VAIL Like nothing on earth

(Took that title from Vail's official website..I'm not that clever, but it is true.) So as you may have guessed we just returned from another awesome trip to Vail. It's sooooo beautiful there. Pictures just don't do it justice, but they'll have to suffice...unless those of you reading this have been there and can attest to it's beauty. BTW, does anyone have a $1,000,0000 laying around we could use to buy a vacation home up there? We'll let you go there anytime...you won't regret it!

My dad got a great 4 bedroom condo for a week up at Vail and decided to invite my family and my big sis. along. Unfortunately my sister could only stay one night, but we overlapped by a few hours.

The first full day there we headed into Vail Village, shopped a little, let the kids play at the pirate park, ate lunch and then walked along the rushing creek to The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens. Can you say GORGEOUS? Absolutely breathtaking. And the added bonus? There's another great park there so the kids played and played and had a blast. Weather was great too. I was afraid from looking at the forecast it was going to be pretty chilly, but it was a comfortable upper 50's/60 degrees! It rained just a little and a few clouds, but nothing much!

(Pirate park in Vail Village)

(The older boys had to stop every few seconds to throw something else into the creek...boys will be boys.)


(Betty Ford Alpine Gardens at 8700 feet above sea level)

The second day, Rick and my dad walked to another park in the morning and let the older boys play for a little bit while Curren napped. Then we headed off on a hike. We had to drive up part of a mountain (a non-paved, very bumpy road) for about 7 miles before we found the trailhead. For those of you from Cali, when you go hiking out here, you're really out in the middle of nowhere! It's awesome! You can truly commune with nature. It was supposed to be a 3.75 mile gradual hike to Lost Lake, but we never found it. And we're pretty certain we walked more than 3.75 miles one way! Rick even headed on further by himself and never found anything. Oh well, we still had a great time and the kids did great. (We hiked for about 3 hours!) Only a few grumblings here and there. Curren did get fussy as we were heading back. He was tired, hungry and I think his jacket was rubbing against his cheek...poor little fella.

(Gorgeous! On the way to the trailhead)

(Before the hike)

(Stopping for lunch. No picnic tables in this place.)

(A nature made Christmas tree farm at about 10,000 feet above sea level.)

Well, the fun is over and back to real life again. But, I'm itching to head up to the mountains again! Maybe Breckenridge this time? Or maybe we'll head south to Gunnison and check out Black Canyon. My dad showed us some pictures and it's like The Grand Canyon except the canyon is covered with black rock instead of red. Can't wait and stay tuned!!!