Day 94!

Vacation day 4!

Rocky Mountain National Park. 

At this point I was no longer a mile high like in Denver, nope. Try 7,522 feet above sea level. My sister said we were higher than that later on, but I didn't see the sign. So I'm sticking to 7,522 feet.

Something great about being that high...no bugs! Well very little at least. Apparently some bugs can't live in high altitudes, wish I would have known that before I sprayed on the bug spray, half the people in the parking lot turned to stare at me. Oops.

Copeland Falls in the Wild Basin area.

There were signs at the beginning of the park warning hikers not to go into the water. Not only is the water frigid, but the water is strong and the rocks are slippery, making them deadly. Not as if I didn't believe the signs, but I had to touch the water. And yes, they were right the water was like ice!

There was a woman sitting watching the water and out of know where she shouted because a fish jumped over the dam, of course I missed it. I stood in this spot for about five minutes waiting, but I didn't see another fish.

So when I first saw this I was like oh my goodness this has to be from a mountain lion or bear! And then I googled what bear or mountain lion scratches would look like and they are intense. So now I'm not too sure what this is from.

I'm also not too sure what this cutie is. There was an entire family of these birds, just walking around. This was the baby, the parents were a little smaller than chickens. 

More river/creek pictures!

The water was so clean and pretty, so badly I wanted to jump into it. I was joking with my sister saying I could totally handle that water (which I knew I couldn't). Her response... "Oh yeah, you're Michael Phelps now?"

I'm usually pretty good at being inconspicuous at taking photos of people/things. But I failed miserably right here. Out of nowhere down the trail two guys on horses came trotting through. The white horse was HUGE and I wanted to take a photo of him, as I tried, the first guy on the horse noticed. Look at that smile lol.

 

There was sooo much hiking, but we really didn't stay all that much. One, the altitude made if extremely difficult to breathe. Two, my mother has a bad foot and can't walk all that much. Three, we were starving and in the woods there isn't a place to stop to get something to eat. And four, other than my mom and I, my family isn't very much into nature and didn't want to stay any longer. This killed me. 

Finally civilization. Sorta. This was probably the cutest little store, like one you would expect from a movie. It was about the size of a walk in closet. All wooden inside, only selling the necessities. The old man working there fit the part as well, he was adorable.

Cutest little church.

Can you see the snow?! I loved that. About 85 degrees out and up on the mountains you could see snow. 

Lily Lake.

















































The park ranger here told us to look for the moose that would sometimes come out. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any. This entire trip everyone told us oh look out for the moose, elks, mule deer, coyotes, bears, bobcats, mountain lions, mountains goats and everything else. But I saw very very few wild animals. Psh.

This tree looked so crazy.

I kept using my zoom lens on this mountain, hoping to see any sort of animal, but nope nothing.



















While I was taking this photo, with my eye up to the camera a man behind me goes "That'll be a great picture!" Scared the hell out of me. lol.

All that green down there nope not grass, but trees. Told ya I was high up there.

"And I go head first in the river. Head first in the river. Lost my breath in the river. Head first in the... Move it's what they say."

Day 93!

Vacation day 3!

First stop was the Denver Art Museum. I'm going to be honest, I'm very much spoiled when it comes to museums because I only live a train ride away from the city, so a lot of the art didn't impress me that much. Also I prefer to look at old art as opposed to modern art. However the sculptures at the museum were rather interesting.

This reminded me of artwork by Shawn Harris.

This was outside the museum, it was huge.

I absolutely loved the plaque that was beside the giant broom and dustpan. I'm glad it was there, it cleared up a lot of confusion.

I, for the most part, opt out of drinking soda or juice and only really drink water. I don't particularly like water, but I know it's the healthier option, so that's why I drink it. Never have I ever said wow that's good water, until I went to this place. I'm not sure why, but this was the best tasting water I have ever, ever had. The food was delicious too, but the water was exceptional.

Aquarium!

And I thought the turtles at Kennedy park were huge. 

Not sure how a tiger fits in at an aquarium, but still really awesome.

I want this for my house.

Is it safe to stand over the shark tank on a piece of plexiglass?

It probably took me 25 shots to get this photo. He was so fast! This was probably one of the coolest fish there, he was like a Lisa Frank colored fish. How awesome.

At the end of the aquarium there was this incredible bar/restaurant. The interior design was amazing.

It was freaking me out how nice everyone was in Colorado. I'm simply not used to that at all, being I live in the tri-state area. But then I thought about it, when you get to see this every day, how can you not be in a pleasant mood?

Too early to go back to the hotel after the aquarium, but too late to actually go anywhere we drove to Boulder. It was getting late and all the shops on Pearl Street were closing up, so we decided to stop on the side of the road and take some pictures.

I stuck my hand in this water and it actually cramped up because it was so cold. I guess you can't expect much when the water rushing down is from the melting snow on the mountains tops.

