Summer vacation Rocky Mountains National Park July 7 - 13, 2019

Summer vacation Rocky Mountains National Park July 7 - 13, 2019

Sunday:

We opted to start before dawn, 4am. I went on a 2:30 AM 6 mile run before we hit the road. Our drive to Estes Park was around 15 hours. Fortunately we gained an hour. Our goal was to make it there with as few stops as possible. We brought Noelle's friend Claire with us this year. She feels like part of the family. James and dad spent a good part of the drive working on Military academy applications, Noelle and Claire read "The Boxcar Children" to Greta, and I listened to biohacking pods casts from "bullet proof radio" and "Goop". We got the tired sillies the final 2 hours. We arrived around 6pm. Our VRBO is a log cabin style home that sits on the Eastern side of Rocky Mountains National Park. Fortunately is has the perfect set up for us. The teenage girls shared a room, James got his own room and Fuzzy slept on a pullout in our master room. Our backyard leads up a mountain with a cave inviting our exploring, we didn't start the explorating just yet. Once to Estes we found ourselves a pizza Joint downtown for dinner. Afterwards Matt and I got our groceries at Safeway while the teenagers and Fuzzy broused the downtown shops and found amazing Whiskey flavored ice cream. We didn't stay up too late this evening.

Monday:

This morning I went for a run downtown It was a chilly run before the sun made it's way over the mountain tops. I paralleled the river that makes it's way through downtown. Once back we headed to Colorado Springs for our tour of the Air Force Academy. James is applying to all the academies. This was our first academy tour. Unfortunately there was a funeral of a young future cadet, only 20 years old. He went missing last November after he decided to hike into the mountains with extremes wind chills and freezing temperatures. He attempted climbing to high altitudes, alone and wearing minimal warm gear. His remains were actually found on the trail we ended up hiking backcountry just a week before our trip. How sad. As the funeral finished up we were able to explore the famous cathedral on campus. It's interior is nothing like I've seen before...beautiful with multicolored stained glass. The outside it shaped like a triangle. We were able to get a sneak peek of some future cadets partaking in a group exercise of team work, attempting to lower a hula hoop to the ground using only one finger per cadet and lowering it down as a team. I think our visit was helpful...assuring James he could see himself here if accepted. It certainly increased his motivation to work on academy applications. For much of the trip, any time there was a break in activity, James and Matt would work on applications and essays. We next went to lunch at a Smokehouse in Colorado Springs and then made our way to downtown Denver. We really didn't have much of an agenda here. We found ourselves a street to meander down that angles off from the state capital. We window shopped and took photos in front of the artistic graffiti alleyway walls. Our adventurous spirts found "Lime scooters" and took turns cruising around. The orthopedic PA in me secreted crosses my fingers none of use would end up with a broken bone. We somehow managed to avoid injury. After getting our Denver fix we headed back to Estes Park. The girls and I explored the backyard cave and climbed a quarter of the way up the mountain. Afterwards, we had dinner in. Afterwards, the girls and I went downtown for some soulvineer shopping. Once back to our place we had our ice cream fix and Jil & Greta hit the sack. The teenagers stayed up later chatting away on the top of the cave in our backyard...probably solving world problems. Or maybe just snap chatting....

Tuesday:

