the visit

So Eric and I finally have the house to ourselves again. It was a pretty good visit overall, we did a lot of fun stuff but I am just completely exhausted. We started out leaving on Friday for a little town way up in the mountains called Glenwood Springs. They have the largest hot springs pool in...the world I think, I'm not sure. But it was big. It was also a welcome comfort considering it was around 40 degrees most of the time we were there. The town also had an Adventure Fun Land or something along those lines and we got to ride an alpine sled and swing out on a giant swing that went off the mountain way way way above the interstate below. That part was pretty fun as well, I rode it with Mary and we definitely had the loudest scream. After that we went on a tour of some caves and it was beautiful. The pictures don't even come close to doing it justice, but I'll post one anyways. We were pretty wiped out after all that but the next day, before heading back home, we hiked up to Doc Holliday's gravesite.
I worked a half day on Monday so we didn't get much stuff in that day. On Tuesday I had taken the day off and so did Eric so we all headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for some hiking. I've blogged about this place before I think and I just love it. I can't get enough, it's so incredibly beautiful...Eric and I bought an annual pass for it so now we can go up whenever we want. If I had to choose, I would say this was the highlight of their entire trip here. Everyone seemed to enjoy this, especially Aly. She and I were climbing rocks like crazies. Below is a very large herd of elk that we got to see as soon as we got into the park. The park is overloaded with elk, it's pretty much the only animal you're guaranteed to see while you're there. They're even thinking about reintroducing wolves to the park to cut back on the elk population. I love seeing them though, they're really beautiful creatures.
This one's me and the girls pointing. We had just discovered this creek that will actually run alongside our entire 5 mile hike. Lovely.




You'll notice we all shed some clothes as the hike continues. We got a lot of pictures along this creek, I don't know if you can see but the water is just ridiculously clear and wonderful and it was incredible just being near it and hearing the sounds...anyways.


This is "The Pool" which is essentially the destination of our hike. We thought we hit it a mile or two beforehand when we approached a lovely little lake where two creeks met but we were wrong. The Pool is an area where 2 creeks and river meet. We decided to head back instead of forging on another mile to the waterfalls, Mom and Mary were getting pretty wiped out. The altitude takes its toll...

The next day we went to the Celestial Seasonings factory (a mere mile away from our house) and took the tour before heading up to Denver where Aly and I got haircuts. Mine is super short now and I don't have any pictures of it yet.
On Thursday I had to work another half day so we didn't do much then either. Friday I had to work all day but Heather took them all up to Keystone where they opted to do some tubing instead of skiing, which I think was probably a fine choice. Skiing would've cost them a ton and they probably would've hated it anyways, it being their first time. But I told Aly that if she saves up for a lift ticket and lessons and whatnot, Heather and I could probably fly her out here next winter so she can do a snowboarding trip. We'll see if that actually happens.

Tonight Eric and I are heading back up to Denver for another show, this time it's Menomena. I think it'll be an amazing show but a large part of me is completely forcing myself to go. I'm totally wiped out. However, it'll be a good show and it's at a new (for us) venue that we think will be a lot like the Earl, which we both loved. Then on top of that, we haven't hung out with our friends in two weeks and they're definitely starting to get restless. So tomorrow we bowl. No rest for the wicked.