Castle Rock, C0
By Ally
We arrived in Castle Rock Colorado during the evening. We set up
and started off on a search for dinner. We found a happening hamburger joint
called “Crave”. It was so full of people that we had to wait a while for a spot
to sit. When we took a look at the menu the food choices were crazy. A
hamburger patty with donuts as the buns. Peanut butter, bacon and
jalapeno burger and a cheeseburger over a grilled cheese sandwich. These are
only a few of the crazy options. Crave also had some burgers that weren’t as weird
and so our family went for those.
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| Castle Rock |
The next day we went hiking to “The Castle
Rock” that sits up on a mountain in the middle of town. It was a very minor
hike, but still fun to get out there and hike a mountain! Finally mountains! :-)
After this we spent
the day at our exciting RV Park which is created for kids. It was called “Jelly Stone “and there are
many of these scattered throughout the United States. They had a jumping pillow that the kids thoroughly
enjoyed jumping wildly on. Mom got whatever sickness I had a few weeks ago so
on Monday so we just hung out at the RV Park once again to just rest. It was Dad's birthday, so Mom made Dad's favorite desert, "banana cream pie".
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| Dad's Birthday ! |
Tuesday
Mom contacted her friends the Sherrie’s who lived in Arroyo Grande eight years
ago. Mom hadn’t talked to them in years. So when we spent a park day with them
we talked and talked and caught up on each other’s lives. Wednesday Mom still
felt under the weather so we rested again at the RV site and played on the
jumping pillow and dyed Easter eggs.
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| Focus on the Family |
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| Narnia Room |
Thursday we took another long drive to Colorado Springs and went
to the headquarters of Focus on the Family. It was very kid friendly and had a two-story
slide and an ice cream and soda shop. They also had a room that was set up to
look like the “the entrance to Narnia”
After hanging there for a
while we drove to the Olympic Training Center where the Olympic athletes train.
Sadly, we missed the last tour for the day so we just looked around the front
of the building and acknowledged that these talented athletes worked here, and
then we left.
On the drive back home we saw the great, snowy, famous mountain
Pikes Peak. This mountain is very popular with skiers. That night we had dinner
at the Sherries house and got to meet the whole family and had a wonderful time
fellowshipping. (Mom was bummed that we forgot to take pictures! Next time) When
we were at their house temperatures dropped significantly and our two sliding
doors froze shut! Friday morning we woke up to see snow out side our windows!
The snow had fallen two inches during the night and still lay untouched. This
changed soon after us kids got outside. We played with the snow a full hour and
enjoyed this rare opportunity.
Mom felt a little better and took us kids on a thirty-minute
drive to The Garden of the Gods; an area of unique, red, massive, sandstone
rocks. It was gorgeous to see the towering rocks that stood proud over the land
and to see so many amazing rock formations. After this we went to a quaint town
called Manitou Springs and walked around the shops and saw the many natural
springs sprouting from the earth. It was getting dark so we picked up Stake n’
Shake and drove home. Saturday we packed up and took a short hour drive to our
next stop:
Golden, Colorado near Denver.
Golden Colorado
By Ally
The first day we arrived was a Saturday. We
pulled up at an encore RV site and when we first saw it we automatically said
“Nope!” It was probably the worst RV
site we have seen so far. Dad made sure to get another RV site for us to stay
at and luckily it was right across the
street. It was a great site with little bunnies everywhere and an amazing trail
that literaly was steps away from our RV. Since we had so much food at home, we decided
to eat a home cooked dinner that night then went out to Denver Colorado to eat
the best Ice-cream in the world: Little mans ice-cream. All of us enjoyed the
Cookie Monster ice cream with little bits of red velvet, chocolate and peanut
butter ice cream sandwich cookies inside of a creamy vanilla ice cream.
YUUUUUM!
