Colorado!

Obviously I am way behind in my blogging attempts but I vow to get everything caught up before this year is through! So since you are all probably wondering about the rest of our trip to Utah, I figure I'll start with that. You are welcome.

On our way out to Utah this Summer, we decided that it would be cool if we could take an extra week to camp our way through Colorado and visit several of the areas that James served in as a missionary many moons ago. It really was a great plan but somehow it decided to rain all week long making us speed up our trip just a bit to free ourselves from mud. After stopping in La Junta, CO for dinner (more than enough time to realize that James' first area was in the armpit of America) we headed westward to Canon City. We were excited to explore Canon City because he has told us so much about it and also because it is full of outdoorsy adventures to be had by an outdoor-loving family like us. Unfortunately, with the rain and the Royal Gorge being closed (What?!!!) we didn't have as much to do and we only stayed two days. We ended up camping at this seedy little "vintage" campground just out of town.  But one man's seedy is another man's paradise; you would have thought that we were staying at Disney World by the way the boys reacted to it! They thought that the junky playground and the ready-formed pool were over-the-top cool. And who can top a funny bathroom with a mannequin security guard as part of the decor? I guess it's safe to say that The Starlite Classic Campground is the best kept secret of Colorado!

Trying to stay dry in one of the many storms

Charlie the climber!

 No one needs to be the backseat driver!

 The boys still talk about this merry-go-round. It is all about lowered expectations!

 Three of my men lounging after a dip in a freezing pool.

 Char, warming himself

It was much colder in Colorado than what we were used to in Kansas.

Since we were only pretend camping, we got to dine at fancy restaurants like the Waffle Wagon and Big Burger World:

 The burgers at this place were HUGE! James used to eat here when he was a missionary and had told us all sorts of wonderful tales about their wowy burgers. Thankfully, he wasn't joking and they were seriously the best burgers I have ever had!

 L: The burger took up the whole take out box! R: Coobie wearing his, "I'm telling a really funny joke" face.

 While touring the town, we stopped by James's old pad. Pretty cool to think that a 19-year-old Jamesy-cakes used to live here:

We also strolled around the pretty river areas and caught all sorts of bugs.

All in all, we enjoyed our rainy Colorado stay. Even though it wasn't anything fancy, it was so nice to spend time as a family without ANY commitments or obligations to get in the way. Nothing beats family time!