Rocky Mountain High

Tonight is the last night of our Spring Break vacation in Colorado. I didn't realize it had been four years since we had last come out to visit my sister and see the mountains. It doesn't take long for everything to feel familiar to me, but I forget my family hasn't been here as often as I have. The kids were much younger the last time we were here and didn't share many of my memories.

So we made some new ones.

While the weather has been volatile, it still beats Chicago hands down where our home town has suffered an average of 32 degrees this week. The sun shines bright and often in Colorado and it has been a welcome relief on the colder days (40's) and downright balmy on the warmer ones (60's). Until this week, we hadn't worn shorts since last September and we have the pasty legs to prove it.

If you've never been to Colorado I highly recommend you visit. You begin to realize the semantics of words like "majestic" when you see the mountain terrain. And for those with faith, you see God revealed in His creation in ways you may never have known before.

We started the week out with a trip to Colorado Springs - hit the Air Force Academy for the first time in over 15 years and returned to the Garden of the Gods (although my kids call it the Garden of the One True God). My sister generously took the kids for several days and booked a cabin in Estes Park for Dan and I as a belated 20th anniversary present.

It was glorious.

We spent our first night having a quick meal at a Mexican restaurant on an open rooftop. We walked around the charming little town with all it's shops and had dinner in the famous Stanley Hotel our second night. On the third day my sister brought the kids up and we knocked around town some more and played games by the fire. Our final day there we drove around Rocky Mountain National Park and stopped to hike a bit at Sprague Lake and Bear Lake.

I had forgotten the last time we were here it was summer.

There was a LOT of snow in the mountains. Bear Lake was completely frozen. Soooo...we sort of let Ryan walk across the whole thing. I should have disclosed first that it was after we watched several adults do it and many people were right next to him the whole time. The girls made it quite a ways as well. That's one of those stories you tell the grandparents well after everyone is safely back on firm ground.

Our last day we hung out at the Denver Zoo and it was a perfect day - almost 60 degrees with all the animals out and a lot less walking than Brookfield.

Tomorrow we start the long road trip back. My prayer is that when we get back home we can maintain some of the slower pace, outdoor fun, and appreciation for God's creative power.