Beth and I have just returned from a very enjoyable vacation. For dad's 70th birthday, mom organized a family vacation to Ouray, Colorado. Absolutely beautiful place, Beth and I are already talking about taking another vacation there someday as soon as we can.
8-4-06: Beth, the kids and I take off for the airport and wind up making a mad mad mad dash to get there on time, even with gaining an hour. We made it on time (barely), held up by a potty break in south Chicago, and I just dumped the bags and kids at the curb and dashed to a parking lot (Sign at the lot: Red parking lot is full. Please park at the green or yellow parking lot. Me: Great. Where the hell are the green or yellow lots??) Then I lugged both car seats back to the terminal on the shuttle because we forgot to unload them. Laura, who was waiting at the airport, was starting to wonder if she should go without us. Then as she was in line with Alex while Beth and Missy were in line and I was trying to get back, wondered if she should get on the plane with Alex without us. But we all made it on time, and we had both kids in car seats so they didn't do so bad. We got to Denver on time, got the rental van (crappy...flimsy...cheap) and found the hotel. We had selected a hotel with a pool so we could get the kids worn out before heading to bed. While we were unloading, Alex got on the elevator (or as he says, "alligator") and went up without me. When it came down, he was not on it. And I panicked for a minute until I heard him call me down the stairs...he'd only gone up one flight. We got all settled in and took the kids swimming to help wear them out.
8-5-06: Beth, kids, Laura, and I headed out of Denver bound for Ouray. Mom told us at the last minute the the Mapquest route was bad and gave us another one, and for a while we were ready to skin her because I-70 got so jammed we moved about 10 miles in 2 hours. We finally got moving after a while though. We stopped somewhere in Colorado for lunch at a McDonald's and were lucky enough to be the last ones to get food before the power went off. We made it to Ouray in the evening. Alex was sleeping in the room with Beth and me, Missy with Laura. Alex did not sleep well.
8-6-06: Dad and some of Mom & Dad's friends took me on a Jeeping trek over Black Bear pass from near Ouray into Telluride. The pass is...arduous. But scenic. And you should see highway 550 going south out of Ouray (the highway of death). Sheer drops just inches from your wheels. The trail is the same way, too. Beth and Laura were not feeling good most of the day due to the thin air. During the night Alex fell out of bed and banged his head on the end table. I wonder if he's not feeling well too.
8-7-06: Everyone went on a Jeeping trek into Yankee Boy Basin today, a somewhat less arduous trek than yesterday, and one we thought the kids would do well on. They did. Both enjoyed Jeeping very much, even more so than we thought they would. We drove up and up, stopping to take in the scenery a few times, finally pulling off to the side quite a ways above the tree line for a picnic lunch. Beth got to drive mom and dad's friend's Jeep on the way down, I still hadn't got to drive yet. Beth and Laura enjoyed the trip even though both were still not feeling well. Later on, Beth and I got to go out to dinner BY OURSELVES while mom and dad and Laura watched the kids.
8-8-06: Dad and his friend were doing another Jeeping trek, this one up most of the way to Engineer Pass and then on to a big old mining ghost town. I was going to stay home to help with the kids since Beth and Laura weren't feeling good, but Alex wanted to go with us, and then Missy wanted to go too, so we thought what the heck? and took them with us. They did great! Better than I ever thought they would over those bumpy trails. They even slept through some. And dad let me drive for most of the way. The ghost town was great. They both loved it, wandering around the old buildings looking for gold. The weather was also great. I even got to drive home on the highway of death.
8-9-06: Today was the mistake. Well, that's a little harsh. Today was a great idea that went on too long. We all took the kids to Silverton to ride on the Silverton to Durango railroad. We'd been telling the kids that they were going to get to go on a train ride for a few days and they were both really excited, especially Alex. He was so antsy go get aboard, but we arrived in town a few hours early and had to wait. And wait. With two toddlers who couldn't understand why they couldn't get on the train now. We did get to find a geocache in the Silverton town square; everyone was very interested in it after I told them about it. By the time we finally could board, Alex was so excited he could barely contain himself. We got going, and all was well and fun with the exciting train ride until both kids, especially Alex, got tired of being jostled around and bored with being on the train. Then, the problem was the ride went on for an additional couple hours. Somehow, the fact that the ride was about 3 and a half hours long eluded me, I'd thought it was an hour or so. If I'd known it was that long, I'd have suggested we pass on it or find a shorter ride, or a train museum or something. Then we got to Durango, had dinner with crazed kids, barely had time to badly change a diaper on Alex before catching the bus back home, and riding the bus another hour or longer back to where the cars were, while being unable to change a diaper on Missy. Once we got back to Silverton, we found no wipes in the van, and Laura had left her camera on the bus. So mom and dad went chasing after the bus while we searched for something to clean up Missy. Fortunately, Phil found a pack of wipes in his Jeep. We heard via CB that mom and dad had caught up with the bus and got the driver out of his motel room to search for the camera, which was not to be found on the bus. Finally I looked in Laura's bag (hey Laur...is this it?) and found the camera she had missed in repeated searches. She was a wee bit embarrassed and very contrite about getting the bus driver out of his room. Anyway, it was another 45 minute drive back to Ouray, during which we saw Phil have an incredibly close encounter with a deer on the highway of death.
8-10-06: Beth and Laura were finally feeling better today. Mom rented a Jeep for Beth and Laura and me to drive on today's Jeeping trek. Mom and dad took the kids in their Jeep. We headed out with the whole group up a very rocky pass, starting out fairly cold, but then the weather going up the mountain got beautiful and we put the top down. Aaaaaaah....I LOVE driving a Jeep with the top down! We drove over the pass and found a nice high spot near a ghost town to stop for a picnic. It just happened to be near a well-placed geocache, so I took the whole group on a short hike to find it. We found it hidden under a large boulder. I dropped off a couple travel coins and a travel bug I'd picked up in Switzerland. We came down the trail near Telluride and could see a huge thunderstorm brewing. So we very hurriedly got the tires re-inflated and put the top up, and zoomed away in the other direction. We were going to hit another trail, but were short on time and I had promised Alex he could ride in Daddy's new Jeep when we got home. After getting home I put his car seat in the Jeep and we headed out for a ride on the highway of death as far as the entrance to Engineer Pass. There is a cache hidden there...we couldn't find it in the very short time we had. We headed back home to return the Jeep, then all went out together for dinner at the Outlaw. The kids were all hyper; I wanted to beat Alex by the time we were done. I took him outside to chill out a few times just trying to keep the peace.
8-11-06...We packed up everything today and got ready for the drive back. I did manage to slip away to find one last geocache and drop off a Swiss geocoin. It was another long 8-hour trip back to Denver. We kept the kids together by promising them we could go swimming after we got to the hotel.
8-12-06...Because of the terrorist thing and no liquids allowed, we had been told to be at the airport at least 3 hours before the flight. We left the hotel on the shuttle at about 10:30, and when we had cleared security and gotten all the way to the gate it was 11:06. 36 minutes including the bus ride to do what they told us it would take 3 hours, and we then had 2 and a half hours to kill with bored toddlers. Oh well, at least we weren't trying to keep them in line with us for a long time. We found an old disused mezzanine level at the end of the concourse and let the kids run around there. The flight back was uneventful, with both kids falling asleep for most of it.