The Thomas Family: Colorado summer of 2012 highlights

I can't believe we haven't found the time to post about our annual summer trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. It's just been busy this summer. This is the first time since Noah was 10 months old that we've gone without my mom, sister or a babysitter to help with kids and give us the chance to go out on a solo hike/dinner date. Adding a Spring Break vacation, cut our budget down considerably and at first Paul was going to cut it out completely. Eventually we settled on a smaller scale vacation. We rented a smaller cabin outside of the popular tourist town of Estes Park. It was only 8 miles north of Estes Park and about a 20 minute beautiful drive. Although it only had 2 bedrooms and one bathroom, it was actually quite roomy. We enjoyed being situated in a canyon and in solitude, where we had access to private trails only for homeowners and their guests. The cabin was in the Roosevelt National Forest.

The roadtrip there went well. We stopped in Goodland, KS for the night and enjoyed our stop over. They had a nice pool, with water slides and diving boards, and it cost us all of $6 for the entire family. It was great after six hours in the car, and after our swim, we ate dinner at a local place recommended to us by someone at the pool, and by someone Paul works with.

The next day, it was a pretty easy trip into Estes Park. We stopped for Pizza on the Riverwalk and let the kids climb on some rocks and put their feet in the water. We checked into the YMCA of the Rockies (for 2 nights only in their lodge), before we headed to Glen Haven for the rest of the week.

They were so busy that our room wasn't ready until 6pm, so we killed time playing at the playground and having the kids make tie-dyed shirts at the art center. We also went out to eat at the Rock Inn Mountain Tavern, just down the street. The YCMA is very popular and after staying above the grounds 2 years in a row at the big house we've rented with family, we decided to check it out. Not really our thing. They offer tons of activities for kids (but mostly aimed for older kids) and also offer day camps for kids. They have lots of crowds, and it's like camp, but a really nice camp. After 2 nights in the small room, we were so happy to check out and head to our mountain cabin.

Here are a few highlights of our trip. We'll follow up with individual posts about hikes we did, with pictures.

Monday - hiked around Lily Lake and up Lily Mountain as a family. Both kids surprised us at their progress. Noah has always been strong, but in the past couldn't focus on a destination. This time, he kept going and going and we had to keep up with HIM! Elliot amazingly kept up really well. He didn't go as far as Noah, but climbed pretty high up some pretty steep areas and on boulders. It was fun for all four of us. After our hike, we grabbed lunch and ate a picnic at the park, while Paul had a conference call in his car. Once he finished, we rented a pontoon boat on Lake Estes for an hour. Very beautiful, relaxing and a surprisingly cheap activity.

Tuesday - Paul and Noah went on a BIG hike. Noah's first peak - Twin Sisters at 11,482 feet and 3.4 miles to the top. Noah was ready and excited and did fantastic. Paul has amazing pictures of this hike we'll share. We are both so proud of him. While they did that hike, Elliot and I went to the park and then hiked around the Lumpy Ridge Trail.

That evening, as we were getting ready to go to sleep, we got a text from Noah's close friend (whom he and Elliot had played baseball with and shared a helmet with right before leaving town) that their kids had lice. Noah's head had been itching, so got up and ran to the nearest barber shop. After buzzing their hair and a quick trip to the YMCA nurse to confirm the diagnosis (it was a mild case, and we couldn't see any, but Noah was itching)- we headed to get the shampoo for us all. After checking into our new cabin and eating the dinner Noah picked after his big summit (mac and cheese, cheese pizza and ice cream), we all shampoo'd and went to bed. Fun times.

Wednesday - due to our unwelcome "guests" that we had just learned accompanied us, and Noah and Paul's big hike the day before, the boys and I took it easy, playing around the cabin, hot tubbing and watching the wildlife feed on the dried corn we put out, while Paul headed to the laundry mat with all our clothes (clean and dirty) and all the bedding in the house. Oh and pillow pets and stuffed animals. And towels. Fun times for him. But, he got it done quickly and got the car vacuumed out as well. With no intentions of a real hike, we headed into the park to the Alluvial Fan. We had a bottle of water and a camera - only expecting the boys to climb on some rocks. Well Paul and Noah quickly made it to the top. Elliot and I went up over halfway, before heading back down. And it was some serious climbing. It was created after a flood in 1982 and lots of boulders and a waterfall formed. The kids really loved it.

Thursday - We headed to the Lumpy Ridge Trailhead and started up to Gem Lake. It's only a 2 mile hike, but steeper than we expected. After .5 miles Noah and I continued to Gem Lake, while Paul and Elliot went along the Black Canyon Trail. Gem Lake was small, but beautiful and serene with GREAT rock climbing. Noah had a ball. Then we ran into some friends from Kansas City. The boy and Noah hadn't played in a few years, but were the perfect match. They became fast friends climbing rocks to the top together. We hiked with their family back down, met Paul and Elliot at the trailhead and then headed to Fun City. That night we grilled out at the cabin.

Friday - This was our "off" day. We played around the cabin. I went into the tiny town of Glen Haven and got some jewelry at a little shop and a cinnamon roll for us to split the next morning at the General Store. That evening after dinner we decided to take a walk in our neighborhood. We found a trail by the river and the kids really enjoyed it. We collected rocks to make our own rock cairn at home.

Saturday - Our last day we let the boys pick what they wanted to do. They both wanted to head back to the Alluvial Fan. This time I went with Noah and Paul went with E. After climbing the boys spent a lot of time making a fort out of logs fallen from trees. Afterwards we drove to Loveland to meet some friends from Denver for lunch. They have a 4 year old daughter and both the boys enjoyed her company. It was a beautiful drive through the canyon from our cabin to Loveland. The kids stayed up late that night making a fort out of sticks in the backyard.

Sunday - we hit the road as soon as the kids woke up. Naturally, they chose to sleep in that day. It was a long day, but we made record time. First they wanted chicken mini's for breakfast on the way out. Perfect. There was a Chick-fil-a in Loveland. DOH! Forgot it was Sunday and they weren't open.

Then we PUSHED through to Burlington, Colorado (near the Kansas state line) even though they really wanted a break before, to go to the awesome old school park we found last year. You can imagine all our disappointment when we found the park was GONE! Completely gone! Instead we got gas, went potty and I let the kids pick a treat at the gas station. The chocolate Hostess cupcakes were their only solace until we got to Hays, Kansas. We looked up a park and headed there. Fail. It was 100 degrees and this "park" was just land, trees and a "lake" the boys discovered. A dirty/stinky/littered with filth sewage drainoff is what it actually was. We headed to Sonic and let them play at their outdoor playground for 15 minutes, eat and we drove home. All the way home with only that one crappy, hot stop. It's always more fun driving TO vacation than FROM vacation.

Overall, we had a great time. Enjoyed our cabin, enjoyed hiking with the kids and as always, loved the weather and mountains. Pictures and hike reports to come SOON! Meanwhile, here's a few for now.