our view on the drive in...

Notice we're wearing fleece jackets.  It was pretty chilly but about 15 minutes into the hike we were warm enough to ditch them.

Bear Lake - the first of our 4 lake hike.  Also the least amount of snow we would see all day =)

We hiked all the way around Bear Lake and then later found out that the Rangers were only recommending that hikers go half way and then return the same way...probably because of this...
(notice how close they path comes to the edge of the lake...we were probably hiking on fairly thin ice and didn't even realize it.)

We had hiked in quite a bit of snow to get to Bear Lake, and while hiking around it, but on toward the next lakes we REALLY got into snow.  It really wasn't a big deal though since the path was pretty well packed down.

 (above:)  after we hiked to Nymph Lake (2 of 4)  (below:)  picture of Nymph Lake from above.

Peter with the 2 guys from Germany that we kept crossing paths with all day long.  They took several pictures for us =)

I just loved feeling overwhelmed at what God created...

A random waterfall along the way...  Because of all the extra snow they had this year, every waterfall we saw was just roaring!

Dream Lake (3 of 4).  At this point we sort of lost the trail as not as many people had traveled beyond this point in the season because of all the snow.  We ended up finding it though and were then in for a pretty steep climb to the last lake.

After the steep climb...if this picture could talk it would be saying..."CAN....NOT...BREATHE...UGH!"  or something like that =)

Emerald Lake (4 of 4):  This is one of the pictures that just doesn't do any justice to what we saw around us.  This just looks like a tiny little frozen lake - whoop-dee-do!  But it was our final destination and as we came over the hill and saw it, it was absolutely breath taking.  This lake was actually quite huge and on the opposite side of it was Tyndall Glacier.

 To give a little more perspective...here is a closer up view of about 6 hikers coming down off the glacier.

It was really cold and windy once we got to Emerald Lake but we decided it would be a good spot to sit and eat a little lunch, aka. trail mix and Cliff Bars.  The little chipmunks immediately greeted us upon sitting down and they must be pretty well conditioned for people as they were crawling across our laps and trying to get in our bags almost as soon as we sat down.

This one is actually standing up on Peter's lap - it looked like he was begging.  They were hard to take pictures of because they were SO fast!

I'm sure these lakes are quite beautiful when the snow is melted but we actually enjoyed the snow quite a bit.

Heading back the way we came...

Once we finished our hike we decided to do one more short hike up to Alberta Falls.  It was pretty easy compared to our other one and the aspen trees along the way were beautiful!

Albert Falls

Sat down to rest and dry out our feet a bit.  By this time of day the snow had started to melt quite a bit and even after all the hiking in the snow, this was the only time our feet actually got wet.

These boys were trying to make a snowman but it kept melting and falling off the rock.  We later saw them further down the mountain, carrying the snowman head on a large stick =).

Aspen Trees...

We started at the Glacier Gorge Trail Head, hiked to the Bear Lake Trail Head, then hiked around Bear Lake before continuing on to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake.  We then returned back the way we came and hiked up to Alberta Falls before going back to the car at Glacier Gorge.

So, as if hiking for half the day wasn't enough we decided to walk downtown and do some more exploring of a different kind...

So far so good...just some pretty stuff to take pictures of.

...and there are the Elk.  They didn't seem aggressive but we didn't risk it.

By this time we were famished so we went to this Pizza Place recommended by some friends.  I always like taking pictures of our food (is that weird?)  but we were so hungry that we dug right in before I even though about it.  But it was SO good!  Chicken, Garlic Cream Sauce, Spinach, Tomatoes, and Onions.

On our last day in Estes Park we wanted to do a short hike in the morning before we left to see Peter's brother and his wife in Georgetown (2 hours south.)  The same friends that suggested the pizza place, also suggested that we make the short drive into RMNP to see the Alluvial Fan.  

Another picture that doesn't do the actual place any justice.  This was WAY cooler than the picture looks, and way cooler than any of the pictures I had looked up online before we went.

This picture is actually kind of sad.  Notice all the dying pine trees due to the pine beetles.

After we left Estes Park, we headed south to Georgetown to see Ian and Laura.  The drive was beautiful and very, very, VERY curvy =).  Once again, I was so excited when we got there that I hardly took any pictures of our time together.  We went on a walk so they could show us their darling little town (nestled in the middle of many of Colorado's ski resorts.)  We also ate at a great pizza place that has been featured on the Travel Channel's 'Man vs. Food', called BeauJos.

Peter couldn't help snapping a picture of this on our way out of town.  =)

So, as I mentioned before, we DID go back to the Pipher's on our way back through Nebraska and I DID take pictures the second time around.  =)

This is me with their oldest daughter, Kate.  We first met the Pipher's when Jamie was just pregnant with Kate - crazy!

Claire

We got to help them with a little work around the farm!

Yep...Peter's driving the tractor.

Claire and their dog, Ezra.

Aidan and Peter had a great time together.

This girl totally cracked me up...the entire time!

Words and pictures do not do justice to how gracious and kind this family is.  They were so sweet to let us stay with them and we had the best time catching up.

Thank you Zeke and Jamie for you hospitality and friendship.  God continues to bless us through you and your family - even now, almost 11 years after having first met you!  (so sorry that this is the best pictures I got of the two of you while we were there.)

So, that's a wrap.  Thanks for sticking with us if you made it this far.  Peter asked me if I would rather go to the mountains or to Chicago for vacation (we LOVE Chicago and went their for vacation last summer.)  Honestly the choice wasn't very difficult.  Man made the city, God made the mountains and being part of them just made me feel like there was a part of God I was getting to know a little better.  I am SO thankful that God gave us such beautiful things to experience while on this earth, but also thankful that it will not even compare to the future glory in heaven.  Although, I am fairly certain that there MUST be mountains in heaven =).

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