The Blanch Herd: Back in Colorado

After our reunion in North Carolina with the Blanchards, we had a few extra days of our trip to spend in Colorado. Gregg was back at work, but the kids and I were still in vacay mode. On Monday morning (July 29th), Gregg walked next door from our hotel in Denver to meet with some of the folks in the office there. Cal and Sam and I swam in the pool at the hotel and packed up our room. When Gregg was done with his meetings there, around lunchtime, we snagged some lunch from Target across the street from the hotel, and then ate while we drove on I-70 up to Edwards.

We dropped him off at the office and first headed to the thrifty shop in Edwards. I wanted to see if they had any pants for the kids for the fall/winter. We lucked out with a handful of pairs for each of them, even in the tiny children's section (most of the clothes there are women's, but the kids stuff I do find is usually really nice since a lot of rich people are donating their stuff!). Then, I turned and looked at the bookshelves next to the pants. I couldn't believe how many great titles there were in the kids books section, and I ended up with a stack of 25 that were all 50 cents each! A lot of them were in near perfect condition, and I snatched up all I could (even duplicates of ones we already own, because they're so nice I can even give them as gifts, which is my favorite thing!).

Then I asked the kids where they wanted to go next, and their unanimous response was: "the library!" Haha! Don't have to pull my arm for that! We spent a couple hours there reading and playing with legos and puzzles. When Gregg was finished we picked him up and headed to Fiesta Jalisco in Avon for dinner. It was our third choice, but the other two taco places we had on our list were closed, so we went there. It was fabulous! Gregg said his shrimp tacos were possibly the best Mexican meal he's ever had! We checked into the hotel and hit the sack pretty soon afterward - we were SO tired after that long travel day the day before.

What happens when I am near a thrift store book
shelf! I can't help it!

Random poster at the library, but I thought
these solar ovens made out of pringles cans
were clever.

We thought we had been to every park in the
valley, but this was a new one for us in Eagle-
Vail after dinner.

On Tuesday (July 30th) morning, Gregg's coworker picked him up for work and the kids and I headed to Vail. We started at one end, in Ford Park, where we played on the playground, explored the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens (which were spectacular!), and checked out the new education center there (that we had seen last month, but didn't go in because it was closed when we were there). We crossed the covered bridge and worked our way to Pirate Ship Park, where we played for a little while longer. Then we kept walking, aiming for Sunbird Park in Lionshead, but never quite making it there, because as we walked past the library and noticed it was open, we decided to stop in to check it out. I have never before been inside the Vail Library, so this was fun for me (we're nerds, it's true). We got there in the middle of story time, but there were also paints set out on a table for kids to use (Cal was drawn there like a magnet) and train tables full of Thomas the Train engines and cars (Sam was there in a flash!). We spent a good while there but had to leave before they were really ready to part with the fun because we were meeting our friend Heather Hay at Moe's for lunch. That was delicious and fun and then we caught the bus back to Golden Peak Parking (with a pit stop in the ski museum on the way).

We got back to the hotel for naps, but had to get new keys for our room first because they expired early for some reason. Then it was time for swimming (mostly hot tubbing because the pool was a bit chilly with a breeze outside). And then it was time for dinner of leftovers and microwave mac 'n' cheese in our room. Gregg came back from work to hang out for a little while before heading out again to dinner with his work crew. The kids and I went to City Market for treats and watched slide show movies (from Cal's kindergarten year and from my grandparent's anniversary party) on the floor of the hotel room while we ate them until it was bedtime.

We loved these pretty flowers on our walk to
Ford Park.

Fleeces were necessary this chilly morning!

The Alpine Gardens were magnificent!

Saw this and it reminded me of my sister, so
I snapped a pic, naturally.

So many! So tiny!

These ones were wild.

A citizen science project that reminded me of my
mom, so I took a pic, naturally.

They were showing a documentary about the
dust bowl in the education center and this book
was on the table. Our library was also featuring a
dust bowl book, so now I feel like I need to read
up on it.

Now you know.

Pickleball mania in Vail!

Vail Library fun!

He was in heaven!

Hot tub time at our hotel.

Cal wrote her own postcards from our NC
trip (which we wrote in CO but didn't mail
till we were back to UT) and I think they're
adorable so I had to snap a pic, naturally.

Anyone want some cheese? I spotted this in the
City Market in Avon when we went treat shopping
and was shocked at the sticker price!

Wednesday morning (July 31st), we loaded up the room while Gregg headed to work (and had to replace our room key yet again because I somehow lost it between loads to the car and back! I've never had so many key problems in my life - and I haven't even mentioned losing my car keys in front of the Avon Library on Monday afternoon - I felt like I was losing my mind!). I really wanted to get on a hike, if even for a few minutes, before we hit the road, and I had my heart set on Stone Creek Trail in Eagle Vail. So we made it to the trailhead, but a few minutes into the hike, we started getting swarmed by mosquitoes. And then we started getting bit. We turned around after 7 minutes on the trail and ran back to the car. That was the end of the hiking for the trip. We played at Freedom Park in Edwards until Gregg was finished with his morning meetings. Then we hit the road and drove straight home, with only one stop in Dinosaur for potty and park time.

We pulled in the garage a few minutes before 7:00, started laundry right away and got to bed at a normal time. It was great to be home in our own beds after twelve days on the road, but at the same time, we probably could have done twelve more. I was amazed at how smoothly the traveling went! Our kids were troopers and we had an excellent time all around!