Vacation Wrap-up

Well, we are ending our wonderful week in Estes Park as we head home tomorrow.  It's been fun to be here for the second year in a row, this time with two kids.  The time away as a family has been great...refreshing, encouraging, refocusing, fun, and even a bit adventurous.  

How else to summarize the trip but with some bullet-point highlights and photos?

We stayed at this beautiful home we found via VRBO.com that included several great outdoor spaces and a panoramic view of Long's Peak.

T and Hannah went out for a couple daddy-daughter breakfast dates.

There was a good amount of coloring, playing with play dough, and creating of pet rocks.

We've had long evening chats and competitive games of Boggle.

Late night soaks in the hot tub under the cold starry sky were luxurious.

T and I enabled one other to have windows of time away by ourselves.  We each enjoyed reading, praying, and journaling as we sat along the babbling river downtown.  I also loved being inspired as I perused the little shops full of handmade goods.

We drove to Georgetown, CO one day to ride the historic train.

Our trip home from the train ride included a stop to walk around Lily Lake.  The stroll was delightful and Hannah got to feed the resident chipmunk and ducks, which she loved until the duck aggressively nipped her hand.  :(

We spent a good amount of time in Rocky Mountain National Park.  We did our share of hiking (as much as you can do when you're at least slightly out of shape and hauling two kids on your backs) and attended a Ranger program on "Skins and Skulls".  We loved sharing an amazement at God's creation with the kids.

I guess Estes Park has a rich Scottish-Irish heritage.  Their annual Highlands Festival was this weekend.  We joined the community by attending the Saturday morning parade.  It was a blast and stirred a Scottish, bag-pipe playing pride in us, and we aren't even a bit Scot or Irish.

Our time in the park also included a gorgeous drive up Old Fall River Road and back down Trail Ridge Road.  The views are absolutely stunning!  We stopped a time or two to explore Fall River.  T and Hannah loved tossing rocks in the stream.

Following our final hike today, we stopped near a stream to eat a picnic lunch.  Little did we know that we would be joined by a heard of elk!  They were grazing along the river.  As we observed them, we spotted a momma and baby along with a huge, six-point buck!  He was huge.  We even got to hear his call (not sure if there is a technical word for it).  Amazing.

And tonight we are wrapping up by laying low at the cabin, enjoying a warm meal together, and packing up.  T and I have already talked about how we hope to return with the kids in years to come.  We've even discussed making the trip with out kids some year, so we can climb Long's Peak together.