Boulder, Star Lighting and Ryan's Party

I had really wanted to go to Boulder since we had been in Denver.  I had heard a lot about it, and as well as being a university town, it was meant to be very pretty.  We are quickly running out of weekends, so a girlfriend and I, and Quinn headed over there midweek.  When the floods hit Denver in September, Boulder was one of the places hardest hit.  We were meant to have a day at Chautauqua park in Boulder, with CITEL - the group who organise the exchange, but it was all underwater, so we headed to this park to have a look.

There was a State parks office at the bottom of the trail, so we went in there, and Quinn had  a play with all the animal bones, skins, and we saw some of the types of wildlife which can be found in the park. It is also home to the 'Flatirons', a rock formation which you can see in the middle picture above, where people do a lot of rock climbing. It was a bit of a cold day, and we went for a bit of a hike, but I forgot how the altitude affects Jen, so we came back down again.  Quinn had a lovely time playing in the park, and Jen and I just relaxed and had a chat.  We decided to go for a drive up into the mountains, and had some lunch in town.  Jen took some pretty pictures of the town (the ones below). 

Since Ryan's birthday fell on the Friday of Thanksgiving break, we decided to have his party on the weekend before.  He wanted to have a soccer party, and go up to the park to play footy and soccer.  Unfortunately, it snowed during the week, so I was scanning the internet for games to play indoors!  They were a good group of boys, and with our 3, there were only 7 of them, so we survived, and I think they all had fun.  

Castle Rock is named after a big rock, which you can see from most parts of town.  It has a star up the top (along with the mandatory American flag!), and the star is lit up over Christmas. It was bright when we arrived, and there was a star 'lighting' ceremony downtown, in November.  There were lots of stalls, carollers, food stand, and heaps of people!  The roads were closed off, and the lighting of the star and fireworks were scheduled for 5.30pm.  It is getting dark by around 4.30pm, and it was really cold, but we braved it!

The star did look pretty all lit up, and the fireworks were fun.  It was a really good carnival atmosphere.  There was a rock climbing wall set up, and the boys wanted to have a go.  It was below zero, but that didn't deter them, and up they went with hats, gloves and the works! 

After the fireworks we were heading back to the car, but spotted a fire going on, on the side of the road.  It was a church group, and we decided to stop, and warm up.  They had smores, so we got our little plastic bag with a graham cracker, marshmallow and piece of Hershey's chocolate, toasted the marshmallow and everyone was happy!  They had a band playing rockin' Christmas carols too, so it was a bit of fun for a cold Saturday night. 





 

 



Roxborough State Park

The Sunday after Ryan's party was still cold and snowy, and everyone was going stir crazy inside. This, along with the fact that we didn't have long left of our exchanged encourage us to get out in the cold and explore a little more. We ended up at Roxborough State Park, which was close to a golf course Phil  played at, and was a fun afternoon to expend some energy.

It was very pretty with the snow still around, and along with the footy we saw wildlife, went for a walk. played a bit of footy and had some snowball fights!

 

 

 

Visit from the London Girls

We picked Lisa up from the airport on Sunday afternoon, on our way home from Cheyenne.  Lynda, Cilla and Fleur had spent the weekend in Las Vegas for a friend's birthday, and had hired a car, so they arrived Monday afternoon. 

On Monday, Clearsky Elementary had their Veteran's program, which was put on by Luke's 3rd Grade.  They did the Pledge of Allegiance, which they do every morning in class, hand on heart, pledging allegiance to the flag, sang the National Anthem, and about 10 other very patriotic, American songs.  You can see in the photos below, all the students had to wear red, white or blue.  Luke had a speaking part, to outline a song they sang - 'Where is the Peace?' which was written after 9/11.  He knew all his speech, but was nervous as he didn't know a lot of the songs very well, which most of the other students had been singing for years!  He did a great job, and they invited any parents, grandparents or friends who are either actively, or previously have served in the Navy, Army, Airforce or Special Services to get up and be recognised.  There were quite a few, and to be in the military is a really big deal over here, so it was nice to see all this on Rememberance Day.  In some of the other school districts, this day was a public holiday - just another example of the unity between schools in this country!  

