Hittin' the Road: Colorado Day 1

We left Winfield around 9:30am on Thursday morning. Not looking forward to the almost 11 hour drive to Grand Lake. We made a quick stop in Wichita (despite my dad and Justin's belly-aching) at Hobby Lobby to pick up some Zip Dry. I was out and needed it to assemble wedding invites while we drove :) We stopped in Salina for lunch, and then everyone (except Dad) squeezed in a little afternoon nap. I woke up just in time to hear mom say were were entering Colorado! What?! Seemed so fast to me. I turned around to tell Justin, and he said the same thing..."What, we're already in Colorado?!?" So, from that point on, we were awake checking out the landscapes.

It was Justin's FIRST time in Colorado. He was a little concerned that we didn't see any mountains for quite a while. But once we did, he was in awe. We hit Denver at RUSH HOUR! I have never been so nervous while driving in my entire life. I wasn't even driving...just praying that we made it through Denver as fast as possible. If you live in Denver and drive through that traffic everyday, God Bless YOU! I wouldn't do that if you paid me...a lot! Once we witnessed a wreck right in front of us, I really wanted outta there. I was sick to my stomach, I worried so much. We passed so many people talking on cell phones and TEXTING while they were driving. Rush hour. Four lanes of traffic. High speeds. Why would you do that?? So, we made it through that safe and sound, and after that headed up into the Rockies. AMAZING!

We stopped at the Continental Divide for a little stretch. We weren't dressed for it, but the 66 degree temps up there were a welcomed treat! 

Brandon and Jenn left Sidney around 6pm, so they were still a few hours behind us. We decided to take our time with the rest of the drive, so we didn't end up at the cabin too far ahead of them. Our next stop was Winter Park, CO. We passed the new Village area and saw this Cabriolet! It couldn't have been a more perfect night to ride it, just as the sun was setting. We would have loved to get off at the other end and tour The Village, but the Cabriolet was closing, and we didn't want to be stuck so far from our car. So we just took the 5 minute round-trip ride.

After the ride, we stopped at a cool little pizza place for dinner. We were amazed to hear that they had over $30,000 in one dollar bills covering their walls, ceilings and tables! WOW!

Barrett was beginning to wear down at dinner. So we hit the road for the last hour of the trip to Grand Lake! We got to our cabin around 10:30, I think (11:30pm Winfield time). We could not believe how nice it was!! It took quite a while to tour the place...six bedrooms and four bathrooms later, we were done with the tour.

Brandon and Jenn arrived shortly after that, and we drew out of a hat for rooms. Our room was a HUGE suite on the 2nd floor. It was just about as big as our whole house! Big closets, sitting area, fireplace, bathroom and Queen bed...all just in our room!

The cabin belongs to a long-time friend of Jennifer's family. They were so gracious to let us use it, and everything in it. Completely furnished, all linens, kitchen dishes and utensils. Everything.

We were all exhausted from the drive, so we finally headed to bed. Barrett just slept in bed between Justin and I in our big 'ol room. The first night, he cried that he wanted to "go home." We had to explain that we were on vacation, and he was going to have fun. It didn't take him long to fall asleep after that. It was a treat to cuddle up together every night. Barrett is such a good little sleeper. Every morning we'd find him turned around with this feet up on the pillow between our heads :) I was worried after four nights of that, he wouldn't go back to his own bed when we got home...but he's done great. Bedtime and naptime went right back to normal, and he never mentioned a word about sleeping with Mommy and Daddy.

More from Day 2...fishing, hiking and shopping...tomorrow!