Friday July 1st (Day 29) – Colorado Mountains

We slept in (meaning until like 9 am) because all of us were tired from our hiking yesterday. I took Beth to the bathroom…which I swear smelled much worse than it had the night before. Got to love pit toilets. Lindsay reorganized the car while I packed up the tent. The car is a continous disaster area… that’s what happens when you live in it. * I humbly refer to it as my shit hole. Not a reflection on the fine piece of machinery that has safely got us were we wanted to go like a champ just a reflection of what happens to a vehicle when exposed to the wilderness and roughing it for a month. I promised the poor girl we would give her a nice thorough cleaning inside and out. She deserves it that vision of beauty she is! Yeah I love my car get over it!* We brushed our teeth using our bottled water and changed our clothes. Lindsay updated her portion of the blog (she’s much slower than I) *list of talents/skills that I am lacking and completely fine with…typing on the computer quickly. I suck at it so sue me. I get what needs to be done done, plus I keep the car organized which is a task when you’re in it with a girl who manages to get her purse strap and every cord in the vehicle tangled in a horrific mess withing 2 minutes of being in that car. I am just fine that my skill is packing things in the vehicle with precision (like a puzzle if you will) instead of typer extrordinaire* while Beth and I explored Rifle Falls..the waterfall and caves nearby. It wasn’t too far and the waterfall was pretty cool. We explored the caves a little bit, but they were dark and we had flipflops on..not ideal exploring shoes. We made our way back to the car, and got in. Time to hit the road again. I drove us back to the main road and Beth made up a game for us to play… where we had to go through the alphabet and remember all the things we were bringing on vacation. We didn’t finish but we had gotten as far as “I’m going on vacation and bringing the Startts, a Rooster, a Quilt, a Pear, an Owl, nuts, Mom, Lindsay, kids, a jaguar, ice cream, a helicopter, a gorilla, a fan, an elephant, a dog, a coleman stove, a boat, and an apple orchard”. Beth and Lindsay had a hard time using the alphabet backwards..so I had to help them with what letter we were on. *yet again a skill I am okay with not having*

We got some donuts and ice at the gas station and filled up and switched drivers. I had driven all day yesterday and I was tuckered. We checked in with Carrie since our phones had no service the night before. Then Denver bound.

The last time I was in Colorado I was like 6 but I still remember all the mountains. While we’ve had our share of mountains on the trip, the highway cut right through the mountains, giving us the best of both worlds: a scenic view and an efficient route. The Colorado River runs fast along the highway, with some serious whitewater that makes our Alaskan whitewater look like a float trip. * the river is extremely high at the moment over flowing it’s normal banks to flood the land near by* We drove along, enjoying the mountains until we arrived a little east of Vail. There was snow patches off the road and Beth had been fascinated with the snow topped mountains in the distance. We got out of the car and walked into the forest were there were some snow piles. Impromptu snow ball fight on July 1^st. Beth and I made snow angels in our shorts and tank tops. Then on the road again. Beth and Lindsay keep talking in their Sid the Sloth voices…but I’m unable to make that voice… not surprising given my inability to do accents. Goofy girls. We’re a little west of Denver now…and depending on how we are feeling…we may power through to Chicago tonight or rather early tomorrow morning. Tom saws we can be there by 4 am…. We’ll see.