 

 

We were hoping to get some skiing in while the girls were here, but as it is so early in the season, we weren't sure if there was even going to be any snow, so decided to leave arrangements until they arrived.  Vail was our first choice of destination, but it doesn't open until late in November, so it wasn't an option.  It was basically a choice between Keystone and Breckenridge, and although we are going to Breck as a family at Thanksgiving, it has more of a village than Keystone, and Cilla wasn't skiing, so that is how we decided.

We drove up Tuesday, and had a wander around the town, and a great lunch, where we could sit outside and see the beautiful mountains!

We had a lovely place to stay with a fire, and just had a good girly catch-up, drinking wine and a dip in the (outdoor) spa, even though the weather was freezing, it was lots of fun!  On Wednesday we got up to the slopes. It was great to be skiing again, but there were only a few runs open.  Lisa and I started out on the baby slopes, and had lots of fun trying different chairs, and runs.  Fleur and Lynda skied together for the morning, and we all met up for lunch.  Just before lunch, I took a run with Fleur and Lynda and did my first ever black run.  Pretty pleased with myself!  Cilla came up and met us for lunch, and in the afternoon, Lisa and Fleur decided to switch to snowboarding, and Lynda and I skied together.  By around 3pm it was getting pretty cold, and the shadows were coming over so it was quite icy on some of the runs, and we were done by around 4pm.  I drove back Wednesday night, and the girls stayed an extra night, and went out to see some of the Breck nightlife, although I think it was a bit early in the season for too much to be going on! On Thursday they had a look around Vail village, and called into Red Rocks, then back to ours.

We all went to the outlets on Friday, and managed to do a LOT of shopping!  Lynda had a friend who lives in Colorado to catch up with, and Lisa's cousin lives here, so they all came out to the outlets for lunch and they got to meet up.  Lynda flew back to Australia on Friday night, and Fleur, Cilla, Lisa and I headed into Denver to check it out. We went to Peaks Lounge, at the Hyatt, for drinks.  It is the highest bar in Denver, being on the 27th floor, and is just by the Denver Convention Centre, which is home to this Blue Bear, in the picture below, which is a Denver landmark!  It was a great view, nice to get out in the evening, and have a little wander around afterward - it was a bit cold to go too far!

Saturday, we went back to the outlets for some last minute shopping for the girls, while Phil took the boys to basketball.  Cilla and Fleur headed off Saturday afternoon, for their flight back to London. 

On Saturday evening, they had the lighting of this massive Christmas tree, at the outlets.  Since we had spent a lot of the last two days here, we decided to take Phil and the boys back to see what it was all about.  The lighting of the Christmas tree was pretty special, but they had a fair bit of hoopla (and store promotion, as you would expect) that we probably could have done without!  Still, it got us out of the house, and is only the start of the Christmas festivities that are around.

On Sunday, Phil headed up the slopes to Breck, with some friends of his for his first ski of the season; which was only fair, given he had given me a lot of the week 'off', to spend with my girlfriends! He had a great time, as there was fresh powder from snow falls on Friday and Saturday.  Lisa and I took the boys for a hike up to Castle Rock, which was nice, and good to wear off some of their energy.  We have been up a few time now, but is always a fun thing to do when people come to visit. 

Then Lisa was on the evening flight back to London, so it was another trip back to the airport, to say goodbye.   It was so nice to catch up with the girls, and we were able to pick up like we had seen each other last week; even though there have been a few children, partners, and moves from continents in between!

 

 

Four States in Three Days

Phil and I decided we should do another weekend away.  There is still so much that we would love to see, so decided to take a long weekend and head up to Mount Rushmore, with some scenic stop offs along the way!  We left on Thursday night, and it was about a four hour drive to Gering, in Nebraska, where we stayed the night. 

The next morning we got up, and visited Scotts Bluff, National Monument.  This was an important landmark, along the Oregon Trail, and Mormon Trail, which indicated the end of the Plains, and the beginning of the Rocky Mountains, as they travelled from the East to the West.  It is made up of a number of peaks, and is a pretty amazing piece of the landscape.

