Last week we headed out on our first big family ROADTRIP! Destination: Colorado to meet up with Daniel's family to spend the week at Mt. Elbert Lodge. Mt Elbert is the highest peak in the continental US and the lodge sits at the base at over 10,000 ft in elevation! It's pretty remote - no cell phone service, about 45 mins from the "largest" town, Buena Vista. I was really worried about the almost 20hr drive. And yes, there were some stressful moments in the car, but the little ones did pretty good all things considered! (Thanks to the DVD player & lots of snacks!) Ryder had no idea what was going on, but we told him we were going to the mountains and when we told him who all was going to be there he said, "Yay! A party in the Mountians!" So off we went... to the party...
Day one we drove from Austin to Albuquerque (about 12 hours!) and only stopped 3 times!!! It's been a long time since either of us have driven through west Texas and we were shocked & amazed by all the crazy windmill farms! It's nuts. They come out of no where and this picture does not even do justice. These things are massive standing at 300 feet and go on for miles & miles - there are literally thousands of them. I felt like I was driving into a scary movie or something.
From the moment he woke up at 6am Ryder did not close his eyes ONCE until he went to bed in the hotel after 10pm! This was their first hotel stay and he was a little confused (he thought we were moving in - which judging from all our stuff anyone would think that). On our way back from dinner he pointed at the hotel and said, "We're HOME!" :) We were pleaseantly surprised to find the hotel located in a cool area with shops, restaraunts and a Trader Joes!
Ryder settling in nicely to his digs for the night...
The next morning we took our time, walked around and then were CO bound! We stopped through Santa Fe on the way and had a little picnic and walked around downtown.
By the time we made all of our stops and wondered through the mountians to the lodge it was kinda late, completely dark, and drizzling rain. We were glad to get settled in with all the family and the next morning we woke up to this.
The view from the porch.
And TONS of hummingbirds everywhere! I've never seen anything like it.
Our lodge:
The first thing Ryder did proved to be his favorite thing about the whole trip - throwing rocks in the creek! He would wake up saying, "I go to the freek and frow rocks!" Daniel took him down that first morning and this is what I found when I arrived.
Grandpa came to get in on the action. Check out his walking stick grandpa made him!
In the afternoon while the boys slept Paisley & I took a little walk and ended up napping on the porch.
And that's just the start to the week...
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