Well, I had planned to finish writing about our trip and eventually, I will. For now I'm dealing with a new twist on life, literally. Saturday I woke up with an achy back. I didn't think too much about it, figuring it would feel better by the afternoon. It didn't. In fact, it still didn't feel better Monday morning, so I called and talked to the consulting nurse and she said I needed to get it checked out.
So Tuesday morning I saw my doctor and he thinks that I pulled some muscles in my lower back (like a sprained ankle, but in your back). He gave me a muscle relaxer. I took the first one around 5 and thought it didn't really do much. By 9 my body felt like it was falling asleep without me, so I went to bed. I haven't slept so well for a long time. Now I'm scared to take one of those pills during the day (since I have Ian and Dilly to take care of). I promise I'll try to finish the stories from our trip soon, but for now, I need to rest.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Tales From our Trip: The Final Chapter- Almost
Well, I'd better finish this before I forget the details!
Day 7: Let me start by saying I think this was my favorite day of the whole trip. The whole day was orchestrated by God's hand, I'm certain of it.
This was originally going to be a day where Colin went on a huge hike with my brother and his family (we're talking at least 3 hrs. up a mountain), but Colin had been on so many hikes already that we decided we'd like to go back into Estes Park and play some Miniature Golf. I had spotted a place where it cost only $2.50 a game. Well, you get what you pay for. The place was pretty old. They took care of the real grass and the flowers, but the carpet for the golf was bumped up in places and it made the game a little harder than it should be!
We had fun anyway! It was sunny and warm and we could smell some yummy BBQ the whole time we played. The lady that was working at the golf place took a shine to Ian. She gave him some tips as we went along and laughed when Ian got super excited. We finally made it to the last hole, where we could win a free game if we made a hole in one. Rats, we all missed. Only, here came the lady, who kept giving Ian another golf ball to try again for the free game. She must have given him five balls. He missed every time. The man that worked there was started to get frustrated with the lady (me, too, I was hot and ready to go). The lady laughed and told us 'we never do this' as she gave Ian another ball. Finally, I just had to say it was time to go. Since it was lunchtime and we were hungry, we followed our noses to the BBQ place. Smokin' Dave's BBQ. Yum-um. I'd go there every week if it were near me. Delicious! Our food took a while to get (probably because none of us ordered the BBQ meat, we all ordered things that had to be cooked after we ordered). It was worth the wait, though. Colin had a Buffalo Stack (two buffalo burgers, sauteed mushrooms and onions, a special sauce, tomato..I can't remember what else, but I got a bite or two and it was super yummy). I had a grilled chicken sandwich and Ian had chicken strips. We all had fries, which they make there...yum again!
After the BBQ, we headed to downtown Estes Park so we could replace a toy for Ian. He had just purchased it the day before, but it had fallen and broke. We had purchased it at the Colorado Homestead Store, so we headed back there again. As soon as we got there, Ian announced he had to go to the bathroom. This meant walking all the way back past way we had parked our van. We quickly paid for the toy and Colin gave Ian a piggyback ride to the bathroom. I had opted to stay at the store, but soon realized I needed to find the bathroom soon, too. So I was about a half a block behind Colin and Ian. Not close enough to tell Colin I was right behind him or close enough for him to notice I was back there. I was close enough to see them go into the building before I got there. Of course, we completely missed each other, so I called Colin on his cellphone to see where he was. He started explaining where he was, then said something I couldn't understand and then said, 'just get over here!'
So I hurried over to where Colin was and was surprised to see who was with him. His cousin, Chris! Chris is from out here in Washington, but lately he's been in Mexico and New Mexico. I think he's been on an extended vacation. You never know where he is (he's also an MRI tech and travels with his job, filling in for 3 months at a time all over the US). Chris and his girlfriend, Linda had just gotten into Estes Park. They were staying at a hostel, but couldn't check in until 3, so they were exploring the town. I guess Linda had a friend getting married in Boulder the coming weekend. We talked to them a while and walked around. I took pictures to prove we really did run into each other over 1000 miles from home!
So now you can see why I said God orchestrated this day. We weren't supposed to be in Estes Park according to the plans we had made. Ian's toy broke or we probably wouldn't have gone downtown and everywhere we went, things took just a little longer than they should have and we didn't leave the cabin as early as we had wanted to!
