Colorado 2010 - Day 2 - Rocky Mtn Ntl Park

After Greeley, we decided to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park. On the way, right on the side of the road we saw about 5 Big Horn Sheep. We rolled down the window and took a picture. There is nothing like being up close and personal!

Once we got into the park, we decided to take the long drive that is very scenic. Parts of it had just opened up for the season since it was Memorial Day weekend. On the way we saw these elk in the "Sheep Lakes" meadow.







On parts of the road the snow was piled up about 12 feet high. They only allowed traffic in one direction, and there was a long string of cars, but it was a lot of beautiful scenery.



Needless to say, with all of the twisting and turning roads, Andreas got a little grumpy. We thought he might have been just a bit sleepy, but he woke up, whined for about 3 minutes, and then puked. So he had a bout with car sickness, but seemed to be ok after that. This picture was during the whining phase. He was not a happy camper.



The last stop on the road was at the continental divide.Then on the way out we saw more elk. There were a few people pulled over to look at these ones because they were so close. Saul mentioned something about how stupid people were to run up to these big elk. I told him to get out and get some pictures, and he got so excited he probably got as close as those other folks had been before. This picture doesn't exactly show it, but we were very very close.

Then in Estes Park on the way home, we saw more elk by the side of the road.It was a lot of time in the car with many stops, but it was a beautiful day and a beautiful drive that we all really enjoyed.

Colorado 2010 - Day 2 - Greeley

After our first night in the hotel in Loveland, we decided to head to Greeley for day 2. As we drove in, I was thinking that I would remember a little more along the way, but of course, a lot has changed in 20 years. We found the right street, and drove by the old house.
Here is looking up the street we used to live on:
In this picture Saul had to get out to get a good shot through the trees. He groused about how I was making the suspicious looking Mexican do the stalker work and he would probably get deported. But now we get a good picture of the old house!

They had sheds where our garden used to be -- definitely doesn't look as nice as it did.

I did remember the way to Monfort. It looks exactly the same as it did in our day, although the playground equipment had been upgraded.
For lunch we decided to try JBs. They still had their homemade root beer, but I was disappointed to see a new menu that did not have any nachos on it! Their nachos used to be my favorite! The food was mediocre, but the restaurant was just as I had remembered it.

Remember that old player piano? It was broken, but still there:
And the phones to place your order were still there too. Saul couldn't hear the person on the other line very well, so when she asked how many mugs we wanted with our rootbeer, he said "No, thanks." A waitress came over and straightened everything out, but we thought it was pretty funny that Saul wanted us to drink straight out of the jug. FYI: the rootbeer was very good.We then went on an adventure to go to the "goose poop" park that I had remembered. Turns out the real name is Sanborn park (which mom, dad, and myself could not remember for the life of us).
They still had the baby swings in the far corner, but instead of gravel or mulch underneath, they had that fancy rubber springy stuff.



Overall, it was really fun to see Greeley again. Everything was smaller and closer together than I remember it being, but I guess after living in Houston, it changes your perspective. All of those places in town that I thought were so far away were usually less than 5 streets away! Amazing! Also, so much has changed there. A lot of new growth, the Country General is now a string of car dealerships, Carmike Cinemas is now among a bunch of other businesses instead of being by itself, etc.. But the weather when we were there was perfect, there were no crowds or traffic, and Saul and I decided that we wouldn't mind getting a summer home there. We want to join the Texans that Mom and Dad say own half of Colorado!

Colorado 2010 - Day 1

On Day 1 of our trip to Colorado, we took the 6am flight and landed in Denver at 7:30am. Upon landing, we were not really sure exactly what we wanted to do that day. While getting our rental car (a very nice Buick Enclave) the lady at the counter mentioned that her favorite things to see were in Colorado Springs. That sounded good to us, so we unpacked our TomTom and headed in that direction (the sales lady also secretly loaded up our rental car with every insurance coverage known to man, but that is another story).
We weren't really sure what Garden of the Gods was, so when we pulled up we had to go to the visitors center to know for sure. It is just a little area with some massive red rocks that are cool. We also got to try out our new umbrella stroller that we bought for the trip.






Pikes Peak in the distance:
Our next adventure was to drive just a few miles away and go to Cave of the Winds. I remembered the commercials from when I was a kid, and also that it was extremely expensive to go there (not sure how or why I remembered that). It was fun there, but a bit commercialized, and quite expensive. We had to carry Andreas through the cave since they wouldn't allow strollers, but he seemed to like it down there, luckily for us.



Our last stop was to have dinner at Casa Bonita. It was really fun since it was exactly as I had remembered it as a kid. The only problem was that the food was quite nasty. The beans tasted like cigarette butts, and the rest of it was not much better. But the sopaipillas were plentiful and good -- those did not disappoint! We also were seated right next to the diving pool and saw a few of their little shows. Saul even went through Black Bart's cave!
The Dinner:
The Sopaipillas:

Black Bart's Cave:
In front of the puppet theater:

The diving show from our table: