The Blanch Herd: Parking in Colorado (and a little bit in Utah on the way ;)

Gregg needs/likes to be in an Inntopia office every month or so to check in with people and get some face-to-face time with all his coworkers. Usually he makes these trips by himself (mostly because Cal has been in school all the other times he's gone), but this time we all got to tag along on his latest trip to Edwards at the end of June. It feels like going home for us since we lived there for almost four years (even though it's been over four years since we moved away!). We had a great time meeting up with ward and work friends, showing the kids our old apartment/grocery store/library/church/etc, and, best of all, (re)introducing Cal and Sam to all the awesome parks that the Vail Valley has to offer. There is definitely plenty of "parking" available for all on our trip. Sit back and enjoy the view.

We left home on Wednesday, June 26th, at noon (right after we got home from a Tyke Hike. We took the I-70 route, stopping in Wellington at our first park of the trip, then again in Fruita for another park and picnic dinner. We got to our hotel (Comfort Inn in Avon) around 8 and got settled and to sleep.

Park #1: Off the side of the highway
in Wellington, UT.

Cal was thrilled there were monkey bars!

Park #2: Off the side of the freeway in
Fruita, CO.

The next day, Thursday the 27th, we dropped Gregg at work (holy cow - the construction in that main intersection in Edwards is nasty! they're putting in a new round about where the light is, which is right where the office is and it's a huge mess!), filled up the tank on the car, and headed back to the hotel. There we loaded up the camelbaks, put helmets on the kids and pulled the bikes out of the car. Our first destination was Nottingham park, just down the street about a block from the hotel, where we were pleased to find a brand new playground waiting for us! After playing there for a while, we rode across the street to the library, where we spent a good long while reading, puzzling, and playing with legos and trains.

Park #3: Nottingham Park in Avon, CO. This is a brand
new playground and it's awesome!

Ah, the library really is our happy place.

They made an "Old Main" out of legos.

After the library we went back to Nottingham park and rode/walked around the lake, ending up back at the playground again, before heading back to the hotel room for a microwave mac lunch and naps (for both kids! what?!). After they woke up (and I had a very quiet hour plus to read and just chill), we hit the pool, which was lovely and warm and fabulous. We hung out at Freedom Park in Edwards for a while, waiting for Gregg to finish up at work.

The flowers in front of the library were gorgeous!

Lovely morning for a ride around Nottingham
Lake.

Almost back to the hotel. The bikes were
SO nice to have along!

Hotel lunching.

Naptime reading. LOVE this!

Pool time! And the water was WARM! It felt so nice!

Park #4: Freedom Park in Edwards, CO.

These monkey bars were tricky.

My forecast app was WAY off -
at the same time I took this pic, my
car said the temp was 84 degrees.

Sam was dreaming of riding his bike or scooter or someday
a skateboard in this skate park - he loved watching the big
kids there doing tricks and things and kept begging me to try
it himself.

The kids were getting antsy and the traffic was bad, so we headed to the office before he texted, just so we'd be ready and raring to go as soon as he was done. We drove to Vail for dinner at Moe's BBQ, but were disappointed to find that it was only open for lunch (boo!), so we played at Sunbird Park for a bit before moseying onward. We caught the bus from Lionshead Village to La Bottega (which we opted against for dinner since their dinner menu and their lunch menu are definitely not the same), and then wandered a bit further to DeliZioso where we got wraps and a grilled veggie salad for dinner. It was good, but disappointing since it wasn't Moe's.

We were stuck in the round about by the Shell
station in this back up from the new
round about construction.

Insanity!

Park #5: Sunbird Park in Lionshead Village
in Vail, CO.

Checking out the old gondola.

Bus ride!

After dinner, we walked through the village en route to Pirate Ship Park. Sam and Cal LOVED this one (and why wouldn't they?)! It was fun to watch them playing and pretending on the giant ship shaped playground. We hit up one more playground at Ford Park, which was also a hit, before walking back through the village till we found a bus stop, hopped on the bus back to Lionshead, and drove back to the hotel for the night. (If you're counting, the park count is up to 7 . . . and, hint hint, it's only going to climb!)

Park #6: Pirate Ship Park in Vail Village, CO!

Sam loved the crow's nest and pirate flag.

Cute little free library on our walk to Ford Park.

I love this covered bridge near Ford Park.

I saw this sculpture from a distance and instantly
recognized it as similar to the one on campus
at USU.

I went up to get a closer look while the kids played.

Sure enough, it's the same guy!

The Betty Ford Gardens looking lovely in the
evening light.

Park #7: Ford Park in Vail, CO.

We walked past this place on our way back
to the bus stop and it looked so cool, but it was
closed. I guess we'll have to come back someday.
It's a museum/science center called Exposed:
The Secret Life of Roots.

Waiting for the bus with these cuties.

On Friday morning, we again dropped Gregg off (just a little before we got to the crazy intersection this time; he walked the rest of the way in) and we headed to West Vail to Donovan Park. The kids pretended to be Shawn James (he's the guy we watch every pizza and a movie night building a cabin in Canada) building their own "cabin" on the huge wooden structure there.

Park #8: Donovan Park in West Vail, CO.

I personally love this one.

The kids thought the ladders were like the ones
on our Cabin Building youtube channel, and then
they started pretending to be Shawn James building
a cabin.

After about an hour we headed back to Minturn to meet up with our friend Cherish (and her dog Jax) for a hike up Meadow Mountain. Man! I forgot what it was like hiking a) uphill (most of our hikes these days are pretty flat) and b) at elevation (the air is thin there!). But it was beautiful and warm and we got to explore an old cabin at the "top" so it was perfect. We wanted to keep chatting with Cherish, so we moved our party to Little Beach Park further down the road in Minturn.

Group shot in the pasture, with the old cabin on the hill behind
us.

This was a great destination and shady snack spot.

Sam was nervous about hiking with a dog, but Jax was nice
and we all survived.

Park #9: Little Beach in Minturn, CO.
Sam was in heaven in this train engine!

No monkey bars, but these climbing wall/ropes
were a good substitute.

Yes, we took a pic of the bathroom. But just look
at it!

Soon it was time for lunch, and we were meeting friends Bobbi Brook (and her daughter Evee) and Heather Hay at our usual spot, E-town in Edwards. Gregg was eating with his work buddies at the same place, so the kids had fun running back and forth between our booths, snitching tots from both tables. After lunch, it was naptime (for both kids - miracle!) again. And when they woke up, Gregg was done with work a little early, so we picked him up to join us for swimming. Then we got Domino's pizza (Blue Moose was closed for renovations, boo!), took it to a park (where else?) in Singletree and played and ate there. We drove around for a little while, and then headed back to the hotel for bed.

Park #10: Singletree neighborhood in Edwards, CO.

We had some good soccer time after dinner.

And then Cal naturified my hat while we were resting in the shade.

Just documenting our brilliant sleeping arrangements - I turned
the bedding sideways on one bed in the hotel since the kids don't
need as much length for sleeping, but they do wiggle and turn
so much that a little more width made it so they wouldn't fall off.
I think we all slept way better than ever on this trip because of it!
(Usually Sam and Cal sleep with either Gregg or me and we
have to push kid toes out of our sides all night long.)

On Saturday morning, after breakfast, we headed to our favorite hike in the valley, East Lake Creek Trail. We had to recreate the photo taken almost exactly 6 years earlier, when we attempted this hike with Callie for the first time . . . and it didn't go well. ;) The recreation almost didn't go well either, but Cal pulled through and we have a funny photo comparison to enjoy. She definitely likes hiking a lot more than she used to. She kept saying, "I just LOVE nature!" every few minutes along our hike. Also, every single stump we came across she asked to have her picture taken on. Where did she learn how to pose? Haha.

First attempt at the reshoot. Cal is not typically
a fan of "acting" so we had to do some
convincing.

I think she did pretty great. Haha.

Oh, how times have changed!

This hike starts out uphill but the kids did great!

Colorado Blue Columbine!

The first of many (many, many) stump poses.

I think this is lupine? But the leaves look different
than our Utah lupine, so I'm not totally sure...

I don't know what these little red and yellow
flowers were, but they were cool!

Seriously . . . where did she come up with all
these poses?

Dad was a good sport to carry both kids' water
packs, and then to pause for them to both
get drinks at the same time.

Ah! These aspens! My favorite!

Group shot at our turn around spot, about 1.25 miles in.

Strawberries maybe?

We hit up another park in Homestead (count is now at 11) and ate our Lark Burger lunch there. Then it was back to the hotel for naps. We planned to swim again after sleeping (this time it was Sam and Gregg that napped while Cal and I read), but I'd been texting with Heather Hay and we decided to meet up with her at Beaver Creek to ride the shuttle bus to the village to explore for a while with her. We played at another park, rode the escalators, and got free warm cookies! Then we hopped on the bus back down the mountain and got in our swim time for the day. Saturday evening we had leftovers in the hotel room, then ventured out to Vail again to try, yep, you guessed it, another park. The Red Sandstone Park is one we've never been to before, so it was fun to check out. The kids got out their bikes and rode up and down the bike path that runs right next to it. They even rode all the way up the road and across the freeway on the pedestrian bridge into Lionshead Village to play at the Sunbird Park one more time!

Cal discovered that during naptime if you sit
under the curtains in the corner of the room
you have enough light to read and draw
while brother and dad sleep.

Park #12: Beaver Creek Village in Avon, CO. This one
had monkey bars AND a zipline, which were both highly
used.

Escalator fun while we wait for the bus back to
the parking lot.

Pool time as a fam again!

Park #13: Red Sandstone Park in Vail, CO.

Biking over the pedestrian bridge.

There was a slope down the other side, so they opted to walk
their bikes down.

Back in Lionshead for our only repeat park experience.

The lilacs were blooming and smelled amazing!
(Also, the blossoms and leaves seemed extra
tiny to me on this bush.)

Biking back to the car at Red Sandstone Park.

One more slide before we go back to the hotel.

On Sunday, we took the long way to church through the Wildwood neighborhood up above Avon. It was so wonderful to be back in the Vail Ward with all our old friends. We even got asked to say the opening and closing prayers. haha. The kids loved primary with a small group of kids and we got to visit with so many amazing people. After church we changed clothes and hit the road, eating our premade sandwiches from the cooler in the car as we drove. We stopped in Dinosaur to stretch our legs (at a park), again in Roosevelt for dinner (at a park), and one more time in Heber to go potty and change into jammies (at a park). (For those of you counting, the total number of parks (not counting a repeat visit to Sunbird) we played on was 16!! Thirteen were in Colorado, and three were in Utah on the way there and back. That is definitely a record for us!) We were home by 9:00 and thus ended a marvelous workcation to our beloved Colorado.