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Summer part three...Colorado!

 


I did it! We did it! Our road trip to Colorado was a complete success. It was actually magical. Honestly, I haven't blogged about it because it's hard to put into words. I'm going to do a quick day-by-day account of what we did, and hope it doesn't take the magic away. We took over 200 photos of so many moments. And I didn't share much on social media because I was savoring the moments for ourselves. 

In a nutshell...

Day 1: 

Saturday, July 30-left home and arrived in Lubbock at 5:00 p.m., 6 hours of driving. Explored the city and Texas Tech. 




Day 2: 

Sunday, July 31-Lubbock to Estes Park, Colorado arrived at 7:45 p.m., 10 hours of driving. Cried tears of joy to see our adorable cottage and lodge. Ate at Boss Burgers and Gyros and grabbed some groceries at the local Safeway. 













Day 3: 

Monday, August 1-Slow morning at the cottage, made breakfast and packed a picnic. Headed to Rocky Mountain National Park for 6.5 miles of hiking. Exhausting and exhilarating! Dinner again at Boss Burgers and Gyros because the kids loved it so much. We got it to go and ate on the great patio at the Lodge. 










Day 4:

Tuesday, August 2- Jonas and Lorelei started their day with a hot tub trip. It was the only time to squeeze it in. Then we adventured around Estes Park: coffee, souvenirs shopping, mountain coaster, and great food. I even ran into a previous student from Wernli in front of the Estes Park Town Hall. We drove into Denver around 6:00 to pick up John and headed to our next hotel in Littleton, Colorado the city where John and I lived for a year in 1997. We grabbed dinner and relaxed at the hotel. The kids went for a late swim. 












Day 5: 

Wednesday, August 3-Breakfast at the hotel (it was awful!). We drove around Littleton to show the kids where we used to live. We went to Red Rocks for the afternoon. We had lunch at the best little grill right in the Red Rocks Amphitheater. We headed to Colorado Springs. We arrived at a really unique hotel, called The Academy. We settled in, relaxed, had appetizers in the hotel restaurant, and went for ice cream. 













Day 6:

Thursday, August 4-After an amazing breakfast, we hit the road home. John drove the whole way. We arrived home at 1:00 a.m., safe and sound. 






Since we've been home we've been squeezing in all those last-minute back-to-school things, like doctor's appointments, haircuts, organizing, lunch with friends, quick visits with family, diving, etc. 










Jonas went camping with friends, Lorelei saw Mean Girls with Brieley and we made a quick trip to Austin one last time to see Savannah and Emily and their new puppy Rio before school starts. We squeezed in a lot of fun, in a very short time in Austin.





We went to IKEA too for some things for their apartment. What a hoot that was!










I'm super sad to see summer end, right when I was getting the hang of relaxing and living in the moment. Seems like it takes me the whole summer to wrap my head around that concept, and when I finally do, it's over. When will I learn!?! 

Back to school starts tomorrow...ready or not!
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