Day 7: Let me start by saying I think this was my favorite day of the whole trip. The whole day was orchestrated by God's hand, I'm certain of it.
This was originally going to be a day where Colin went on a huge hike with my brother and his family (we're talking at least 3 hrs. up a mountain), but Colin had been on so many hikes already that we decided we'd like to go back into Estes Park and play some Miniature Golf. I had spotted a place where it cost only $2.50 a game. Well, you get what you pay for. The place was pretty old. They took care of the real grass and the flowers, but the carpet for the golf was bumped up in places and it made the game a little harder than it should be!
We had fun anyway! It was sunny and warm and we could smell some yummy BBQ the whole time we played. The lady that was working at the golf place took a shine to Ian. She gave him some tips as we went along and laughed when Ian got super excited. We finally made it to the last hole, where we could win a free game if we made a hole in one. Rats, we all missed. Only, here came the lady, who kept giving Ian another golf ball to try again for the free game. She must have given him five balls. He missed every time. The man that worked there was started to get frustrated with the lady (me, too, I was hot and ready to go). The lady laughed and told us 'we never do this' as she gave Ian another ball. Finally, I just had to say it was time to go. Since it was lunchtime and we were hungry, we followed our noses to the BBQ place. Smokin' Dave's BBQ. Yum-um. I'd go there every week if it were near me. Delicious! Our food took a while to get (probably because none of us ordered the BBQ meat, we all ordered things that had to be cooked after we ordered). It was worth the wait, though. Colin had a Buffalo Stack (two buffalo burgers, sauteed mushrooms and onions, a special sauce, tomato..I can't remember what else, but I got a bite or two and it was super yummy). I had a grilled chicken sandwich and Ian had chicken strips. We all had fries, which they make there...yum again!
After the BBQ, we headed to downtown Estes Park so we could replace a toy for Ian. He had just purchased it the day before, but it had fallen and broke. We had purchased it at the Colorado Homestead Store, so we headed back there again. As soon as we got there, Ian announced he had to go to the bathroom. This meant walking all the way back past way we had parked our van. We quickly paid for the toy and Colin gave Ian a piggyback ride to the bathroom. I had opted to stay at the store, but soon realized I needed to find the bathroom soon, too. So I was about a half a block behind Colin and Ian. Not close enough to tell Colin I was right behind him or close enough for him to notice I was back there. I was close enough to see them go into the building before I got there. Of course, we completely missed each other, so I called Colin on his cellphone to see where he was. He started explaining where he was, then said something I couldn't understand and then said, 'just get over here!'
So I hurried over to where Colin was and was surprised to see who was with him. His cousin, Chris! Chris is from out here in Washington, but lately he's been in Mexico and New Mexico. I think he's been on an extended vacation. You never know where he is (he's also an MRI tech and travels with his job, filling in for 3 months at a time all over the US). Chris and his girlfriend, Linda had just gotten into Estes Park. They were staying at a hostel, but couldn't check in until 3, so they were exploring the town. I guess Linda had a friend getting married in Boulder the coming weekend. We talked to them a while and walked around. I took pictures to prove we really did run into each other over 1000 miles from home!
So now you can see why I said God orchestrated this day. We weren't supposed to be in Estes Park according to the plans we had made. Ian's toy broke or we probably wouldn't have gone downtown and everywhere we went, things took just a little longer than they should have and we didn't leave the cabin as early as we had wanted to!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Tales From Our Trip Continued
So where was I? Oh yes, you were waiting with bated breath to hear about the next days of our trip.
Day 4: This was Sunday, so we had a little church service in our cabin. We sang songs, Bob read a story from the Bible and we prayed. Later we headed over to Wild Basin and hiked to a waterfall. A real waterfall, not a wimpy waterfall like what I hiked to in Hawaii. This one was very powerful and swift.
Day 5: Bob took us all into Rocky Mountain National Forest and drove us up Trail Ridge Road (okay, I'm pretty sure about the name of the road, but I could be off a little bit, just go with it for the sake of the story). I don't remember the exact elevation (perhaps because the altitude sickness kicked back in), but it was high. Well over 10,000 feet. I'm thinking close to 14,000, but I can't be sure. By the way, did you know altitude sickness can make you very cranky, besides feeling lightheaded, headachy and breathless?? We found out about the cranky very quickly. All 10 of us started getting cranky, so we decided it was time to head to a lower elevation. So we headed to Never Summer Ranch which is in a valley and we got out and hiked a half mile with the hot sun beating down on us. Ian started throwing a fit and I ended up forcing him to drink some water and even poured a little down his shirt (he had a sweatshirt on, which was way too hot for the area we were now in). I think he was getting heat exhaustion and dehydrated. He got very angry with me for getting his shirt wet, but within minutes of doing that, he completely calmed down and returned to being a happier boy. I, on the other hand, ended up with a very sunburned scalp. Should have been wearing a hat!