We didn't stay too long in Boulder since it was getting dark. My mother was freaking out, afraid of bears, coyotes or mountain lions (oh my!) in the woods. Plus there are no street lights and driving on twisty roads in the pitch black is quite scary/ unsafe.

"This is where the sunsets baby. This is where it all makes sense again."

Day 92!

Vacation day 2!

Technically I'm back from vacation and today is actually the 9th, but with a poor internet connection at the hotel and then not being able to get online at my aunt and uncle's house I wasn't able to post a thing. So I'll be posting photos from each day of vacation super soon. Also being that vacation is over I'm allowed to say where I was...Denver, Colorado! This was the farthest vacation I've ever taken with the whole family and it was by far the prettiest.


Many of my photos were taken in the car so they may not be the best, also photos do no justice to how beautiful this place is, as well as how tall the mountains are and how high up them I was.
















This was taken while driving down 25-S I believe, on the way to Colorado Springs. I really wish this was my scenery driving down the GS parkway.

When driving we stopped off on the shoulder to take some pictures. I was super excited to see the US Air Force planes take off and all but then I saw a cactus and I've never seen one not in a flower pot or on a store shelf.

Sunflowers grew everywhere in Colorado and I loved that.

















In total I took exactly 850 photos while I was gone, and granted 425 of them were me trying to adjust the lighting or retaking blurry photos, but about 350 of them were like this, super pretty mountains.


















It was crazy how high up I was for this photo. It was the scariest thing driving up some of the mountains. This particular one was the worst. Not only was the road super small, there were constant twist and turns which would make anyone dizzy, and there were no guard rails. Still I can't get over that.

















The Garden of the Gods!

















This place was awesome, and I wish we were able to stay here longer.

While at the park, there was this amazingly brave guy rock climbing.

This pigeon totally showed him up though.

















So parks without graffiti, litter and rowdy kids exist?

It killed me that the sky was getting dark from the storm coming in, meaning we had to leave soon. There was so much exploring to be done.

I love how close we were to the clouds. However the higher you were the scarier the storm was. I had never heard thunder so loud, or seen lightning so bright as I did up there. We had to leave the park shortly after this shot.

Eventually I had to stop taking photos for the day too. Having the window open while it rained wasn't practical. Nor was taking photos from the window while it rained, couldn't focus too well on the mountains.


















"And now she's a mile high and I'm on Texas time. She traded rattlesnakes for bunny runs in Colorado Springs. Yeah. There's no surf in Colorado anyway."

Day 91!

Family vacation!

But I can't say where I am just yet. We are surprising someone(s) with our arrival, but not until Friday evening. While there is only a slight slight chance this person(s) may find this blog, I can't not say where I am!

However I can give hints...

I took a plane.

Where I am is quite pretty.

My flight was just under four hours.

And it wasn't Iowa. We had to rent a car for our stay and the car we got was from Iowa, however we weren't there.

"She says she's headed west, to make it right for one more night. And, well, I don't blame her if she is."

The little bit of random...

THE 90's ARE ALL THAT!
I always attempt to go to bed early, in hopes I can wake up early. However if Teen Nick continues to play shows from the 90's this is never going to happen.

So Nickelodeon's Teen Nick is now my favorite channel. From midnight to 4am, they are playing shows from the 90's. How ridiculously awesome is that? The last two nights I've watched it, and they showed four shows in a two hour block and then repeated it. Here's what they've played so far.

 All That, Kenan and Kel, Clarissa Explains It All (I might be using Clarissa's style as inspiration for the upcoming fall season. Her style is killer), and Doug.

It's crazy watching these shows, and actually remembering an episode, or seeing how young everyone was. I.E. Kenan Thompson. I'm really hoping they continue with this 90's block, even making it longer. Or, and I'm sure many 20-somethings would agree, making an entire channel of the old shows. Possibly including some of the 80's shows too, you know for the older kids. Why not?

Although the four shows they picked are extremely awesome, I'm hoping for some others too, like: Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold!, The Roundhouse, Salute Your Shorts, Rugrats, Welcome Freshmen, Pete and Pete, Alex Mack, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Weinerville, KaBlam!, and I'm sure I'm missing a few others.

In celebration of the awesomeness, I'm thinking I should have a "The 90's are All That" party. Dressing very 90's would be a must, as well as having 90's junk food. I know food hasn't changed THAT much since the 90's so maybe it would just be food we would have eaten back then. So Hawaiian Punch juice boxes, Squeeze-Its, Dunk-a-roos, French Toast Crunch cereal (color changing spoon optional), Bubble Beeper gum, and maybe even Happy Meals! I also think Gak or Moon shoes will only make the party more awesome. However being they are a huge distraction no Tamagotchis (or Dinkie Dinos) would be allowed. They must be left home for Mom to take care, like when you went to school.

 "I remember as if it were yesterday. The good o' days back in nineteen-nighty-three."