Colorado in May

OK, I'm going to try and keep this post reasonable, but you guys, I have like, a thousand pictures to weed trough!! The blessing and curse of digital photography...

We just spent what felt like a very quick week out in Colorado. The first half of the trip centered around Fort Collins and Jon's MBA graduation at Colorado State University. For the second half of the trip, we stayed in Estes Park so that we could explore Rocky Mountain National Park. Both towns were fantastic in their own way and RMNP was beautiful, however it was still partially closed due to continuing winter conditions at high elevations. Guess I'll just have to make plans to come back in the summer some time soon!

I'm looking forward to the day when flying with kids involves less STUFF!

Probably the girls favorite thing about Fort Collins...the hotel pool.

Horsetooth Reservoir, just outside of Fort Collins. How amazing would it be to have access to this just minutes away from your backyard?!

 

Saturday was graduation day! We are so proud of this guy and so glad he has his free time back!!

 

Where's Waldo?

We spent some time exploring Fort Collins; especially campus, Old Town and several of the breweries. It's such a cool town, kind of reminds me a bit of Nashville in ways.

My little street artists.

We headed up to Estes Park on Sunday after graduation. We had clear skies and amazing mountain views for the first day and a half, then the clouds rolled in and stayed for the duration of our trip. Spring turned back into winter, but sitting in the hot tub at our cabin, watching the snow fall and elk play in the hills, I didn't mind one bit.

Seriously, the view driving into Estes Park...this photo doesn't even remotely do it justice. It was stunning.

The view from our cabin, straight into RMNP!

 

We wasted no time and headed into the park on our first day. I'm so glad that we did as it turned out to be one of our only clear sky days!

One of our first trail stops was Sprague Lake. Sydney absolutely loved "hiking" and wanted to climb every single rock she saw. "Mom, how about we take my picture up on that rock?!" Girl knows how to work me! :)

Sneak snowball attack!

Our next stop was Bear Lake. The elevation was higher, so much of the trail was still snow packed.

On day two of Rocky Mountain National Park, we explored the Horseshoe Park and Fall River areas and went as far as we could up Trail Ridge Road.

Climbing elevation (Trail Ridge Road) and clouds rolling in.

I'm sure the view would have been spectacular if we could have seen it! :)

Back at the cabin...the snow began to fall.

On our last day, we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow and traveled down Rte. 7 and made some stops to explore Lily Lake, Twin Sisters Peak, Chapel on the Rock, and the Wild Basin area.

I'm so glad we got to go out to Colorado and make Jon's graduation such a memorable event. It was nice to have family around to celebrate and for the girls to spend extended time with some of their grandparents and Uncle Jeff!

Back home now, to less scenic views, but much warmer temps!