Day 6: We lay low for the morning. Played a few games and in the afternoon we headed into Estes Park to do the tourist thing. Walked around, shopped, got ice cream for the kiddos and some of the big kids, too. Colin, Ian and I saw some people walking around with old fashioned photos and we decided we had to do that. Colin and I had one done on our first anniversary when we were in Victoria, so we really wanted one that you could see Ian in (note, I did not say that we didn't have one without Ian, he was there, you just couldn't see him. I think I was almost 4 months pregnant when we had the first old fashioned photo taken!)
So Colin and Ian dressed up like guys from the old west and I got to put on a hat with some big feathers and an old fashioned dress. It was a hoot and we got a pretty neat picture for a souvenir.
I had wanted to play miniature golf when we finished shopping, but by the time we finished shopping, we were all tired and ready to head back to the cabin for some much needed rest.
Okay, that should hold you for a bit. I'll write more later.
Day 4: This was Sunday, so we had a little church service in our cabin. We sang songs, Bob read a story from the Bible and we prayed. Later we headed over to Wild Basin and hiked to a waterfall. A real waterfall, not a wimpy waterfall like what I hiked to in Hawaii. This one was very powerful and swift.
Day 5: Bob took us all into Rocky Mountain National Forest and drove us up Trail Ridge Road (okay, I'm pretty sure about the name of the road, but I could be off a little bit, just go with it for the sake of the story). I don't remember the exact elevation (perhaps because the altitude sickness kicked back in), but it was high. Well over 10,000 feet. I'm thinking close to 14,000, but I can't be sure. By the way, did you know altitude sickness can make you very cranky, besides feeling lightheaded, headachy and breathless?? We found out about the cranky very quickly. All 10 of us started getting cranky, so we decided it was time to head to a lower elevation. So we headed to Never Summer Ranch which is in a valley and we got out and hiked a half mile with the hot sun beating down on us. Ian started throwing a fit and I ended up forcing him to drink some water and even poured a little down his shirt (he had a sweatshirt on, which was way too hot for the area we were now in). I think he was getting heat exhaustion and dehydrated. He got very angry with me for getting his shirt wet, but within minutes of doing that, he completely calmed down and returned to being a happier boy. I, on the other hand, ended up with a very sunburned scalp. Should have been wearing a hat!
Day 6: We lay low for the morning. Played a few games and in the afternoon we headed into Estes Park to do the tourist thing. Walked around, shopped, got ice cream for the kiddos and some of the big kids, too. Colin, Ian and I saw some people walking around with old fashioned photos and we decided we had to do that. Colin and I had one done on our first anniversary when we were in Victoria, so we really wanted one that you could see Ian in (note, I did not say that we didn't have one without Ian, he was there, you just couldn't see him. I think I was almost 4 months pregnant when we had the first old fashioned photo taken!)
So Colin and Ian dressed up like guys from the old west and I got to put on a hat with some big feathers and an old fashioned dress. It was a hoot and we got a pretty neat picture for a souvenir.
I had wanted to play miniature golf when we finished shopping, but by the time we finished shopping, we were all tired and ready to head back to the cabin for some much needed rest.
Okay, that should hold you for a bit. I'll write more later.
The Cabin
Well, here's a photo of the cabin we stayed in. I know, it looks like a really big treehouse. It kind of felt like one, too. It had a whole lot of stairs, which would have been fine, except for the altitude. Sometimes, after climbing the stairs, I felt like the big, bad wolf. I was ready to huff and puff, but I probably didn't have enough air to blow your house down!
Other than the altitude combined with a bajillion stairs, it was absolutely wonderful staying in our rented treehouse!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Colorado? or Washington?
This is actually a picture of Mount Rainier (pronounced ray-near). I took this on our way home. I think there was actually more snow in the mountains here at home than there was in Colorado (and both of them had snow close to the same time in early June).
