Things That Keep Dan Busy: The Colorado Trip

We took a big road trip in the middle of summer this year. So big, in fact, that it has taken me two months to get photos up on this ol' blog. We drove out to Colorado and back. It was a monumental effort, but we really enjoyed it all - even the drive.

Day 1 - We started our adventure after church.

Kids were ready to go.

We got as far as Macon, Missouri for the first night.

We lined kids up like hot dogs on the skinny bed.

Today's driving was right around 350 miles.

Day 2 - More driving westbound. We spent a good chunk of time in Kansas City with the Federal Reserve Bank, and the Hallmark Museum. Number 3 Kiddo had his birthday today, so we had ice cream sandwiches in the mid afternoon in Junction City Kansas. We settled for the night at a cozy motel in Oakley Kansas. 500 miles

Day 3 - We finally arrived to Brother In Law's (BIL) house. It was nice to be done driving. We unloaded and kids ran around like crazy monkeys. 275 miles

Day 4 - A day in Colorado Springs. We packed it full with a visit to the Air Force Academy chapel, Focus on the Family Headquarters, Garden of the Gods, and a Space Science Museum.

Day 5 - Kids got tired of the van, so we had a day at BIL's house. We watched a movie, and some of us went swimming. #3 Kiddo fell off the little ledge within the pool and plummeted to the bottom! I yanked him out and he blubbered for a bit but was just fine.

Day 6 - On the agenda today was the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. An all day event, with a picnic lunch in the hot sun.

Day 7 - A day mostly at BIL's house. We did laundry. # 2 Kiddo (with the cast) fell down the spiral staircase and was slow moving afterwards. We went to a park for the fireworks display. Tons of people, and rather breezy, but good fireworks!

Day 8 - Church in the morning. Then we drove to Lookout Mountain in the rain, and hiked around for a short bit. More clouds and rain on the way, so we went down and went to Red Rocks Amphitheater. There was a concert getting ready to start - some crazy metal rock band that wasn't our type. We got rained out anways, so we went back to BIL's house with a pizza.

Day 9 - Original Pancake House for breakfast. In the afternoon, the two of us went out and toured a small microbrewery (Breckenridge Brewery). It was really neat and interesting tour. Kids stayed home with their favorite uncle.

(Yes - I ate all of that)

Day 10 - We visited Hammond's Candies for a factory tour on the way up to Boulder. Again, we travelled in a rain cloud and saw very little of the view. We went on a 1 mile hike within Chautauqua Park. We were nearly rained out, but we went anyways. Then we went on a factory tour of the Celestial Seasonings plant. Awesome.

Day 11 - A slower day for us. We went to the nearby city park, and it was amazing. I think we were there for 3 hours. Kids didn't want to leave. We started packing for home in the evening.

Day 12 - We struck off and started our drive for home. Eastern Colorado and Nebraska is some really flat driving. Hot fudge sundaes in the mid afternoon. We stayed in a posh hotel in downtown Lincoln Nebraska for the evening. The parking garage was super narrow and scary. We lined up the kids like hotdogs in their bed again and they went right to sleep. 500 miles today.

Day 13 - More driving eastward. We got to Grandma's house just around 3pm. My parents were there and it was fun to see everybody. We had a quick visit with Grandma in the nursing home, ate more ice cream sandwiches, then continued driving. We spent alot of time at the playground near the Amana Colonies, and stayed in a skuzzy motel somewhere east of Iowa City.

Day 14 - Rain all day. (And I mean alllll day). We stopped at a very crowded John Deere Pavilion in Moline IL, and ate lunch at Lagomarcinos with a desert of hot fudge sundaes. It was great. Wife drove through all of Illinois. I continued on. Finally home around 7:15 with a quick visit to Meijer prior to for milk, eggs, and a rotisserie chicken.