A Day in the Life: Summer Vacation Part 1

Author's Note: Prior to diving into this post you may want to grab a comfy chair and cool drink! It's a long one!!

Last week we took a crazy road trip for our summer vacation. We weren't certain what we were going to do during the week Craig had scheduled off. We were on the fence about if we wanted to just stay put and save the money in case we sold our house, or if we should just press on and enjoy a week of family adventures. By the time the first day rolled around, we decided we would do a couple of day trips. Maybe and overnight or two.Perhaps a camping trip. So on Saturday, we jumped in the car and headed to Estes Park via the back way. It was a beautiful trip that we had never done before. The mountains have received quite a bit of moisture, so everything was so green and lush and the rivers are raging! Of course I don't have photos of this to share with you so I guess you'll just have to go for yourself! As we were making our way home we decided to take a detour to one of our favorite burrito joints in Fort Collins. Big City Burrito. The best and biggest wrap we've tasted. We've been going since college and introduced it to the kids when they were little. Now they ask us often if we can go. It's a bit of a drive from home, but we've been known to do it a time or two!

On Sunday, we woke up late and missed church. We were still very tossed about what the plans were for the week. By noon we had made a decision. We packed the suitcase with a few days worth of clothes, the cooler with some ice and drinks and jumped in the car. We had a few places in mind that we wanted to go--The Great Sand Dunes, Ignacio and Ouray, to see if we could learn any more about Chief Ouray [a peace maker from the 1800's that Caleb studied in school] and the Grand Canyon.

The Dunes turned out to be super windy with sand blowing in our faces and pelting us on the legs. Along with a few thundershowers and no water running through the creek, we decided to hit to road. Just a few miles away is a fantastic hike to Zapata Falls. We've done it a couple of other times, but the kids couldn't remember so we reminded them just how fantastic is was!

After a good nights rest, we ventured on to Ignacio and Ouray. We caught up with another hike adjacent to a rest area called Treasure Falls. BEAUTIFUL!!

We stopped in Ignacio to find Chief Ouray's gravesite, but after searching the entire graveyard, we had no luck. So, we pressed on to Ouray. What a fantastic mountain town. Loved everything about it. Especially the bike outside one of the shops!

Just love this bike!


Where do you live? On the corner of 5th and 5th!

We new we couldn't make it to the Grand Canyon from Ouray given the time we had left, so we ended up sleeping in Cortez. We made it there around 8:00 after driving thru some pretty barren land for many hours, so we stopped by Wendy's for dinner. Unfortunately, during the meal we a little incident that landed us here at 10:00 at night.

Please don't be fooled by the smile. The pain was awful

Now I am sure you are wondering why a trip to Wendy's landed us in the ER in a small town in Southwestern Colorado. You see my wonderful Mann has a tendency to get things in his eye. Easily. This is actually his 3rd trip to the ER for having a foreign object in the eye. He's also been to the regular doctor a time or two for a flushing! Well let me just say, I was so grateful this town even had a hospital! Now we aren't certain exactly what it was that landed in the eye this time, as the doctor said Craig actually got it out prior to arriving, but we are thinking it had to be a small part of a french fry or even better, a piece of salt! After a few crazy questions, an exam under the black light, and some fantastic numbing drops, the doc did determine he had definitely scratched the cornea. Again. By 11:00 they let us leave and carry on with our adventures!

The next morning we ventured to one of the world's natural wonders. The Grand Canyon. Not much to say here except WOW!