Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak

Upon leaving the Black Hills area we headed south to Estes Park, Co., at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We absolutely loved this town! It was not huge but had everything you needed plus the scenery and climate was fantastic. There was absolutely no humidity hear! While there we rented a two bedroom condo which offered beautiful views of the mountains. It was nice to have the room to spread out and catch up on laundry as well. I was able to take some gorgeous photos of the kids. I knew that the pond and bridge would make a great background for a photo, so we headed down only to discover a herd of Elk were grazing on the side of the pond. One day of hiking was spent heading to Mills Lake. We originally just planned on hiking around 3 miles but when we heard about the lake at the end of the trail we kept going. It ended up being about a 6 1/2 mile hike round trip. The kids did fantastic though. We took lots of breaks to catch our breath and to drink lots of water. The view of Mill's Lake was gorgeous. At bedtime that night Emily asked after we said her prayers if we could just hike around 3 miles the next day. Too cute! Another day we mostly drove on the Old Fall River Road, a one way gravel road that is only opened from about June-October that climbs to about 11,000ft and has no guard rails. Along this road we got to see the Yellow Bellied Marmot. I was full of switchbacks and sheer drops offs to sometimes both sides. It was a beautiful but no relaxing drive! This road connected up to the main road at the Alpine Visitor Center. This is where the kids got to get out and see snow in July! We walked on tundra and marveled at the beautiful little flowers and gazed at the elk grazing in the tundra.

After leaving Estes Park we took a long drive through the Rocky's, crossed over the Continental Divide and arrived in Pikes Peak, Co. I think that Pikes Peak must be a neat town but to be honest I think anything you do at the end of a vacation just isn't that great as you are finally ready to get back home. I think this is what happened with Pikes Peak. While there we made the 18 mile drive up Pikes Peak, elevation around 14,000 ft. We spent only about 20 minutes up there as we started feeling a bit light headed. It offered some beautiful views of Colorado. Before heading home we drove through the Garden of the gods. I wish we had went earlier in the day before the heat set in as it was just beautiful. Maybe another day we will have the opportunity.Mills Lake

Mason figuring out where we are

Yellow Bellied Marmot

A beautiful view at our condo...Estes Park, CO

Tiny Tundra flowers

View from 11,000ft

Mountain Lakes dot the landscape
The kids got to play in the snow!

Our first closeup view of Elk up in the tundra

The road up Pikes Peak

Burr...Emily's snowball

Pikes Peak!!

The view from 14,000ft at Pikes Peak

The garden of the gods

Souix Falls, Badlands and the Black Hills

Where the deer and the antelope play...

After seeing so many to other places in the world we decided when we moved home we really wanted to see more of our country. We indeed have a beautiful world to live in. There is so much to see both near and far. We decided this years vacation would be a trip west. Our first stop was in Brandon, SD to visit with some very dear friends of ours that retired in South Dakota during the same time we were moving to India. Ray and Juanita have been our surrogate parents to us so it was so wonderful to see their new home (although we wish it weren't so far away). They live very near Sioux Falls which we got to visit. I was really impressed with the "falls" in Sioux Falls and the feel of the downtown. The kids had a grand time climbing on the rocks and jumping over puddles. En route towas the Badlands near Wall, South Dakota. The Badlands National Park is really a beautiful park, it had so much more to offer than I ever dreamed it would. We were blessed with really great weather so it wasn't too hot while were there. We did some hiking, climbed up lots of rocks and saw buffalo, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, mule deer, wild donkeys and antelope. Fortunately we saw no rattlesnakes...just the signs posted frequently for them! After staying in the Badlands we ventured onto the Black Hills National Forest. To us these weren't "hills" but mountains and ever so beautiful! We had fun driving the famous Needles Highway (part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway). We hiked in Custer State Park, visited the famous Mt Rushmore, saw re-enactments of gun fight of Wild Bill Hickok and a Trial of Jack McCall, visited an old mine and drove through Sturgis (fortunately it was not bike week!). When hiking up to the little devils tower in Custer we got caught in a thunderstorm. We made it to the top just in time to see lightening off in the distance. We went down as fast as we could, got caught in a hail storm for about the last 200 ft. Fortunately the van does NOT look like a golf ball. The hail must have been soft enough when it hit the that it didn't dent it. I have decided I don't like hiking in storms!! So here are some photos, I will post more later!

Sioux Falls

Emily and the outlaws

Badlands

Bison

Mountain goat or bighorn sheep??

This bison found a scratching post!

Cute little prairie dogsThe watering holeMt. RushmoreThe Needles HighwayCuster State ParkMountain top view of an approaching storm

Random matters

I haven't blogged much lately. It's not that there haven't been things to write about it is just that I have kept pretty busy! Here is what has happened the past few months that I haven't found the time to write about!

The boys each ran track for the first time. The ran relays, 100M, 400M and 800M. They seemed to enjoy it and it was fun watching them run and cheer them on.

Logan

Mason

Toward the end of May the rain seemed to begin and is still occurring. We have had so much flooding. Our road towards the north by the river always floods with heavy rain but one day it flooded to the south! Most of the roads were flooded and as a result the kids who were stuck in town as the buses couldn't move anywhere . Ted managed to pick them up after work but it took him and the kids over an hour to find a way home! Fortunately the north section hadn't flooded yet or they would have been kept away from home!

The north section that normally floods

the south section that flooded

Enjoyed the beauty of spring!

Watched Mason be promoted to HIGH SCHOOL!

Emily had a field trip to a Horse Camp and now really wants a horse....or stay with Aunt Karen for a while!My parents visited all of us kids and stayed with us a few days. The boys are always thrilled to see how much taller they are than my mom. My Dad built several new bird houses and brought them with so we can have happy birds now!

My parents

Witnessed some incredible sunsets before thunderstorms...

Logan finally got his friend birthday party which included lots of boys! So thankful it didn't rain, they had a cookout over a fire and ran wild outside! What fun time they had!

The boys have camped a few times. Cleo the cat camped as well, I am sure this may be a first...a camping cat?? Of course the dogs guarded them all through the night and into the morning.Emily found her prince...

Happy Birthday Logan

Twelve years ago we were blessed with Logan! I can't believe that he is twelve years old now. Without him our home would be so quiet:) Logan is always around making some noise or making us laugh. He is really growing up into such a responsible young man. We are so proud that he is our son. We love you lots Logan, Happy Birthday!!