 

The Bluff they had to pass through

Covered wagon on the Oregon trail at Scott's Bluff

 

Scott's Bluff from the 'other' side

 We were up and out pretty early, so after a bit of a run around at the Bluff, we were back in the car for the 20 miles to Chimney Rock.  Along the way, you are well aware that you are in farming country.  It is very pretty, but flat and vast - apparently Nebraska is the most unpopulated state!  Took these photos of big tractors and irrigators for Rod and Craig, my brother and brother-in-law - thought you might appreciate these!

 

 



 Chimney Rock was another landmark that was used to navigate the way along the Oregon Trail.  It is over 90 metres above the surrounding valley, and has apparently shrunk over the years due to erosion, and lightening strikes.  There is a little museum which we went and had a look at, though we thought we were lucky visiting when it was cooler, as the rattlesnakes should not be a problem! (See the photo below).  There was a short film, and we learnt about the rock, and the early explorers who navigated their way across the country.  There was also a wagon that the boys (and Phil) could load up, and it was weighed, so they had to work out what was most important to carry for the journey.  It was fun, and educational too.

A little further along the road was a fun stop, which some friends had told us about, Carhenge (like Stonehenge - a little).   It was kind of like a graveyard for cars and trucks - a piece of art! It was really cold, but we got out and took photos, and had a run around.

Next we were heading to South Dakota, and Mount Rushmore.  It was a big day of driving, and being in the car, but we made it! 

Don't know if the bullet holes are a protest at the 'Great faces, Great Places' slogan?

We got to the monument in the afternoon, but driving through Keystone, which is the closest town to Mount Rushmore, it was like a ghost town!  You could see how busy it would be in the summer time, and there were lots of restaurants, souvenir shops and things to do, but most were closed down the weekend in November that we visited.  We were told at the height of summer, they could have over 15,000 visitors a day, so we weren't sorry to have missed that.



Mount Rushmore lit up at night

My Aussie four, in front of the American four

Another very important face!

The walkway to Mt Rushmore, with all the State flags

 

A resident at Mt Rushmore - a mountain goat

It was pretty amazing to see Mount Rushmore in person, after seeing it on TV and in books for years.  However, I did expect it to be bigger - and I heard a few other people make the same comment.  It was really interesting to go to the information centre though, and learn about how it was built!  It took 14 years to complete, but only 6 years were spent on actual carving (or blasting!) We saw a movie, and there were exhibits showing the sketches, the portraits in plaster, the tools they used, and information about the presidents.  The boys completed a Junior Ranger booklet, and got another badge for their collection.  We were almost back to the car when we realised Ryan had left his beanie in the gift shop, so we went back to collect that.  By the time we were all organised, the sun was going down, so decided to stay and get some night time shots.

We stayed the night in Keystone, and the next morning, we decided to visit Bear Country.

 

It is a wildlife park, which you drive through and see the animals, which are roaming free in their own habitat, over 200 acres.  There are fences, and animals are separated by cattle grids (except for the mountain lions, which are kept in a large enclosure.  Signs everywhere warn you not to get out of your car, open windows, doors or sunroofs, and to definitely not feed the animals.  We have not seen a lot of wildlife, apart from Bison, so decided this would be as good as it gets! And we were really pleased we did it.  As we drove through, we saw Dall Sheep, Reindeer, Arctic Wolves, Big Horn Sheep., Mountain Lion, Black Bears and Bison.  We also saw Elk, but couldn't find that picture! 

 

  Next we headed to Custer State Park.  We had heard it was very pretty, and had a Wildlife Loop Road, which we decided to do.  We saw lots of Bison,

 

and stopped at this lodge for some lunch, and a quick game of soccer.

 

On the way out of the park, we saw this great lake, and a little deer in the wild.

We drove, and spent the night in Cheyenne, Wyoming, so that we could wake up in the morning, and do some sightseeing.

This would have been a good idea, if it had of been any day other than Sunday.  The tourist attractions that did open, didn't open til 11am, and not even a lot of the shops were open for Sunday trade.  We still had a nice walk around the town, we went up to the Capitol Building, and checked out all the arty 'boots' which are displayed throughout the town.  We had a look through the biggest Wrangler store I have ever seen (the only Wrangler store I have ever seen, but it was big!)  which had absolutely everything that a cowgirl or cowboy could need.

 

 

and drove back to Denver.