Days 7 and 8: Travel and Rocky Mountain National Park

Tuesday was a day of travel.  We drove over 4 hours to Phoenix, shuttled to the airport, and took a flight to Denver that afternoon.  We had ridiculous car rental issues, but thanks to a nice and reasonable man we were able to finally get in a vehicle and head to my aunt and uncle's house. It seems that nothing on travel days went as smoothly as we would have liked, but I can't complain since we had an amazing vacation.

Marc and I wanted to take the girls back to Estes Park.  We had sweet memories of the last time we were there.  Eight years later and things have changed so much.  It is still a cute little town, but there were more buildings and people this time. We enjoyed a yummy Mexican lunch which helped satisfy the cravings of some people on the trip. :) We then got back in our car and started driving up into the Rocky Mountains.

 

 

You know when you see a bunch of cars pulled over and people walking around that there is something to see.  Turns out it was a few elk resting just off the side of the road. 

 

 

Trying for a family picture, but one particular girl was more interested in taking her own scenic photographs. 

Trying again and we have a couple of goofballs. 

Finally.

Eight years ago we made a drive into these mountains and came across some snow. The girls hadn't seen much snow at all at this point in their lives, so we had to stop and let them play. 

Marc's goal this year - drive high enough to find snow.  This was pretty easy to do since there was a blizzard in the area not too long ago. 

 

One happy girl with snow on her head.  She loves snow oh so much. 

 

Building snowmen is her signature thing. It doesn't matter how much snow there is; she will build a snowman. 

These chipmunks were running all over the place at Rainbow Curve. The girls have been warned about touching these critters, but as soon as I walk away to check on the girls in the restroom, Macy decides to touch one! Once her sisters heard that they wanted their chance. Apparently Kayla was able to, but Brooke couldn't.  She was not happy, but I was happy there were no bites.

 

 It was such a lovely drive up into the mountains, and to not be in a large RV was great too.

On the way back down we found that the elk were up from their rest and eating.

Day 6: Grand Canyon

We woke up to a chilly Monday morning, and I was glad we had packed some jackets. The wind was strong, but that and the cold wasn't going to stop us from enjoying the Grand Canyon.

I sure do love these people!

The Grand Canyon was amazing. It was much like Canyonlands, but on a greater scale of course.  I think there would have been more of a wow factor if we had visited here first on our trip, but it was still amazing to see this great creation.

In the middle of these pictures you can see the Colorado River flowing through the canyon. it was such a beautiful green color.

The girls completed the Junior Ranger program here as well.  The programs at some parks were really tough, both in length and expectations. Programs like the ones at the Grand Canyon allowed the kids to learn, but it was not excessive. We just weren't going to spend the hours at the visitors centers and museums that some parks would have required.

Brooke found a rock that looked like a chair, so she had to check it out and ask for a picture. ;)

This little cutie was a valuable resource on this trip.  Because she just completed 4th grade she was able to sign up for a 4th grader pass that allowed us to get into all the parks for free! I knew about this program, but I had forgotten about it when we were first making plans for this trip.  I'm glad I remembered because she saved us a $25-30 at each of 8 parks on this trip! Our joke this week was that mom and dad paid for the trip so they had to smile for the trip (pictures). Her response quickly became, but I got into the parks. Silly girl still gave us her beautiful smile. 

More "domesticated" rodents.

The one thing I wanted to do at the Grand Canyon was to see the sunset - or the sunrise, but let's be honest. I wasn't getting up THAT early on vacation. It was a long day, and we hadn't planned to stay at the park so long, but Macy wanted to hear a ranger talk about an animal found in the park.  It ended up being a very interesting presentation on the mountain lion, so I was glad we stayed.  We left the park for a short time to ride into Tusayan for some souvenirs and to grab some dinner to take back. Little bit was tired.

We enjoyed our picnic in the Grand Canyon. The girls ended up with some lunchables Marc found and we ate a random assortment of food we had left in the RV.

The color in the rocks was stunning as the sun was setting. The pictures don't really do it justice.

There wasn't a huge colorful display in the sun this night, but the oranges were very vivid as the sun set on the horizon.

We had a late night packing our suitcases for our departure the next day, but it was worth it to see the sunset.  My mom was tired from the day so she stayed behind that evening and got many things straightened up. My plan was to shower the kids fast at the campsite facilities so we could get in bed faster, but at $2 per 8 minute shower I decided it wasn't worth it. Taking turns in the RV it was!

Before we headed out we made a quick stop at the sign for a picture.  It wasn't quite as chilly this morning, and the girls were glad of that.

We took a short flight north to Denver to visit family for a few days. It has been 8 years since we have been out their way, and I was excited to take the girls back.