Poco Mountain Girl

Last night we came home from our trip–a weekend in Vail, Colorado.  It was so much fun; far enough away to be a little road trip, but close enough to not be a tiring drive.  Vail is only an hour and a half from where we live, and the views along the way are amazing.

The mountains change so much along the way.  You would think you are in different parts of the world by the changes in color, shape, climate, and terrain.

We went through the Eisenhower Tunnel, which took us under the Continental Divide.  It was really cool to go right through those giant white mountains we have seen from a distance for so long.

It was also cool to see the rivers running in opposite directions on each side of the Divide.  On the east, they run east all the way to the Atlantic; on the west, they keep running west right to the Pacific.

Vail itself is breathtaking.  It’s a resort town in a valley (still 8100 ft. high) surrounded by massive mountains.  This weekend was peak season for the colors of the aspens, but off season for tourists (between summer and skiing), which was really nice.

We found a sweet hotel deal on Groupon, and among the millionaires strolling through the resorts, it was easy to spot our fellow coupon clippers and Groupon grippers (usually in sneakers and with a kid or two in tow).

We walked around Vail Village before dinner, and it was frigid outside.  None of us dressed for the cold, so we didn’t hang out there long.  (That cowboy is shivering under his stoic, heroic, rock-chiseled face.)

But the next day, kids and cowboy were thoroughly thawed and relaxing poolside.  It was bright and sunny, and although I’m not quite sure how it works, the pool had geothermic heating and the water was very warm.

I’m not much of a pool person, so I packed Cash in his front carrier and hit the trail that wound along the creek to the next resort area.  I have a hard time staying out of the woods for more than a day or two.

Earlier on Saturday, we drove to Eagle to a pumpkin patch fun day.  There were bouncy castles, pony rides, an “un-scary” haunted barn, face painting, pottery painting, a silent auction, bake sales, cotton candy, live music, and a doggy costume show.

Caleb and Zia each picked out a pumpkin–with a little direction from Senor Vaquero.

Zia spent most of the day bouncing from one castle to another.

She rode a horse named Rodeo and visited the un-scary haunted barn with Caleb, which she found very scary (and he said was not scary at all).

She also painted a little ceramic pumpkin and had her face painted.  She wanted one of the deathly gruesome face paintings, but a black cat or a bat is about my limit.

I think this hot doggy took the prize for the costume show.

Cash was happy swinging with his balloon.  He is just a tad like Winnie the Pooh sometimes.

Sunday we headed back home, our 4Runner crammed with our backpacks, two giant pumpkins, a week’s supply of groceries, and a little chimenea we picked up along the way.

At home, David made beef stew while I unpacked and washed diapers (we made it for 2 1/2 days without running out of clean ones–yippee!) and we built a fire to warm our cold little house.  It wasn’t long till we were snug and warm and slurping down stew.  They make good stew, those cowboys.

Hope your weekend was awesome!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 14th, 2013 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Colorado, Nature, The Great Outdoors, Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.