Rounding out the Trip

We left South Dakota and were headed to the great state of Colorado. We made one stop along the way. We visited Devil's Tower in Wyoming. This was another one of those times where you are driving along, looking at nothing but an open expanse of farm land and then WHAM! Here it is. Out in the middle of nowhere (and remember we traveled through a lot of nowhere on this trip) this magnificent "thing". I think they said it was like a backwards volcano? The lava made these cone like towers that came out of the ground. The Indians have an ancient story about a bear that was trying to climb up the side of this mountain and his sharp claws were what made the ridges in the side. Austin wanted to buy a book that explained how it was made, I guess I ought to get that and read it, huh? This picture doesn't really show how BIG it really is. This was take from the road leading up to it several miles away. But it was massive! There were even a few that were climbing it-- they looked like little tiny ants through the big camera lens. Needless to say, I was just happy as a peach to admire it from the ground!



We then headed into Colorado. We spent the night north of Denver and then traveled through Estes Park on the next day. There is a big hotel there in Estes Park where they filmed the movie "The Shining" with Jack Nicholas in the 70's. I would have loved to go and see the hotel. Maybe next trip. Estes Park was a really neat looking little town. Would have liked to spend more time there as well but we were on to the scenic drive of the day. We headed up Trail Ridge Road to see the beautiful Rocky Mountains. If you know me that well, you know how much I love to drive over windy, curvy, twisty roads--NOT!! I can't stand them-- I turn green, just ask Rick, I almost puked on his shoulder one ski trip-- Not a pretty picture! Anyway. Twisting on down the road...we stopped at a few of the lookout points along the way and snapped a few pictures. We got up pretty high in the mountains, and what they say is true...thinner air, hard to breathe...Chris tried to run down a trail...not smart for a child with Asthma! So after a few puffs on an inhaler we headed down again. Yippee-- what fun! I hate coming down just as much as going up!



Here we are at the top! Austin snapped this shot of us with the beautiful mountains behind us. It really was a truly beautiful sight to see, once you got over the nausea and such....



As we were driving through the mountains I kept seeing these signs and would just bust out laughing! In case of flood, climb to safety...well DUH!!! Who wouldn't try to do that... there must have been some guy that tried to swim it out?? But in case you are ever caught in a flood, remember these wise words...climb to safety!



From here we traveled to Branson. Missouri! Scott's Mom and Dad had already arrived and spent a couple of days there checking out the shows. And my Mom and Dad were going to drive over to spend a couple of days with us too! They met us in Springfield the first night. Jeff wanted to check out the Grizzly Tool Store so we stopped there and in walked Nana and Grandpa!! Whoo Hoo-- Jeff was happy in tool land and I was happy in Nana land!!! We left there and Dad treated us all to dinner at the Rib Crib-- YUM-O -- and it was all you can eat rib night!! We packed up a box of rib bones and sent them home to Tweedie. She was one happy dog! Mom and Dad met us at breakfast the next morning and I got to spend a day alone with Mom!! We hit the outlet with a personal chauffeur! Dad took us anywhere we wanted to go. We hit a few outlets and then headed to Branson Landing to check out the Coldwater Creek store! When we got there we found a big red sign in the window that said "Up to 70% off" Whoo Hoo-- we hit the mother load!! Mom and I spent the rest of the afternoon in that one store! Scott called about 5 minutes after we walked in the door. I answered the phone and asked him how he knew we were in Coldwater Creek...He said he can sense when money is running out of his bank account! He's so funny, but boy was he right! Several hours and several hundred dollars later we headed back to meet everyone for dinner and off to Church. We decided to try to head on home he next day so we packed up all the shopping loot and loaded up the car and made the trip home.

Two weeks is a long time to be away from home and I still don't think I have caught up yet! We saw a lot of things and covered a lot of ground! I am thinking next trip should involve a plane!! I hope you enjoyed our little recap. This trip is officially over!! Now back to regular life around the house.