Colorado Vacation. July 10-11, 2012. Keystone & Dillon, Colorado.

We're nearing the end of our Colorado vacation pictures, and I'm sure some of you are sad. Yeah, right. You're probably like, "Um, move on, already! If you have seen one mountain, you've seen them all." In the end, I would love to have a large following of readers, but this is mainly our family archive. It wouldn't be fair to our memories if I shoved off our last few days in Colorado, so more pictures for today. At least it gives me a lot of blog material other than, "Here we are sitting around our house doing laundry." For that, you should be thankful. =)

The last few days in Colorado did not go quite as planned. We planned on heading back to RMNP, and we also wanted to see Great Dunes National Park.

However, traveling with a wee companion means making changes and allowances.

Micah just wasn't up for three hour car rides (ONE WAY) to exotic destinations so Mommy & Daddy could check off their "I've been there" on the travel list. So what did we do instead? We spent the rest of the time at or around our condo, walking on the fifty-five miles of paved bike trails, hiking near the ski resort, taking Micah to playgrounds, and watching local wildlife.

  

Micah got a nap every day in the condo, and we cooked a lot of our own food. We walked for hours on end following the coast of Lake Dillon. Mommy & Daddy enjoyed a lot of time to just talk, and it was wonderfully relaxing.

 

Our family has definitely evolved from "hotel living" to staying in condos and cabins on vacation. Or, at least, I like having our own kitchen.

 

 We took Micah to the local playground which was amazing! There were three playground sets, and I'm sorry...didn't take pictures of all of them. However, this little set was just Micah-sized! He could climb up on it by himself (with me following him, of course!). He could slide down the little slide alone.

 

 And who could argue with the view the parents got as the toddler ran off his energy?

 

 He especially likes "driving" these days, and I tell you...he's all boy!

 

 

 I think that playground was his favorite thing as he totally had a meltdown yelling, "No! NO! NOOOOO!" when it was time to go.

 

 I'm still convinced that if you want some Rocky Mountains, our last part of the trip wasn't as scenic as the beginning, but it was kid friendly!

 

 

 When we finally did tear him away from the playground amidst the largest temper tantrum known to man, we finally headed on another walk.

 

 It was Mr. C's idea to not strap Micah in (again!) so we could escape the scene of the temper tantrum with as little stares as possible.

 

 He quickly saw why this was a bad idea. Observe Micah trying to climb out of the seat to run back to the playground in the picture below.  So Micah was strapped into his stroller once again. We heard more, "No, NO, NOOOOO!" at this, but at least we were away from the crowds.

  

 

 One day we went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Dillon. Despite it's wonderful decor, the Mexican food was awful! It had zero flavor or seasoning. Disgusting.

 

 Food was a sore topic for us on this trip, and we would agonize over going out to eat. Then Mr. C would pick a restaurant, it was never good, and our money was wasted.

   

   Finally, by the end of the week we found a pizza place in our ski village that had awesome everything related to pasta. That's blog talk for we went there three times out of desperation.

 There was a river right outside our door at the condo, so the last couple of days often involved a "river walk" right down the stairs.

 Micah is in love with water, so we let him get in it. He was shocked at how cold it was to his little feet!!

I have to tell ya, I could so live in one of these walkable communities. I'd love to live somewhere that had nature at my doorstep, but I could walk to a Starbucks, a grocery story, or the pizza place. I'm definitely missing that at home this week!

We tried our hands at taking some family photos (as you can see above), and Micah enjoyed getting into the water.

 

However, when he had to get out of the water we got a lot of faces like this followed by the, "No, NO, NOOOOO!"

 

I'm currently working on some discipline techniques, and Mr. C thinks I'm crazy but I've started putting him in time out at home. He cries a bit, and he stays in his crib for about one minute. It actually seems to work.

 

This was the view of "our" river at our condo.

After allowing Micah to take his naps (while Mama watched HGTV and did limited laundry in the condo washroom--my how thankful I am for my own laundry in my kitchen after that trip!!), we'd eat dinner at the pizza place or on our patio. Then we'd head out for some nighttime walks and hikes. I'm firmly convinced if I could exercise like we did on this trip, I'd already be at my goal weight.

This little pond was about two miles away from our condo. We actually drove to the pond so we could walk in either direction. I was dressed in my "its the end of the vacation so I have nothing good or cute left to wear" clothes. Still, I think this turned out to be one of my favorite family shots despite my looking like a hobo. And I'm representing Union! Go, Bulldogs! =)

We got a big shock when we saw a beaver and her babies! It was just presh!! There was a native Coloradan (??) who was at the pond watching the beavers with her daughters. She said most people up there don't get to see a beaver. It's kind of their mystical state animal because during the gold rush so many beavers were shot and killed for their pelts leaving the state to be overrun by nutria instead.

 

 That was neat to get a bit of Colorado history from a native. She was very nice, but I can't even remember her name for the life of me! That's sad, I know.

We were sad that it was our last evening in Colorado, but our boy was getting tired of driving. Micah was also tired of sitting in strollers. It seemed no amounts of playgrounds could cure that illness. I hated to leave the seventy degree weather, the scenery, and the aimless trail walking for hours each day. Mr. C was ready to get home because he was tired of driving. I can understand that. We put 1,000 miles on that Honda Civic!

Well, my friends, that is basically the end of our Colorado pictures. I hope you have enjoyed them, and I haven't bored you to tears too much. We had the most awesome, fabulous, fun time, and I wouldn't let traveling with a small one keep you from flying. 

I'll save our funny flying story for another post, but overall, Micah did awesome! 

Happy 2012 Confident Family Vacation!