We have been working on the house and yard since we returned to Michigan in April so we were really ready for our Eddy Family Vacation in Colorado. The 3 day drive there was pretty boring - corn, corn and more corn! But, the Colorado scenery made up for it!
We were all disappointed that Kyle, Rachel and Avery and Kirt and Nicole couldn't join us but the rest of us had a fun reunion at a great house in Parker. It was called the Grand Estate and that it is! Ten thousand square feet, 8 bedrooms, 6 full baths, a pool with an outdoor kitchen and dishwasher, a playground for the kids with a bathroom, a fenced in sand volleyball court, a hot tub, a full bar, a pool table, 2 kitchens, 2 laundry rooms and plenty of comfortable lounging areas. Wouldn't want to live there but it was a great place for us all to hang out together for a week. Almost needed our walkie-talkies to communicate!
We hiked, toured the Coors Brewery, splashed in the pool, played sand volleyball and a lot of cards. Some of us went to see "Sister Act" at the local theater on Sunday afternoon and it was a cute. There was a perfect playground for the little ones and Samantha and Emily were super sitters taking Charlotte and Caroline to swing and have fun in the playhouse frequently. Our teams did a great job of meal planning so we ate and drank like royalty! Team A - Roger, Heather, and Marilou won the Eddy Olympics -primarily because of their answers for Family Feud and their Euchre skills!
Carlos and Megan flew home to Austin early Saturday morning and Joel, Rachel and the girls left shortly thereafter to drive back to Dallas. Kyle, Heather and girls had a late flight from Denver to Houston so they went zip lining during the day.
Since us "retirees" didn't have to return to work we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park for 4 nights. The town of Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain NP, was a lot more crowded than we anticipated and because we kept missing the signs we "enjoyed" the traffic jam on main street 3 times!!
We drove the Trail Road, via the Old Fall Road, up to the Alpine Visitor Center at 12,000 feet.on Sunday. We saw a large herd of elk and beautiful vistas everywhere we looked! Us old folks are limited by the altitude, our age and our arthritic joints so many of the hiking trails were not good options but we did hike to Copeland Falls on Monday and Alberta Falls on Tuesday. Unfortunately, like many of our national parks, this park is busy and congested and necessitates riding the shuttle buses to key areas. Mel and Ray saw a moose right outside their bedroom window - he almost tripped on a tent stake at the site across the road!
All good things must end so we are on our way home now. The scenic route out of the park through the canyons was breathtaking! Good-bye mountains, good-bye waterfalls, good-bye elk - hello corn!!
More pictures to follow!
