Fun with Mom and Bob

A few weekends ago, we got a visit from Mom and Bob, who came to play with us in the Rockies. Every once in a while, Bob has to come to Colorado for trainings for his work, and we all thought this last training would be a great time for us to get some R&R together.

So, mom and Bob brought their awesome trailor (hauls three ATVs and doubles as a camper) and we headed up to explore some of the gorgeous Colorado scenery. Believe it or not, Dan has not done any camping since moving to Colorado, so it was high time that we got out. And of course, there are few ways to explore the wilderness that can beat driving around on an ATV.

This is not a posed photo. Louie really rode in that little compartment like that, with one arm hanging over, because he is too cool for school. Well OK, so he only rode like that for a little while, but still. He actually did really well on the ATV's, but Dana had to keep ahold of him to keep him from running off after squirrels or moose or any of the other 5 million things he seems to find worthy of running off after. But seriously, is he not the coolest dog in the world?

One of the best parts of the trip was the weather. We had predictions of afternoon rain storms for the whole weekend, but the weather turned out to be awesome. Perfect temperature, nice and sunny. Good enough to stop the ATVs and take a nap in. You will notice that Louie is currently in the process of trying to run off after something, hence the leash. So no nap for Dan, but still relaxing and super comfortable.

This is one of the jaw-dropping vistas we found on our ride. Colorado is really fantastically beautiful. That John Denver knew what he was talking about, after all. The lake below is Grand Lake, which is right at the southern entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park, which we also took the time to drive through. America's highest paved road runs right over several mountains, clear above the timber line, providing some of the most gorgeous views I have ever seen. We drove by and watched the clouds pass beneath us. It was a little trippy, but very cool.

When we were driving into town, there was a big traffic jam, and it turned out that this guy and a buddy of his were the cause. They were down in the reeds right next to the road leading into Grand Lake, CO, and a huge crowd gathered to take photos and generally bog things down. As you can tell from this photo, we were NOT among the people parking their cars in the road, getting out and taking pictures of these amazing creatures. We would never do such a thing.

On one of the days, we took a break from the ATVs and made a run into Grand Lake city. It is a pretty cool little tourist/resort town right on the lake. The lake itself has a really interesting legend to it. It is supposed to be haunted by the spirits of some Ute indians who died in a storm on the lake, whose spirits are now said to arise out of the water during storms. It is also supposed to be inhabited by a giant buffalo spirit, but while we were there, the only wierd thing we saw was this wierd platform thingy that was made out of old WWII boats. But Grand Lake is certainly worth the drive to go visit, and the scenery is fantastic. We are thinking it will be our new weekend get-away place.

All in all, it was a great weekend. It is always good to have family come to visit, and even better when we are all able to get away and do something fun and relaxing. Louie even met and fell in love with Brandy, my mom's adorable little Yorkie. So thanks, Mom and Bob for coming over. We had a great time. Lets do it again! What are your plans for next weekend?