Our Colorado Trip

I don’t know when I’ll be able to actually put this on the blog, we haven’t had internet for a while, but I figured I would type it up now and post when I can. We are having so much fun on our “Tour of Colorado”, as I’ve been calling it. We spent the first two nights camping at Golden Gate State Park campground and it was so pretty there. One day we went on a 3 mile hike to Dude’s pond and then through the mountains, it was really pretty but there were a lot of bear warnings so I banged sticks together the whole time to try and scare them away. After our hike it was raining pretty bad so we drove down to Golden (the town) and ate and shopped around a little. Other than that we had perfect weather there. Lennon loved running around the camp and throwing all the rocks he could get his hands on. He thought it was funny to run away from our camp and have us chase him down the road and one day when he was doing that he tripped and fell flat on his mouth and nose. There was blood everywhere and he got a huge fat lip, it was so sad.

After we left the state park we drove up to Boulder and shopped, ate lunch, and played at the little splash pad for a minute. It had been 3 days since Lennon’s last bath and we figured the splash pad would do him some good. We really liked Boulder, there was a whole street closed off just for people to walk, shop, and eat. There were street performers and everything. Lennon’s favorite was the banjo player so we let him give the guy a dollar bill.

From Boulder we drove up to Estes Park, it was pretty cold up there and raining a bit so we decided to stay at a hotel for the night, it was good to give Lennon an actual bath and sleep in a real bed for a night. The hotel had a nice big indoor pool and we had a lot of fun. We woke up and went to breakfast for my birthday. The waitress gave Lennon a toy dinosaur to play with and he was the best he’s ever been at a restaurant. It was a really nice birthday morning.

 After breakfast we packed up and drove into Rocky Mountain National Park. We hiked to a really pretty waterfall, I’m pretty sure it was called Alluvial Falls. Lennon of course loved the hike, any time he can throw rocks he’s happy, especially when he can throw them into water. We took Old Fall River Road though the park. It’s a nine mile one way dirt road and it’s uphill the whole way. It climbs over 3500 feet in elevation, when you reach the very top you’re at 11,796 feet above sea level. The road itself was really pretty, there’s a guide you can buy at the beginning that tells you what to look for at each mile marker. Once we got to the top it was so windy and so cold. We climbed a bunch of stairs to the very highest point (12,005 ft) and took a picture then hurried back down to buy some hot chocolate at the visitor’s center.

We left the park and headed down towards Lake Granby looking for a place to camp. Every campground online showed that they were full (Labor Day weekend) but Kyle was certain that if we just asked we would find something. So we drove out to Arapaho Bay campground, which happened to be over 30 minutes off the main road, and saw that the campground sign said they were full. Kyle insisted on asking the host just to make sure, and we’re lucky he did. A campsite had just opened up because the campers decided to leave early. We ended up in one of the best sites in the campground. We were camped right on the lake.  It was pretty windy and rained a couple times while we were there but we still managed to have a lot of fun. We threw rocks in the lake and Kyle got in and swam a bit. One day when we were out for a drive we saw a fox right next to the road. It was so pretty. We drove to the little town of Grand Lake on our last morning there, it’s such a cute little town with wooden boardwalks down each side of the road in front of all the shops and restaurants. It reminded us of a mixture of Bandon, Oregon and Alaska. We smashed a penny and bought some fudge and then headed back to camp. It stopped raining just long enough for our tent to dry slightly and for us to get packed up.

We left Lake Granby and headed to Steamboat Springs. We stopped for lunch at a place called The Back Door Grill; they’re famous for their hamburgers. Kyle got a peanut butter, bacon, siracha burger and it was actually really good! Another burger they had was served with a fried egg, peanut butter, and a donut for a bun. I wasn’t sure what to think of all that so I just had a plain regular cheeseburger, it was good too.  From there we drove up to Steamboat Lake State Park and got a really pretty campsite right on the lake. We pretty much had the campground to ourselves, which is nice because Lennon loves to run in the road and into other people’s camps. He thinks everyone is his friend. We went on a nature walk around the lake and saw some bald eagles swoop down for fish, that was really cool. We drove back down to the town of Steamboat Springs one day and spent the day shopping, playing at the arcade, and eating ice cream. It started getting really cold at night while we were up there. We would wake up and our tent would be covered in frost and we would have to scrape the car windows! That’s when I decided we had better be done camping, so we headed home.