Sunday morning was Easter Sunday. We woke up at three in the morning
to go to the Red Rocks Sunrise Easter service. It was very dark as we drove up
mountains to get to the Red Rock amphitheater which was only a couple miles
from our RV site. The stares were still out and were sparkling brightly in the
velvet sky. When we got to the amphitheater there were many people already in
the bleachers and we were lucky enough to get a spot before they were all
taken. A concert began and a band called Cadence played their music. Skylar
Kaylyn, a lady we actually met and got to listen to in South Dakota, also
played with her band called Citizen Way .
Once the concert part was over the sun began to rise and the big red rocks of
the amphitheater were illuminated by the morning rays of light.
After the
sermon was over we went home to open up our Easter baskets!! Mom had ordered chocolate bunnies all the way from our favorite candy shop in New York!
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| Top of Flat Iron |
Once we enjoyed our goodies we drove to Bolder to hike the massive mountains called “The
Flat Irons.” It was probably the biggest steepest hike I have ever been on. Snow was still on
the mountain tops from a week ago but the sun was out and shining its warmth. The rocks were massive and altogether
beautiful. After this long three and a half hour hike we were very tired and
extra dirty so we went back to the RV to clean up. That night we picked up our
Cousin Brandon from his college and took him out to dinner at Woody's Woodfired
Pizza a popular place in Golden Co. It was a great time catching up with our
cousin since we hadn’t seen him for four years and many things have changed
since then. What a wonderful conclusion to an Easter Sunday.
Thursday Dad took us kids on a “Field Trip.”
Leaving Mom at home “ she called it a teacher work day”, we went to NREL
(National Renewable Energy Laboratory.) This is where scientists study how to
make renewable energy ,they replace a whole lot more energy than they consume.
Our tour guide named Ashley was very happy to show us all the things that
happen in NREL and was also interested in our RVing life. We also went to the Coors Beer Factory to take
a tour there. We learned what beer was made out of (barley, yeast, water….
ect.) and what they used to season it (Hops). We walked around and saw the beer
being made and packaged. At the end they let the adults have three samples of
beer from the factory and unlimited soda for the kids. We took an advantage of
that! :)
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| Celestial Tea Tour |
Friday Dad also took us on another “Field Trip”
to the Celestial Seasoning Tea Tour. Here we smelt and felt the ingredients
that go into their tea and we also got to have many samples of their tea as
well. They took us around the factory and we saw how they packaged and made the
tea. We entered into the peppermint tea room and the smell was amazing, and
almost overwhelming. Saturday morning we packed up and left Golden, Colorado
and drove up the massive Colorado Rocky Mountains. The Rockies were still
covered in snow and at a place we just stopped off to use the restroom and play
with the snow. So fun! We enjoyed the scenic drive all the way to Moab, Utah.
to wait until evening when it cooled down to go on a
hike. We set out for a relatively easy hike to Sand Dune Arch. Everyone was
having an awesome time running around barefoot in the red sand and climbing on
the easy to reach arch. After playing on
the arch we all put our shoes back on and continued the mile long loop trail to
Broken Arch. Once there we fiddled around took a few pictures before caring on
to the last quick turn off on the trail to Tapestry Arch. We scrambled to the
top of the incline and sat right below the Arch resting for a bit and admiring
the evening sky as the sun began to set and the first star came out. 
Realizing we may had gazed at the sky a bit
to long we gathered everyone up and encouraged everyone to walk as quickly as possibly back to the
trail so we could reach our car before the black night came on. Not intending
to stay as late as we did and not realizing how far we still had to go, we did not think to bring
a flashlight with us. My phone died as we tried to use the flash light app I
had on it.
This is the most popular Arch in the National park. Although the day we went was not too crowded. Moderately strenuous hike that we all thoroughly enjoyed. Once we reached the arch I went under it first , briefly glancing at the sheer drop off right behind it. Wes and I cautiously walked the kids under it and had someone snap a quick shot.Then we all quickly went back to safer ground. 
Day 6 - I enjoyed an eleven mile run in the 