This morning I was able to run in daylight! I did my usual 6 miles, out and back. We let the kids sleep in this morning while Matt and I went to pick up our backcoountry permits and bear boxes. With ants in our pants we decided to take advantage of early vacation energy and made the decision to start the backcountry adventure. I reserved 3 night. At this point in time I figured we'd plan to do all 3, but could always come out if something arose. After packing up all our gear we headed into the park and parked at the park and ride. We hoped on a shuttle and took it to Sprague Lake. From there we started our 3 mile, 1400 foot elevation gain hike up Boulder Creek trail. As the name describes...our trek crossed the creek 4 times. Fortunately we didn't have to do creek crossings in the water. I was a little suspicious how this adventure would go when 1/4 mile in Greta was complaining she was tired and didn't want to carry her back back. I stayed behind with her much of our trek and told endless stories to keep her entertained. We also ended up carrying her backpack to lessen the burden on the 7 year old frame. What I failed to equate into our adventure was how altitude was going to effect us. Not only were our hearts beating faster, lungs working harder, but also our need for liquids went up. We physically had enough but I don't think anyone of us drank what we should have. The headaches, chapped lips, ravenous sense of hunger (which actually was dehydration), and insomnia hit us pretty hard. Thank goodness we pulled each other through to the top. Noelle even made up a song about hiking...with a sacrcastic theme knocking the activity. Once to our campsite we were all elated or maybe it was euphoria from exhaustion and dehydration. We set up our 3 tents and had ourselves snacks before pulling out dinner. Our weather conditions during the day for hiking couldn't have been nicer. We all hiked in shorts and t-shirts and in the night...that was a different story. I actually enjoyed the mid 40's for sleeping, I think the rest of the family would beg to differ. Dinner for us this evening consisted of rice and spam, chicken, peanut butter and honey tortillas. Poor Matt was our chef. Cooking individual meals for each person may fly at home...however backcountry we probably should have chosen one meal to simplify life. Our meals were topped off with trail mix and pop tarts. After dinner we did dishes in the stream and all made our ways to our sleeping bags as the sun was setting. Poor Greta got a pretty bad headache. I was able to change to tears into laughter after putting on a puppet show in our tent. Meanwhile the girls watched movies on their phones and Matt and James talked man talk sharing their "couple Matt". I don't believe any of us slept too well this evening. All but maybe Greta. I know my insomnia was because of dehydration. The rest of the crew probably didn't sleep due to light from the stars and early sun rising. Greta & I played it right by sleeping with our fly on to keel light out. Well....none of us saw bear...but who knows they were probably close by.

Wednesday: This sun woke us pretty early this morning. Fortunately our bear boxes 1/8 mile away looked untouched. We had breakfast consisting of oatmeal, pop tarts, epic jerky bars, fruit bars, and coffee. After our final stream dishwashing experience we packed up our gear and started our 1400 foot decent to the trail head. The trek seemed so easy compared to the day before. James was either full of energy or in need of getting down quickly because we saw him all of twice in the decent. Once down we hoped on our shuttle back to our car and let out the happiest remarks...knowing our once planned 3 day backcountry has been changed to one day. We all fought over who got first dibs on showers and toilets. Except for myself who managed to fit in a midday run. After showering up we ate lunch in and decided to drive the Trail Ridge road. It is the northern stretch of highway that goes above and around the tallest Rocky Mountains. The views were spectacular! We got out several times along the way to get some photos...not only of us but also of the wildlife. James happily sat in the car as we did the tourist thing. Our adventure met its half way point at the visitors center at the highest altitude...around 12,000 feet. It made sense Greta suffers from altitude sickness, given she was at her worst here. Fortunately she didn't vomit...but she had many of the other signs....lethargy, stomach cramping, heachache, and loss of appetite. We made our way back to our VRBO, changed into fancy clothes and went to a Mexican restaurant downtown Estes. Claire had us all laughing this evening....trying to interpret the menu...and trying to find something suitable to her American palate. She settled with bacon stuffed butterfly shrimp. After dinner we let the kids stroll around downtown independently while Matt, Greta, and I picked up a few essentials at the store. After finding themselves ice cream to eat and myself finding grocery store purchased ice cream we made our way back to the VRBO for movies and chilling. Matt and James sat on the porch working for hours on applications...he is a boy with a mission!!

