Monday, August 10, 2009

Recipe for Fun and Exhaustion

20 adults
19 kids all under the age of nine
10 hour caravan trip to Estes Park, CO
1 YMCA dorm hallway full of families getting not-the-best sleep
3 mountain hikes
1 afternoon drive along mountain ridges and into the mountaintop tundra
11 cafeteria or fast-food meals
Another 10 hour caravan trip home

Mix this all together for four quick days and not only do you get fun and exhaustion, but it also results in a tired and cranky one-year old, some major bloating (mostly from the food), and some great photos. Here are a large number of the pictures...

Despite being SO tired, this little girl was such a trooper and amazing on the long drives. However, she spent about half of our hiking time passed out like this...even sleeping through our stop at a raging waterfall...



At the top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. This was an incredible drive with amazing views and time in the tundra!

The wildflowers were in full bloom all over the mountainside.




8 comments:

manhattandoula said...

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! I love Colorado in the summertime! And it looks like it was some great family/friend time. :)

Unknown said...

Cool photos-we went to Colorado this summer, too...and loved it!

Marie said...

Wow. I'm pretty much speechless. You survived! It did look very beautiful. Who'd you go with?

Erika said...

That picture of Hannah conked out is hilarious!!! You are making memories with a trip like that!

tiff said...

Love Colorado! I'm glad you had fun. Hope you can recover. :)

Mandy said...

Your pictures reminded me of my two summers that I spent out there! You look great friend!

Kara Janzen said...

Carmen, We just went to Colorado last week. We camped with Jake's parents in Rocky Mountain National Park at Moraine campground. We hiked up to Emerald Lake and Emerald Mountain (which is right by the YMCA Camp). We also drove up Trail Ridge Road and took a picture by the same sign. It was lots of fun but colder than it usually is. I loved seeing your pictures.

Unknown said...

Glad to see Ms.Hannah got sleep somewhere, positive it wasn't in the dorm room with crazy kids running up and down the halls. Loved making memories with you guys!