Saturday, September 12

We woke up this morning at Cold Springs Campground near Black Hawk, CO. After being on the road for a week now, we’re reaching the part of our trip where I have to think for a second each morning where we camped the night before! All the campgrounds are starting to run together.

We had a much more peaceful night of sleep last night. Aden is feeling perfectly fine now, so I suspect it was something he ate yesterday that caused him to throw up two nights ago. Or, maybe it’s his body adjusting to traveling on the road again. I think it takes all of us a few days to settle in to our new normal.

The minute Aden woke up this morning, he begged to hike to the top of the vista overlook at our campground. He loved climbing on the big boulders there yesterday. We didn’t have much time this morning, but I agreed to take both Aden and Tory to the overlook while Aden got the RV ready to roll for today. Aden was so excited about doing something active outdoors this morning, I couldn’t say no!

The trail to the top of the vista is about a 1/2 mile long, and we all scaled it easily after having climbed it yesterday. Tory and Aden insisted on going around “the hard way” as they applauded what expert climbers they are now.

The views at the top of the lookout this morning did not disappoint. For the first time since we arrived in Colorado on Wednesday, the sky was clear blue. We had a perfect view of the Rockies. “WOW!” Tory said, when she saw the mountains for the first time. This is both Tory and Aden’s first time to the state of Colorado.

I let the kids climb around the rocks for a few more minutes, and then the three of us walked back to the campsite to meet Andi. He had the RV ready to go. Today, we made plans to meet Shannon, a past co-worker and friend of ours, and her son Alister for a morning walk around Evergreen Lake in Evergreen, CO. It was shaping up to be a gorgeous, sunny day today.

Along the way, Andi pulled over at a roadside produce stand. Eagerly, Andi Andi hopped out of the RV to see what the vendor had to offer. We just love these little stands, and buying directly from the producer. I picked up a jar of raw honey since we were almost out in the RV, and asked the worker to throw in a basket of peaches. $32! Andi and I both about choked. “How much is the honey?” I asked, and the worker responded $17. That meant the peaches were $!5 - wow! I fully understand locally grown foods cost more money to produce and I’m all about paying for the vendor’s time and effort, but wow. We were not expecting the total price to be so much. Lesson learned: Ask how much something costs before you buy it.

We met Shannon and Alister at 10:00am, and spent the morning walking the 1.5 mile loop around the lake. The trail was busy, but the view was worth it. So pretty! Alister and Aden hit it off right away and ran around playing Spiderman while Tory calmly walked alongside Shannon, Andi and I as we talked about life, travel and the good ol’ Red Bull days. I wished I would have snapped a picture of all of us together! I guess we were too busy talking and I completely forgot.

We said good-bye to Shannon and Alister and then made our way to the nearby town of Idaho Springs for lunch. Andi wanted to pick up a few more groceries so he ran into Safeway while the kids and I stayed back in the RV for some quiet time.

When Andi returned, we hit the road for Winter Park, CO about an hour away. The drive up the mountain was beautiful, but I had sweaty palms the whole way. Andi has done a fantastic job driving our 25’ ft. RV through the mountains. Sometimes, I think it’s more nerve-wracking for me sitting idly by in the passenger seat. I try not to look down the mountain as we take all those hair-pin turns.

Being a Saturday, Andi and I decided we’d better secure a campsite as soon as we arrived in Winter Park. He had Idlewild Campground in mind because it’s located just a few miles outside the city of Winter Park with a nice bike trail connecting to it. As luck would have it, we snagged the very last campsite available and we were able to fill up the RV with fresh water at the campground. Nice!

The weather was gorgeous in Winter Park this afternoon — sunny and 70 degrees — so we hopped on our electric bikes to check out the town as soon as were settled into camp. The Frasier Bike Trail is 22 miles long and runs through the campground along the Frasier River. We rode the bike trail around the city of Winter Park, to the ski resort, and to the nearby town of Frasier. Biking is such a great way to see a new place. We passed by fun restaurants, lots of cute shops, a playground, and a skate park before making one last stop at one of Andi’s favorite stores called Murdock’s. The playground wasn’t as busy on our return ride back to camp, so we also stopped there for a few minutes to let the kids play.

Back at Idlewild Campground, Andi grilled a pork tenderloin and artichokes for dinner. Andi and I both love artichokes. We used to make them all the time when we were first dating. This was Tory and Aden’s first time trying grilled artichokes and they both loved them!