Wolf Rescue Center Howl

Video of the howl at the wolf rescue center

https://youtu.be/Qtcz1mZ9Kow

Family Vacation - Denver to Kansas

After Theo flew home, the girls and I spent the day in Denver. We decided to go to the mountains to escape the heat, but we got to experience 101 degrees in Denver where they broke a record set in 1998! The mint and capitol were closed because it was Sunday, but they did have a fun festival going on downtown. 

I'm not sure why they have a giant blue bear but it was fun!

The Colorado Capitol

After Denver, we drove three hours to Colby KS. We saw my Uncle and also saw my grandparents farm - it has since been sold, but my grandpa built this house. Even though there is a paved road to the house, Siri was nice enough to take me through the pastures. The "road" just got worse from here.

My grandparents' graves.

And my great grandparents

My Aunt and Uncle

That evening we went out to eat with my uncle, and then got to see the house he is remodeling.

The next day, we drove to the Grandparents house on the other side of Kansas. We stopped at the Barbed Wire Museum which is located in the Barbed Wire Capitol of the World. How could you not stop for that?

Did you know there are different types of barbed wire? Lots and lots of different types. This is one row. There were at least 20 of these displays.

They had a crow's nest they found that the birds had made out of barbed wire. Those were some tough birds! 

They also had a fun park with this interesting swing.

Which turned out to be quite difficult to dismount.

At this point, we were getting tired of driving and were ready to stop every where. So we made a stop for milkshakes, checked out an antique store and saw Fort Larned. 

Once we got to the grandparents, we got to see something fun! They have a beehive they are having removed and the guy came to check the progress.

We saw lots of beautiful views on vacation, but this was my favorite. Home, sweet home. 

With a grand total of 2,942 miles driven. 

Family Vacation - Rocky Mountain National Park

The next day, we drove to Denver. It is about an hour away from Colorado Springs, but we took the nine hour scenic route. When we got close to Denver, we headed west towards the mountains and took Trail Ridge Road from Grand Lake to Estes Park. The views of the park were amazing. 

We didn't see any bears but they must have been hiding out somewhere. 

We did see a moose though, almost immediately after we entered the park.

They had sadly lost a lot of trees due to a beetle back in the 70's. They are still standing but dead. They don't remove them because they provide shelter for animals as new trees grow. 

On our vacation, we counted that we crossed back and forth across the Continental Divide five times.

This little sunbather is called a marmot.

Right behind him, up the hill were elk. I wouldn't even have noticed had another tourist not pointed them out.

At the top! This is the tallest point on Trail Ridge Road. We had to park a ways back and walk up the last of the hill. Whew! That was tiring with no air and I thought Lizzy was going to pass out! Thankfully, we had some oxygen left in the little canister from Pike's Peak for her to slurp on.

More July snow! We asked and they said they often expect their first snow in August! 

This was Theo's last day of vacation. Since he was flying out early, we sprang for a hotel attached to the airport so he could just walk over and we could sleep in. This was such a cool hotel!!!

It was beautiful on the inside too. It was kind of embarrassing when Theo called us to let us know he had landed in Dallas and we hadn't gotten up yet!