Monday's events - Day 1

Picnic lunch at the river center! Temp was 50 this morning and has warmed up to a beautiful 70! The kids had fun playing in the town center park as many people stop to pet Belle. Then we had ice cream, crepes at the famous Breckenridge crepe cart ad then home for naps as the rain begins. Trip downer. When we got back home the rent house my cell phone was missing. While the kids and Beau stayed behind Sweet Fabi and I began the back tracking hunt with no luck. We cooked spaghetti for dinner and after the kids went down to bed Fabi stayed behind so we could grab some coffee and check for the phone once again. Found it! Someone turned it in to the ice cream shop. Praise the Lord I don't have to drive to Denver for a new one. With altitude sickness creeping back up we stopped at the Oxygen bar for a 15 minute hook up. Genius! I'm so mad about all the college ski trips where I spent the first 2 days sick not knowing about the quick effective cure of pure oxygen now readily available in every ski town. Grrrrr.... but so far I have now had two successful trips to Colorado with immediate relief. Public service announcement: if you get sick at high altitudes, take oxygen the first two nights for at least 15-30 minutes. Its worth the $20 not to spend the first two days vomiting with a splitting headache. I love Colorado!

The 2 day drive.....

And we're off! We had the car loaded with 4 carseats and their riders, belle and her kennel, Fabi (our beloved nanny who has Colorado mountains on her bucket list) and the determined pilot and co-pilot who are exhausted just from the packing! What do 7 people need for a month in a remote location? Surprisingly, we had just one bag a piece plus camping equipment. There will be many trips to Walmart I predict as we only have enough diapers and dog food to last the 2 day trip. Beau has installed the hard shell luggage case on the top and the 5 count bike rack on the trailer hitch. We are a site on the road and THE people to watch at every rest stop. Missing our target departure time by several hours we made it only as far as witchita falls, Tx and pulled out the trusty iPad to locate a hotel in the vicinity that would accept dogs. Motel 6 looked like the winner till our navigation system directed us to the worst possible part of town and into the parking lot where we were afraid to even stop! The initial site of every single occupant outside their rooms playing loud hip hop and staring out us as we passed thru inspired us to just keep driving. Holiday inn proved a better option though they only had 2 rooms with one king bed a piece. Fabi and Hal took one and I slept in the other room with both of the boys kicking and flopping around me all night. Beau and the dog took the chair/ottoman and seemed to have the better end of the deal! :) 7 am we managed to pull away and began the final leg into Colorado. 19 hours in all, people, and amazingly we only stopped 4 times to potty. Success! We'd like to take a moment to give a shout out to DVD players, power windows, 5 hour energies, and noise reducing iPods/earbuds that make these trips possible.