We drove straight home from Steamboat Springs and got home at about 9pm. It feels so good to be back in Utah. We loved our summer adventures and our fun week long camping trip but it’s nice to be back home with family and friends.

Sorry for the picture overload, we saw so many pretty things on our trip it was hard to only pick a few. 

Golden Gate Canyon State Park 

Golden Gate Canyon State Park 

Golden Gate Canyon State Park 

Lennon with his fat lip after his fall.

A Catholic church we saw on our way to Estes Park

The beginning of Old Fall River Road

Hiking to the top of Rocky Mountain National Park 

Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park

Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park

Our campsite at Lake Granby

Lake Granby

Steamboat Lake. Our nature walk.

Steamboat Lake 

Steamboat Lake 

Lennon and Kyle at Steamboat Lake 

Kyle's Gourmet Hamburger

Headed home!!

I have a bunch of pictures of Forest Park in St. Louis that I wanted to post but that will have to wait, the pictures are on my computer and we're on the road! We're finally making our way home! It's currently just after 4am and we have been on the road for eight and a half hours. I never thought I would find myself driving through the night (sleeping while Kyle drives) but Lennon has been asleep for over 6 hours and it's really just so much easier for us and him. Plus, there's no better time to be driving through Kansas and eastern Colorado than in the middle of the night, there's absolutely nothing to see besides fields and truck stops. We're driving to Golden Gate Canyon State Park in Colorado. We're planning to camp there for a couple nights and then maybe head to Steamboat Springs for a couple nights before we make it back to Utah. It's my birthday weekend so we're just doing whatever we want! :) 

St. Louis

Greetings from Eureka, Missouri! (St. Louis area) We have had a crazy couple of weeks; we made an unplanned trip to Utah, and then flew out to St. Louis where we are now going to be living for the next few weeks. We have only been here for a few days but we like it so far. The only bad thing is the water. It's disgusting, like I can't even brush my teeth with it. It's kind of thick and slimy tasting, barf! So we are keeping the fridge full of bottled water. The weather is crazy too

, yesterday it was cool enough that we wore jackets all day but Sunday it was so hot and humid we couldn’t go outside. We left the Subaru back home so the stroller is me and Lennon’s main form of transportation these days. Luckily there is a park, grocery store, and ice cream shop within walking distance. What more could we need. The park is one of the nicest parks I’ve been to, it’s really new and big and Lennon loves it. There are a lot of things we are excited to do and explore with our time here; I almost wish we could stay a little longer to be able to see it all. The zoo and a few museums are free, they are all pretty close together and there is a trolley that runs all day between them. It’s only $2 for a day pass on the trolley and it stops at about 8 different places so I’m thinking that might be what we do this weekend. We already tried to go to the zoo on Sunday but as I mentioned, it was such a hot muggy day and we couldn’t stand to be out, neither could the animals. The only animal we actually saw was an elephant. So we’ll give that one another try earlier in the day. We went to Ted Drewe’s Frozen Custard. Several people told us it was the one place we just had to go to. It was seriously AMAZING! I can see why so many people love it.

The park

Our apartment

Ted Drewe's Frozen Custard

Next door to us, and so good.

The only animal we saw at the zoo.

Our one night camping trip

Last week I decided that I was tired of being so far away from Kyle all the time so I had this wonderful idea that Lennon and I would take the tent and go camping near Columbus. That way we could have ourselves a little vacation and also be close enough that Kyle could stay with us at night. So I quickly packed up and we drove 2 hours to Alum Creek State Park. When you go camping in Utah you pack sweatshirts and warm things to wear at night because it gets cold, so I packed the same way. What I didn't think about is the fact that we weren't going to be camping in the cool mountain air, we were going to be camping in the hot muggy summer heat. There are no mountains here! It was unbearably hot. So, we swam in the lake as much as possible to stay cool and Lennon slept in nothing but a diaper. The campground was really pretty and actually pretty big, they had over 400 campsites, and tons of activities around the place. Luckily the morning turned out to be a little cooler. We got to spend a couple hours with Kyle before he had to work. We played disc golf, had a picnic, and swam in the lake before packing back up and driving back home. I had originally reserved our spot for two nights but they were nice enough to give me my money back for the 2nd night. Luckily the heat didn't seem to bother Lennon one bit, he was happy as could be the entire time. He loved playing with the rocks and dirt and driving his trucks around camp. 

