Adventures in camping...

While John and Katie were out here visiting they wanted to go camping...so we headed down to southwestern Colorado to Eleven Mile State Park for the weekend.

Our tents...



The view...







We took a drive around the park and saw some animals and even made some friends!!!





We love buffalo...



They weren't interested in us...



Classic elk picture...



We got some camping visitors Saturday afternoon...Catherine, Mandy, Mischa and Ollie...



The girls...



We just look good after camping for 24 hours...



Buffalo burgers and s'mores...



Will the ninja (was cold even though it was only in the 50s at night)...



Obviously Katie and I were very serious about our s'mores...





The next day we took the scenic route home (not fun!)....here is John..."oh guys look at that mountain, can we stop and take a picture...(every 10 minutes!)...



Katie and I got tired of the boys so decided to hitch a ride home...no one picked us up...althought we didn't see civilization for like 30 minutes...



Will and John...



Katie and me after we ran up that mountain in the background...



We decided to take a different route back home so we could see more mountains and the countryside...big mistake. We ended up four-wheeling on a dirt road that was very bumpy and very long and popped a tire! Needless to say, we had a spare and changed it but it was a very, very stressful ride home! None of us really talked for the rest of our car ride (which was a couple of hours)...some pictures from the countryside...we didn't feel it was appropriate to take pictures where we had a flat...no one was feeling snap happy...















I've never been so glad to get home! We had a great time with John and Katie!! Next visitors the Goodsons...

Red Rocks & Brews...

The second night Katie and John were here we got tickets to go see Steve Miller Band at Red Rocks outside of Denver...it was awesome!

John, Will, and me tailgating in the parking lot before...



Steve Miller Band...



The venue...



Perfect weather, great seats, good friends...we had a great time! Hopefully we'll get to go see Allman Brothers there over Labor Day!

The next day, while Allison had to work, Will, John, and Katie took some brewery tours! (**Note: if you come visit us you are destined to take at least one brewery tour**)

The classic...



The not so great...



John and Katie...



The new...



John and Will enjoying a sample of beer...



Apparently, the spinning wheel made it the best brewery to visit...



So Al came home from work tired, and Will came home from his brewery tours with 2 more glasses!!!!
Then we went camping...

Utah News...

We heard on the news the other night that the famous Wall Arch had fallen in the Arches National Park, Moab, UT. We have actually been there and hiked in Devils Garden to see it....so we have the before picture...



Here is after it's fallen...



We thought it was pretty neat that we had seen it before it had fallen...it fell due to gravity and erosion...

Our visitors last week were friends from Raleigh John and Katie...



More pictures to come...Have a great day!

Crested Butte...

So here is where we went ice fishing back in March in Gunnison...



And here is the same spot in July with the same buoy...



We love that we've gotten several opportunities to see places in winter and summer...so pretty!
So after camping we got up on Sunday and drove up to Crested Butte to see what the town looked like. And to also find a special restaurant!
I watch "The Hills" on MTV and Heidi is from Crested Butte!!! They actually filmed down there last season, and her mom and step dad live there still, and they own a restaurant (which we had to find!)...



Unfortunately it wasn't open for lunch and kind of pricey, so I just had to settle for a picture. And Heidi wasn't in town so we didn't get to see her either...Will was bummed.

Some more pictures of Crested Butte...just the cutest mountain town ever! So small, and everyone rides their bikes around, surrounded by rolling green hills on one side and the mountain in the background...I love it!





We took a scenic route home up a dirt road that our fishing guide recommended...it was so pretty! We drove over the continental divide for maybe the 4th time!

The Collegiate Peaks...notice the clouds!



Taylor Reservoir...







Some other exciting news...we've become true Boulderites! We bought a new fuel-efficient car!



A Volkswagon Passat station wagon! (***Note: this does not in any way imply that we are having kids anytime soon...we just like the extra space in the car for all our stuff when we travel***).

They are so popular in Boulder, we had to go to another town about 45 minutes away to find one!

That's all from our camping trip...we had some friends come out and visit for about a week, so we'll put pictures up from their visit!

My favorite place...

This past weekend we decided to go camping again, just the two of us. So Friday night we headed back down to Gunnison to Blue Mesa Reservoir to go camping. I have officially decided that Gunnison and Crested Butte are my favorite places in Colorado! I am destined to live down there one day or at least have a house there!

We got there late Friday night and it was raining (rain=no camping) so we shacked at the local Holiday Inn and woke up fresh to find our camping spot. The spots weren't that big, but we had a beautiful view!





We were fly fishing later that afternoon so we had some time to kill after setting up our tent (and neither one of us felt that great, I had caught a cold from one of my kids), so we visiting Black Canyon Park. It was neat, kind of a mini-Grand Canyon.







We were able to go fly fishing with the same guide that took us ice fishing back in March! He took us to this very remote spot in a Nat'l Forest. One of the most beautiful and peaceful places I've ever seen.



We fished for brookies, and caught quite a few!



Fields of wildflowers...



Will and our guide...



Will...



I was most excited about wearing waders...



The fish we caught and kept...



The fish are still sitting in our freezer...we'll let you know how they end up tasting! We took a very scenic route home the next day with a stop in Crested Butte...more pictures to come!