July 17, 2006

7:15 Drop off

7:20 Cereal

7:40 Down for nap

7:50 I hung my laundry out on the line (this will become important by 4:25). The boys played in the backyard. Our shadeless backyard is only pleasant from about dawn to 9:30am.

8:10 I called Crissy with my idea for a Fabulous Plan™ today. It's been 100 degrees here for the past 4 days and I wanted to get out of town and up where it's cooler. I proposed going up to the mountains, but Crissy was too busy to join me today. Wah!!! But once I had the idea in my head, I was doing it anyway.

9:00 Ariel woke up. She played while I finished getting things ready for our adventure.

9:15 I fed her the rest of her cereal bottle, about 3 oz.

9:45 Finally, we were ready to leave.

9:50 With all the driving I had to do today, I needed to stop by Starbucks for fortification.

10:00 And we were on our way! Up up up Boulder Canyon (we learned about canyons today, "But why does water cut through the rock?") all the way to Nederland.

10:40 Our plan had been to go to the mining museum. I couldn't find their hours online, nor did either of the phone numbers I found for them work. So we just winged it. Of course we found out once we got there that they are only open on the weekends, but they have some cool trucks to look out outside:

See how big this one is? See the kids in the right hand corner?


We looked at the trucks and some of the other outside equipment, then we decided to poke around Nederland a bit.

I didn't know this restaurant was here, but I'll be taking my internet friends here if they come and visit :)


We found a rock shop and Alex was very interested in the amethyst geodes. I let them each pick out 2 polished rocks.

We walked around a bit, finding an old train that had been converted to a coffee shop and a bike store. Then Adam said he was ready for lunch, so we walked back to the car.

Here's scenic Nederland:


11:40 They boys sat down in the mining museum parking lot for a picnic lunch:


11:50 Alex announced he had to go poopy, so we walked across the street to the gas station.

12:00 Ariel woke up from a short bjorn nap and we went back to the parking lot for her lunch, apple/strawberry/banana mush.

12:10 A man walked by and asked if I knew there was a park with a playground and picnic tables down the road. I did not. We must have been pretty pathetic sitting in a parking lot.

Wha? I don't have to be sitting here?


12:20 Go to park. It was a pretty nice park, but there was a group of older camp kids that were kinda wild.



12:50 Alex said he was done with the park, so we went back to the car. The boys played in the back while I fed Ariel a bottle.

1:10 Everyone got back in their seats, for phase B of our adventure - driving the Peak to Peak highway to Estes Park. Normally, I'm not a big fan of driving. But driving on a very scenic road with no traffic is almost pleasant. Especially when all three passengers are asleep. Here's some pictures I took from the side of the road.

Mount Meeker:


Mount Meeker again, with a cool church:


Here's Meeker on the left, and the Longs Peak diamond face in the middle. Eight years ago I, due to impetunousness (is that a real word?) and lack of sufficient information, I climbed Longs. It's a serious 14 mile mountain hike, we had to start hiking at 3:00am. Very exposed and sketchy on top, and a thunderstorm coming down. It was an awesome experience, but my legs didn't stop hurting for two weeks.



2:15 We got into Estes Park. Nobody seemed very happy to be awake, but I promised icecream in town.

Here are some nice snapdragons:


Estes Park is a tourist town right by Rocky Mountain National Park. It's probably the first time I heard my parents use the descriptive word "schloky." In other words, I you need postcards, t-shirts, a cheap plastic tomahawk, a lifesized stuffed jackalope or some homemade fudge, this is the place.

2:45 We found an icecream place. Alex picked out mint-chocolate-chip and Adam picked vanilla. I didn't getting anything because I had my PB&J sandwich and was anticipating icecream leftovers. And oh, I found a dollar bill in the store, very exciting!!!

2:50 Ariel had a bottle while the boys enjoyed their icecream. And yes, there were leftovers, but next time I'm not listing vanilla as a choice. What was I thinking?

3:00 Here's a hand chair next to the icecream store:



3:20 Almost back to the car:





And Ariel was making some interesting noises, and I thought something exciting might happen (but mostly Ariel is making interesting noises):



3:30 Drive back to Boulder. I got stuck behind two very slow trucks. Frustrating, and will also be important at 4:25.

4:20 We we about 5 minutes from the house and it started raining. Remember the clothes on the line? Well, now I have to wash them again. Wah!!!!

4:25 We finally got home from our adventure.

4:30 Pick up.