Goodbye Cabin: Colorado Day 4

Sunday morning, we woke up in our mountain cabin for the last time ;(


Barrett watched some Max & Ruby while I showered.

Because the owners were so gracious to let us use it, we wanted to make sure we left it spotless!
After many loads of laundry, making beds, and scrubbing tubs and toilets...we were ready to head home.

Uncle Bobby kept Barrett entertained while the ladies cleaned.

Justin went for one last hike.
We really wanted to see a moose on this trip...but the moose poop Justin found behind the cabin will have to do.

{a tour of the cabin}

A few gifts we picked up in The Village shops for the cabin owners

 

the view from our front porch

{our upstairs suite}

::The family::

Brandon, Jenn, Justin, Laura, Barrett, Dad and Mom

The camera was set up on a cardboard box :)
We had a take-two

Before leaving Grand Lake, we hiked up to see Adams Falls.

It was a little further than we thought, but so worth it. Thanks to Bobby for carrying Barrett!

It rained pretty hard on our hike back to the car. Daddy had to carry Barrett, and Brandon carried my baby camera under his shirt :) We thought we'd head down the road a little further for lunch, since we'd already eaten at several places in Grand Lake. Well, we didn't realize the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park was so close. Our plan was to take go through the park and into Estes to eat. After stopping several times to photograph wildlife and enjoy the views, we made it through in about three hours. Barrett fell asleep just before we entered the park and slept the entire way! We were just about 100 yards into the park when we spotted our first elk! It was so exciting. We pulled the cars over and everyone jumped out. I hurried to get my zoom lens on. They were quite a ways from the road, but still beautiful! We stopped several more times after that to see more elk.

Simply breath-taking views! God is AMAZING!!

Barrett woke up just as we were exiting the National Park. There were a lot of winding roads, and the poor little guy got sick. He'd been up for about 30 minutes, then I noticed he got really quiet. Thankfully Mama was on it fast, and Gigi had LOTS of napkins in the glove-box, so it wasn't too bad :) We finally reached Estes Park...starving! After looking for a parking spot for 10 minutes, we decided to drive on through. It is the cutest place, and I'd love to take Justin back one day. I remember going there as a child. BUT this time, we were just too worn out to deal with all those people! As we drove through, Brandon said it looked like a "tourist trap." So, we drove just a bit further and found a Chili's. By the time we got there...it was 5pm! So much for lunch, it was supper time!

After dinner, we said goodbye to Brandon and Jenn! They had a 3-4 hour drive back to Sidney, and we planned to drive a bit further and stay the night in a hotel. Barrett had fun swimming in the hotel pool, and sleeping in a big room with Gigi and Papa. Monday morning, we got up and finished the drive back to Winfield. It seemed so much longer than the drive there!

It was a great trip!! Looking forward to visiting Colorado again soon, and looking forward to next Summer's vacation with ALL the family. We missed having Brian and his family there.