Historical Tour

We had a sunny weekend! Hooray! Cleveland offers free historical tours. They are offered almost every day of the week, each one in a different part of town. I’ve wanted to go for a while but I didn’t dare take Lennon alone because I thought he might be too wild, he loves going for walks but he gets antsy whenever we stop. So, Sunday turned out to be great weather and Kyle was home so we went! I’ll tell you all the neat facts I learned but just a warning, there will be holes in my story. Kyle and I had to take turns listening. Every time we would stop Lennon wanted to get out and run around, swing from the weeping willow, blow bubbles with another little boy on the tour, things like that… He wasn’t at all interested in listening to the guide.

The tour started at Settler’s Landing which, as you might guess, is where the settlers landed! It’s right on the Cuyahoga River (and it’s also where we spent the 4th of July). When the settlers first got there they had an agreement with the Indians, white settlers could have the east side of the river and they wouldn’t be bothered, but the Indians got to keep the west side of the river. A woman dressed in pioneer clothes came and talked to us pretending to be the wife of the first mayor of Cleveland and told us all about settling the town and the struggles they had.  We walked around and learned about the Erie Canal and how it was dug by hand mostly by German and Irish immigrants who ended up settling in the area and had a big impact on the way of life in Cleveland. The canal was used to transport freight and people. All of the boats were large and flat bottom, the canal was 14 feet wide but only 4 feet deep. The freight boats were pulled along the canal by mules and the passenger boats were pulled by horse. They walked along the tow path, part of which became a rail line later on. Now the majority of the tow path is a bike/running path, which we walked along at the Cuyahoga National Park. The guide showed us some historic buildings around the area and gave the history. One of the buildings was an old Irish Pub called the Flat Iron, it opened in 1910 and still serves many of the original menu items. When the tour ended they gave us a coupon so of course we had to go. I got a Lake Erie Perch sandwich and it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten. This area is also famous for Pierogies, something I had never even heard of until we moved here. We got an order of those and they were AMAZING. Little bread things filled with mashed potatoes and topped with cheese and onions… So good. It was really the best day we’ve had in a while, we are starting to really like Cleveland, the more we learn about it. 

Flat Iron (opened in 1910)

Old B&O train bridge. Stuck open, now called the jack knife

Murals of the Erie Canal being dug

Memorial for the people who lost their lives to the Irish famine

Lennon loved the weeping willow

This wasn't part of our tour, just a place near our house. 

A little bit of sunshine

The last couple weeks have been pretty boring for old Lennon. His buddy, Brixton and his mom went back home to Utah. So now I'm his only friend. I think I'm a pretty fun friend but he's getting bored with me. Kyle is working in Columbus still and comes home every 2 or 3 nights. It's hard but we FaceTime a lot and Lennon thinks that's pretty neat. Every time the phone rings he smiles and says "hi dadda!" I've been trying to keep him busy with story time at the library and trips to the park. It still rains a ton so whenever there's a sunny day we run down to the pool and take advantage of the warmth. Sunday morning we actually had a couple hours of sun so we drove up to Lakewood park, it over looks Lake Erie and has a great view of the city. That park is actually the spot where the Underground Railroad ended. People would wait on the shore there for boats to take them into Canada. After that we drove a couple miles up the road to Rocky River. It's a cute little town with shops and access to the beach. We played in the sand and water as long as we could before the rain started coming down. Lennon had so much fun carrying buckets of water back and forth to a sand castle we were building, it was really cute. 

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center

Today we drove to Bay Village and went to the Nature and Science center. They had turtles, fish, birds, rabbits, bees, and all kinds of other animals to see. Lennon loved running between the exhibits looking at everything but the bees were his favorite. They had them in a glass case so you could watch them swarm around. He also liked the rabbits and laughed watching them eat their lettuce. 

After the Nature center we had a picnic at the park, or attempted to have a picnic I should say. Lennon does not stay in one place. By the time I had our blanket and food set out he had already discovered a group of singing daycare kids and was on his way to hang out with them. It was all I could do to get him to sit and eat his lunch without wandering off. I need to get him a leash... We're so happy to finally be having some nice weather and be able to do things outside again!