Tales From Our Trip
Well, it's been a while since I last posted anything. Just about two weeks, I think. Long enough to have had our vacation and be back to "normal". So here's a little synopsis of how our trip went.
Last day before vacation: I packed, packed, packed, trying to make-up lost time from getting sick. I was on an antibiotic and prednisone, so I didn't even get to sleep. I did blog and said we were leaving at 6 am in the morning if nothing happened, which something usually does happen to make us leave late.
Day 1: Something did happen to make us late! Colin had been opening and closing the doors on our van most of the evening before and early in the morning. I noticed a funny clicking noise and we realized we had a dead battery. AAA came at 7:30 am and jump started our battery so we could head out. We purchased a new battery for the van as the one we had was marginal at best and probably not what we wanted to rely on for a 3000 mile trip! God was watching out for us on that one. It was much easier to deal with at home rather than somewhere on the road.
After replacing the battery, we drove through Washington and Oregon. We stopped for dinner in Ontario, OR. I was ready to stop at this point, but Colin had reservations at a KOA in Twin Falls, Idaho (or just outside of it). So we drove on, with me muttering about getting a motel room sometime soon and could we just forget about the KOA? Well, no, we needed to get there. Colin was bound and determined to get us there. We got there, but by the time we got there it was 10:30 at night. Colin had forgotten that we crossed over into Mountain Time somewhere near the Idaho border. It was pitch black by the time we got to the KOA, Colin's eyes were bugging him after driving Idaho roads after dark (we will never do that again. Those roads need to restriped! You can't see the stripes on the highway and it's a curvy road and the speed limit is 75. Talk about scary!). We drove to our campsite only to find that it was beside a road in the campground. That would have been handy to access our site if two vehicles hadn't parked there completely blocking the road and the good access to our site. Since it was already 10:30 we couldn't really go and find the owners of the vehicles and ask them to move. Plus, somehow Colin had managed to bury the tent somewhere in the bottom of everything we packed. So I voiced the same idea I had voiced off and on since Ontario. Could we please find a motel? So Colin used the GPS that he had borrowed from his dad and started looking up motels in the area and calling them.
Motel # 1: Days Inn...completely booked.
Motel # 2: Best Western....$130 a night with a AAA discount...uuuhhh, no thank you.
Motel # 3: Holiday Inn Express...$107 a night with AAA discount....good-bye yard sale profit....hello sleep!
So we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. It was great! Nice room, nice beds, really good breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage gravy , biscuits, cinnamon rolls, juice....I'm not sure what other things they had, Colin brought my breakfast to me). I would go there again in a heartbeat!
By the way, we were driving for about 14 hrs. I never want to be in any vehicle for that long again, ever! I think 10 hrs. is pretty close to my max.
Day 2: We left Twin Falls after a quick stop at the mall for more things to plug into the DVD player and getting gas in the van at $3.85 a gallon. I wanted to stop at Shoshone Falls, but Colin couldn't find it. The GPS did one of it's many interesting things and led us out of town in a weird out of the way direction. I'm sure it was something Colin clicked on, but by the end of the trip I was telling the GPS it didn't know anything. I'll try to explain as it comes up. Let's just say for now, both times we were in Twin Falls it got Colin lost. Colin gets lost in Twin Falls no matter what. He did when we were there in 1999 and he did again this trip. Silly.
So this day we drove about 10 hrs. to Laramie, Wyoming. We saw huge energy windmills on the way, tons of them. By the time we reached Laramie, I was craving a steak because every third billboard had an advertisement for steak (it is cattle country). So after we checked in to the Comfort Inn, we went to a restaurant nearby called Wingers. They had good steak, but the service was pretty slow and they have the dumbest appetizer....popcorn. I am SOOOOO glad I was never a waitress at a place that serves popcorn for an appetizer. What a mess! Ian loved it! He did end up having to eat some of his popcorn off our freshly cleaned table as he started digging for the really yellow pieces and dumped a whole bunch on the table. After our yummy dinner we crashed in our motel room. What a long day!
Day 3: Time to finish the trip. We woke up and headed out of town (a weird way again thanks to the GPS. I know this GPS is a girl, it has a girl's voice and it likes to send us on the scenic route!). It only took us about 3 hrs. or so to get to Colorado. We met up with my family in Lyons, CO and followed them to the cabin. The cabin is at an elevation of 8000 feet. Hello altitude!
