Summer Trip Part 1: Colorado Springs

We squeezed in a trip out west between the end of my summer term and the first day of school. Getting out there was a little stressful. My students took their final on Thursday; grades were turned in on Friday; we spent all of Saturday cleaning and packing and left on Sunday. All the back-to-school prep we did before vacation really paid off. We were able to completely relax and enjoy our trip, and then getting back to school wasn't too painful.

We arrived in Colorado Springs on Sunday morning thanks to the time change. In the Denver airport I realized I had forgotten my nice camera. That was a major bummer. All the pictures from our trip were taken on my phone. On the one hand, I miss the higher quality of the dSLR. On the other, it was nice to be able to post pictures to Instagram as they happened.

After lunch at Cafe Rio in Denver and a peaceful car ride to the Springs, while we waited for my mom to get home from Chorale camp, Nate settled in for a nap, Beckett stayed home and played, and my dad and I took Felix to the park where he pushed Grandpa. After my mom got home we went over to Sue's for dinner. There we heard Megan's big news! Excited for May 14th.

Traveling west with small children is a real killer. The full first day, especially, just about does me in. We were so tired from the jet lag and the early rising kids that everyone was perfectly happy to spend the whole day at home. It worked out fine because my mom had to work that day.

These were my brother's LEGOs from the 1990s. He took such good care of them that Beckett and I were able to build the whole castle with very few substitutions. (Apparently what I like to do on vacation is dig through a huge pile of dusty LEGOs all day. Ugh.)  That evening we went to Freddy's. One of the few items on my Colorado Springs to-do list. 

Nate's old high school friend, Julienne, recently moved to Colorado Springs. So, we went to see her. She lives in a neighborhood where a bunch of my high school friends lived. As an aside, I made up this hairdo and wore it a lot on our trip. My mom called it a good Catching Fire hairdo.

When we got back from Julienne's the weather was so nice that we decided we'd better go down to the park before it started raining. So we loaded up and went to Monument Valley. When we got there, there was a train waiting on the track. Perfect timing. We went to wave to the engineer before he started driving again.

Then I handed off my bag to my mom and Beckett and I booked it to the pedestrian bridge so that we could see the train from above.

Over at the playground we blew bubbles,

and played softball. The kids got lots of good ball practice in while we were with my parents. I enjoyed throwing the ball around too. I think it would be fun to get some mitts.

Because they know how  much Nate loves donuts, my parents were eager to take us to Amy's Donuts. They have so many varieties.

The next day we had a picnic at America the Beautiful Park. Megan came too, and we enjoyed the weather and the beautiful view.

The kids played in the fountain. Felix got in trouble for running and got sent back to my dad for awhile. As he was looking at the pictures just now, he relived the entire experience with me. He remembers everything about breaking the rules, running, getting in trouble, deciding to behave, and being invited back to the fountain. It's such a relief when I win a battle or two.

After the park we stopped to see the train near the old station. Engine No. 168 is a narrow gauge engine that pulled the first Denver & Rio Grande passenger train from Denver, Colorado to Ogden, Utah on May 21, 1883. The engine ran for 50 years and was retired in 1933. We would make it to the other end of the line before the trip was over.

Beautiful Colorado. This is the view from my parent's driveway.

Up Next: Glenwood Springs