Thursday:

This morning I went for my usual 6 mile run. Once back, Matt drove our vehicle to the local auto shop to get checked out. A service engine light had came on the day before. On his walk back to our place he picked up Cinnamon rolls at local shop 1/4 mile down the road. The owner shared with Matt he starts his day at 2:30AM and the shop close by 10:30AM...I can't image those hours!! Each morning I ran by the packed parking lot and smelled the fresh cinnamon and dough. This morning's run I actually ran by 3 boys who ran there...maybe to create a mild calorie deficit before their 1000 calorie cinnamon roll indulgence? After the Hanson cinnamon roll indulgence, Claire, Fuzzy, and I headed up our mountain in the backyard. Unfortunately our trek led us through grasses that stuck to our socks and shoes making our trip not as fun as the last...after capturing a couple of phots we made our way back to have some lunch while picking grass out of our shoes. Meanwhile dad and James made great gains in academy essays. Noelle threw out an idea and we all jumped on it...backcountry jeeping. At 1:15 we walked downtown to Estes Park ATV and Jeep rental. Matt and James picked up our vehicle at the shops while us gals picked up Subway. What an embarrassing transaction. Matt has given me $40 for the sandwiches....who would have thought foot longs would be over $10 each....poor Noelle gave up her sandwich so we could stay under $40. Lesson learned for Jill...don't listen to your 17 year old son when he brags on how little he carries and then try to mimic him...stick to mom role which is "always pack extra". We met up with the boys, checked in for our Jeep ride and drove 25 miles East to start our Jeep experience. We had a 6 person Jeep with 2 bench seats. Matt was our sole driver. I opted to stay in front to avoid any possibility of getting sick. We loved the experience...3 hours of jeeping though backcountry uneven dirt paths covered with boulders. As long as we weren't following slow pokes, we cruised at our max speed of 25 mph. Our adventure was highlighted by "Jessie"....a 20 something dude driving a pick up sipping his Red Bull who we bypassed. He pulled over and hopped out of his pick up to likely grab more Mountain Dew from the back of his truck...as he opened the tailgate....it crashed to the ground...inches from likely cutting off his toes...didn't break a sweat for him...likely a daily occurrence. The kids made the adventure more unknown by closing their eyes. I didn't dare try...and good thing Matt didn't either....I bet his heart beat over 200 beats per minute that entire trek. Good thing he dodged the bunny on the trail...we all predicted Greta to have an emotional crisis if he would have hit Dr. Bunny. Once our time ended we all were covered in dirt, seat belt bruises and sore core muscles from stabilizing ourselves. Noelle said, "I don't think many parents would do this." I don't think many try backcountry camping either....Matt and my motto is "why not"? This evening we did dinner in....ice cream and more ice cream.

Friday:

This morning I...you guessed it...ran my usual 6...however today I ran to the lake on the Eastside of Estes Park. I laughed as I passed a sign saying "beware of Elk...enter at your own risk...mom protecting baby....". Unfortunately I didn't see any...Matt and James did later that day while fishing...and they came out of the marsh towards them!! After breakfast, with the 95 degree predicted weather for the day, we opted to start our adventure early. We drove to University of Colorado Boulder. We walked the campus and browsed the gift shop. After working up an appetite we stopped at the Fat Shake for the most fat laden meal this far. Greta's cheese covered fries blew us away. Let's just say the local homeless man got the best meal of his year when we gave him our leftovers. Next we stopped at Nordestrom Rak and Moosejaw. The girls found clothes and I found the best outdoor store I've been in!! We made our way back to Estes to shift gears for the next adventure. The girls took the Aerial Tramway to the top of the Mountain while the boys went fishing at Estes lake. Entertainment at the top of the mountain consisted of feeling squirrels peanuts from our hands and taking in the beautiful views of the Rockies and Estes Park. The boys had one catch of which they threw back and a story to tell when mamma and baby elk came tromping out of the stream nearby them. Dinner this evening topped the charts....cheesy mashed potatoes from a bag and fried spam. Oh and not to forget the monster and mint chocolate chip ice cream varieties of the Tillamook brand...unfortunately not locally available. We packed up our belonging as our departure was 4am.

If you asked the kids how they liked the trip...I hope they'd say they enjoyed it...Matt and I certainly did. I may not ask if they liked backcountry camping yet....I might ask in 10 years. Hey....at least they can say they survived a backcountry camping experience in the Rocky Mountains!!

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