Okay, it's late. I will continue this later.
Last day before vacation: I packed, packed, packed, trying to make-up lost time from getting sick. I was on an antibiotic and prednisone, so I didn't even get to sleep. I did blog and said we were leaving at 6 am in the morning if nothing happened, which something usually does happen to make us leave late.
Day 1: Something did happen to make us late! Colin had been opening and closing the doors on our van most of the evening before and early in the morning. I noticed a funny clicking noise and we realized we had a dead battery. AAA came at 7:30 am and jump started our battery so we could head out. We purchased a new battery for the van as the one we had was marginal at best and probably not what we wanted to rely on for a 3000 mile trip! God was watching out for us on that one. It was much easier to deal with at home rather than somewhere on the road.
After replacing the battery, we drove through Washington and Oregon. We stopped for dinner in Ontario, OR. I was ready to stop at this point, but Colin had reservations at a KOA in Twin Falls, Idaho (or just outside of it). So we drove on, with me muttering about getting a motel room sometime soon and could we just forget about the KOA? Well, no, we needed to get there. Colin was bound and determined to get us there. We got there, but by the time we got there it was 10:30 at night. Colin had forgotten that we crossed over into Mountain Time somewhere near the Idaho border. It was pitch black by the time we got to the KOA, Colin's eyes were bugging him after driving Idaho roads after dark (we will never do that again. Those roads need to restriped! You can't see the stripes on the highway and it's a curvy road and the speed limit is 75. Talk about scary!). We drove to our campsite only to find that it was beside a road in the campground. That would have been handy to access our site if two vehicles hadn't parked there completely blocking the road and the good access to our site. Since it was already 10:30 we couldn't really go and find the owners of the vehicles and ask them to move. Plus, somehow Colin had managed to bury the tent somewhere in the bottom of everything we packed. So I voiced the same idea I had voiced off and on since Ontario. Could we please find a motel? So Colin used the GPS that he had borrowed from his dad and started looking up motels in the area and calling them.
Motel # 1: Days Inn...completely booked.
Motel # 2: Best Western....$130 a night with a AAA discount...uuuhhh, no thank you.
Motel # 3: Holiday Inn Express...$107 a night with AAA discount....good-bye yard sale profit....hello sleep!
So we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. It was great! Nice room, nice beds, really good breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage gravy , biscuits, cinnamon rolls, juice....I'm not sure what other things they had, Colin brought my breakfast to me). I would go there again in a heartbeat!
By the way, we were driving for about 14 hrs. I never want to be in any vehicle for that long again, ever! I think 10 hrs. is pretty close to my max.
Day 2: We left Twin Falls after a quick stop at the mall for more things to plug into the DVD player and getting gas in the van at $3.85 a gallon. I wanted to stop at Shoshone Falls, but Colin couldn't find it. The GPS did one of it's many interesting things and led us out of town in a weird out of the way direction. I'm sure it was something Colin clicked on, but by the end of the trip I was telling the GPS it didn't know anything. I'll try to explain as it comes up. Let's just say for now, both times we were in Twin Falls it got Colin lost. Colin gets lost in Twin Falls no matter what. He did when we were there in 1999 and he did again this trip. Silly.
So this day we drove about 10 hrs. to Laramie, Wyoming. We saw huge energy windmills on the way, tons of them. By the time we reached Laramie, I was craving a steak because every third billboard had an advertisement for steak (it is cattle country). So after we checked in to the Comfort Inn, we went to a restaurant nearby called Wingers. They had good steak, but the service was pretty slow and they have the dumbest appetizer....popcorn. I am SOOOOO glad I was never a waitress at a place that serves popcorn for an appetizer. What a mess! Ian loved it! He did end up having to eat some of his popcorn off our freshly cleaned table as he started digging for the really yellow pieces and dumped a whole bunch on the table. After our yummy dinner we crashed in our motel room. What a long day!
Day 3: Time to finish the trip. We woke up and headed out of town (a weird way again thanks to the GPS. I know this GPS is a girl, it has a girl's voice and it likes to send us on the scenic route!). It only took us about 3 hrs. or so to get to Colorado. We met up with my family in Lyons, CO and followed them to the cabin. The cabin is at an elevation of 8000 feet. Hello altitude!
Okay, it's late. I will continue this later.
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