Colorado in Review

The trip begins!! lots of driving! lots of pretty scenery! and for me, lots of car sickness, followed by lots of dramamine, followed by lots of sleepiness. And that pretty much sums up the ride up!

On the way we stopped at the Royal Gorge. It was really pretty. You can walk across the bridge (or drive or take a trolley)

We walked. Did you notice on the sign above that it is 1053 feet high?? that's high! and the bridge SWAYS with the wind!! Oh my. It was a bit scary.

Here's the view down. Oh no, I couldn't actually look down. I simply held my camera out over the edge and snapped away, no looking involved. Apparently that's some good white water rafting below.

The worst part, maybe worse than the swaying, was the magnificent gaps in the planks of the bridge. I mean look at that!

Here's another shot where the river is in focus. I'm talking scary! I was worried about tripping. i was worried about losing a flip flop. I was walking VERY carefully, placing each foot on a FULL plank. I looked like an idiot.

So we finally made it into Summit County. My college roommate (who now lives in Denver) drove in for Friday night. That was awesome! I love seeing her, feels so good to catch up with a dear friend. And my little brother Joey flew in from LA. SO I was in hog-heaven, surrounded with friends and family!

Saturday morning, we drove to historic Georgetown. It was super cute. My brother took over my camera.

Joey tooks some portraits of us all... here's little Lukey (Ty's little brother)

Dear Sweet Tyler. (I'm glad to know that he hates having his picture taken by everyone, not just me. Makes me feel better somehow.)

Me and Lauren. How come I always look ridiculous? Can I not be normal for one moment?

I found a candy shop. This began a long trip filled with more sweets and sugar than I've eaten all year. I"m suffering for it now. I feel gross. I look gross. But man was it good!

Ty's typical routine while traveling. Find a rare and antique book store. Spend our life savings. Just kidding. He does not spend our life savings. Only half. But he looks good doing it!

We went over to Keystone for lunch and had to wait in line, behind a DOG!

Okay, I was just kidding about that. The dog did look like he was ordering, which was funny. But we really sat at a table and ordered. At a different restaurant. I'm not good at lying. Not even for the sake of humor.

here is downtown Frisco! We actually stayed in a house in Frisco. Somehow I never got a single picture of the house or at the house. I'll have to fix that next time. Anyways, I love downtown Frisco. Super cute. close enough to bike to. Full of yummy restaurants and adorable shops. OH and we hiked that mountain the background on the last day.

There was an antique and art festival in Frisco. I purchased this tiny stool. Cute huh?

Okay, this next picture is from the top of the mountain we hiked. It's out of order. But I want you to notice all of the sad dying trees. There is a beetle infestation. They burrow into the trees and eat them and kill them. But you can't see them because they go inside the trees. So all of a sudden a tree is dead and you have no idea that it was happening. It's been going on for about 2 years now, and it looks very very sad. You can see lots of dead trees in the background.

I'm showing you that because look at this...
Only in Colorado!! So they are having a "Beetle Fest" - the small print says "A festival to ward off the evil beetle" Funny huh?

off of sad stuff to happy stuff... apparently they had a spring with LOTS of rain. Which meant AMAZING flowers for us! Look at these poppies. I took this picture. Joey immediately said, "let me do it."

And he took this one. It is cooler. I know. I have so much to learn from him.

Guess who this is? Better question, guess what we're doing?

We went golfing. Well, Ty and Luke golfed. Father-in-law and I rode in the carts and watched. But it rained REALLY hard for a bit, then it got REALLY cold. So he made his own ear muffs. Creative.

One day we went to the Alpine Slides at Breckenridge. You can kind of see the white slides up on the mountain in this picture. So basically, you ride the ski lift up to the top. Then get off, grab a little sled and jump on this concrete slide. It is AWESOME! we had a blast! But watch out for roadkill, sometimes a chipmunk gets in the slide, and the brakes just dont' work that fast.

We also went white water rafting (couldn't take my camera because of the water), biking, played sand volleyball, went shopping, and watched an entire season of 30 Rock. But I didn't photo-document those events. I promise they happened.

Look at this amazing restaurant. We didn't eat here, but isn't it adorable with all the flowers??

We walked around Breckenridge a bit. Then found this stream that kids play in. Joey and Steve sat and talked. This was pretty much a constant scene throughout the trip. They had fun. Steve told stories, Joey listened and laughed. And probably wrote some ideas down to use in an upcoming screen play.

The HIKE begins!! Look at us... real mountain people!

Brother and sister. Yes I AM older.

We finally made it to the top! Joey went barefoot.

Ty did push ups on the edge. I couldn't watch. Joey took this picture.

Ty and Joey talked. They strategically placed themselves at the edge so I wouldn't sit down with them. I just know it.

Last night. We ate at The Mint. Was first made as a brothel. Now it's a yummy steak house.

You go up to the butcher and pick out your meat. He then hands it to you. Raw.

You season it and place it on a huge grill.

Here's my men manning the grill.

We dropped Joey off at the airport the next day and drove to Colorado Springs. Visited the Air Force Academy.

Then went to the Broadmoor. This very fancy and famous hotel resort place. It was fabulous.

But my rear end is numb from typing this long, and you are probably bored to death. So that will be for another post. Here's a teaser of the place.