Vacation, Vacation! A time for rest? -
NOT our vacation.
Though not restful, two weeks ago was truly a fun week of family adventures. Starting with a great swim meet ( I will talk about more later). After the meet we ran home finished packing, (more crap than we needed). We have not been on a family vacation before and thought we would get as much in as possible. Fishing poles, bicycles, hiking boots, swimming suits, info on rafting, and info about the adventure park and bags of food and suitcases full of clothing. We even brought Frisbees and a couple baseballs and mitts – like we were going to have time for catch?? Did we forget anything? The dogs!! We left our barking dogs at home – though we stayed in a hotel that was dog friendly, meaning that there were a number of dogs staying at the hotel barking. Yea!!! A three hour drive from home to Glenwood with one short stop at the summit of Vail pass and our vacation was officially started. We should have had someone shoot off a starting pistol to get us going, the way we pulled out of the drive. All of us were looking forward to some time away from our normal routine.
Walking around Glenwood.
The first day we spent walking around town to find a bike shop. We needed to replace Alex’s inner tube so we could bike around a bit. We also found a local souvenir shop. We then rode up the canyon a little ways and skipped some rocks into the Colorado river. NO, we did not bring the skipping rocks with us!!! We decided to use a local variety of rocks for this particular activity. We found a river company to try. And we rode our bike’s to a place for dinner. The kids meals were served on Frisbees. Yes we already had a couple of Frisbees with us and know we never had the time to throw them around. At any rate it was a mellow day as we tried to plan the next few days activities while trying not to worry about the money. Holy crap everything costs a fortune. Sorry I’m trying not to be worried about the money. First things first, lets get up in the morning and try river rafting with the kids. How Much? Never mind – I am not worrying about the money.
Hit the river.
Why are we getting up early on our vacation?? The river trip. That’s right , I almost forgot. So it was a quick walk up to the rafting companies office to wait for the bus. How much is this costing us? Never mind. It is nice to be able to walk to most everything. So we picked out the life vests and on to the bus. On the bus ride to our starting point we got the talk about what to do if you fall out of the boat – swim!!!! The kids had a good time and Alex even braved the cold water and jumped in so he could say he swam in the river.
Fishing
We then got my fishing license and we made our way up some Mountain to a beautiful lake to try some fishing. Melinda is the only one that caught anything. She was excited about bringing it in but felt bad for it. The only bites I got were from the mosquitoes. Alex had a couple of bites but never caught any fish. No we did not eat Melinda’s fish – we let it go so it could grow bigger and be caught again, and so I would not have to clean and cook it. Pattie did not do any fishing this time, but decided she needed to get her license for the next time. Pattie is great about trying just about everything.
The next day we bought Melinda a new bike. How much? That’s right I am not suppose to ask. And it was less than my first bike. She had outgrown her other bike, again, and it was past time to get her a new one. At any rate we will be coming home with more stuff than we went with – hard to believe that that is possible. Getting in to the parking lot Melinda wanted to try it out and was in the middle of finding the best way to get on her new (bigger bike) some fool thought it was his place to tell us Melinda’s new bike was too big for her. Like I didn’t know!!! At first I calmly said; thank you, yes we know, she will grow into it. He say‘s: no that bike is way to big for her!!! Yes I know She will be fine! And she will grow into it. NO doubt he thinks himself some kind of expert on everything and should be in charge of what bike I get for my kids. The next thing you know he will try to get a new law passed about the size of bike that is appropriate for children.. I do not know how he grew up, but my first bike was way too big for me and that is the one I learned on. I should not have to explain this to him or anyone else but Melinda has been ridding bikes for a long time now and a bike that is big for her is not a problem for her. And she has been growing like a weed and will be tall enough for this new bike in no time. She has been having more fun on this new bike than she ever did on the last one and is riding more now than ever – most likely it feels good to not be on a bike that is to small. At any rate her bike is awesome and she loves it – so stay out of my family’s business. Sorry, I digressed – Back to the vacation.
The Hot springs
Wednesday was the day that we decided to (among other things) play in the Glenwood hot springs. How much??? Forget I said anything. Melinda was not happy about the smell of the sulfur but had fun playing in the warm water. We even made a couple of rides down the water slide. The kids enjoyed it but told us: it was not as scary as the water slides at Elitches. Alex did a few flips off the diving board and then we left for dinner – only to return for some night swimming. It was nice to hang out in the pool and relax, though Alex and Melinda wanted to play, more and relax less.
Just a caouple of fun underwater pic’s
Thursday was the day for the Adventure park and a cave tour.
Holy crap you want how much ??? Sorry I slipped. Just suck it up and pay for the day pass, It is worth it. A tram took us up to the top of a mountain where a small amusement park has been built and the where the entrance to the cave tour is. We all got to try a mechanical bull ride for the first time and I sucked at it. Pattie almost fell off but the operator stopped before she fell on her head. I tried to bribe the operator to knock her off but no go. Even Melinda had fun on it and possibly did the best. We all tried the rail ride thing – a lot of fun as you can go almost as fast as you want. Melinda wanted to go faster but her arms were a little short and you have to push the breaks as far forward as you can to go faster.
Pattie and the kids did the wall climbing and on his third try Alex made it to the top. He stopped a little short of the top and was about to come down, but with a little encouraging he went to the top.
The big event was the swing that took us out over the edge of the canyon – Melinda was into it. I must admit, it was an adrenalin rush. What a view and what a unique way to see Glenwood Canyon.
Alex thinking about getting on the swing. 
This is a view from the swing platform.
The one image of the swing was taken from the edge of the canyon where you can stand when you take the cave tour.
Alex got us all to play laser tag, my first time. It was fun even if I did lose – we will have to try it again. We even had fun watching the 4d (that’s right 4d) short movie. Than we took the tram back down the mountain to try to get some sleep for the drive home on Friday.
We packed up and headed for Denver but not without stopping to hike up to hanging lake and spouting rock. It is only 1.2 miles but it is over a 1,000 vertical foot climb. It is beautiful as ever but I was amazed at the number of people on the path.
Then we had to race down the mountain so we could make it to Denver in time for the swim team banquet. We made it just in time and the kids rode their bikes from home to the park for the banquet. And yes Melinda took her new (too big of a) bike and loved showing it to every one.
Pattie and I made it a little later and no we did not ride our bike’s – we drove.
What a great week for the whole family!!!
Tags: family activities, new experiences, parenting by Randall
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