For two weeks in July, 2001, we went on vacation in Colorado. (Movie of Jasmine asleep on the plane.) There were 2 parts of our trip. The first part was a visit to see Blair and Donna in Fort Collins. The second part was to visit Barbara, Andrew, Dale and Robin in Telluride. This photo album has pictures of the kids on their vacation. There are a million more pictures from our trip, of scenery, rock climbing, parents, etc... which will have to wait for another photo album.

In Ft. Collins, we went into the foothills above Fort Collins to Horsetooth Reservior and Tory State Park. We went part of the way up the Arthur's Rock trail, with great rocks with mica in them to collect and beautiful purple wildflowers. The next day Jasmine and Jonathan went horseback riding in the park, while Ariel and I sat by a dry streambed nearby to have a snack.

We went to Estes Park for some shopping then Rocky Mountain National Park for the afternoon, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, but not the freezing cold temperatures at 12,000 feet! Another day we went to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to go to the Sierra Trading Post outlet and the Frontier Days festival. The girls loved the rides. They were tired of travelling, so we spent half a day at the town pool and a park nearby to cool off and give the girls some play time. (Movie1 of Ariel in sprinkler), and (Movie2 of Ariel in sprinkler.)

One night we went to a free concert in the park at Colorado State University, and the girls had a great time wrestling with Blair all night. (Movie of us at the CSU concert picnic.) Another day, we took the tour of the Celestial Seasonings Tea factory in Boulder, then went climbing in Boulder Canyon. One day, Mommy got to leave the crowd and spend the day climbing with Blair at Lumpy Ridge in Rocky Mountain National Park.

After a week at our hosts in Fort Collins, we took the long long drive down to Telluride. Barbara and Andrew live in Trout Lake, just outside of Telluride, in a beautiful setting overlooking the lake and surrounded by 13,000 foot peaks. Basically it was a week-long play date, the girls all got along great, Jasmine and Ariel slept in Dale & Robin's room, and they would have been perfectly happy to just stay in the house all week and play, but we kept dragging them out to enjoy the scenery.

The girls got a thrill going into Telluride. We would park in Mountain Village, then take the free gondola up and down very steep slopes into Telluride. (Movie of girls in gondola), and (movie2 of girls in gondola), and (movie of girls chanting "Swiper no swiping" from a kids TV show, while in the gondola). We spent a day wandering around Telluride, the girls enjoyed playing in the playground with Dale and Robin (and Barbara & Andrew), while Mommy & Daddy had a break to go shopping around town by ourselves. The park had a pretty waterfall in it. (movie of Jasmine and Dale walking out of the park.)

One day we all hiked the Jud Weibe trail (approx 3.5 miles) above Telluride. Beautiful views of Telluride and the surrounding mountains, as well as hiking through beautiful white aspen forests. The girls started getting tired towards the end, but Mommy kept bribing everyone with jelly beans and we all made it!

We spent an entire day at Mesa Verde National Park. The older girls (Jasmine and Dale) were very fascinated by the ancient cliff dwellings. After our tour of the Balcony House, which included ascending and descending steep ladders and steps cut right into a sheer cliff face (the girls did great!), Andrew and Barbara took the two younger girls (Ariel and Robin) back with them, and we brought Dale along with us to tour the rest of the park. (Jasmine narrarates the scenery.)

One night we went to a free Blues Concert in Mountain Village. The girls had a great time dancing around and making friends. (Movie1 of kids dancing with friends they made), and (movie2 of kids dancing).

We did get some parental play in. The mommies spent one day bushwacking over thick brush to check out what turned out to be a sub-standard cliff near the Ophir Wall, and then got to retreat through the thick brush in the pouring rain with thunder and lightning all around us. Another day, we got a babysitter and the daddies hiked to the 13K summit of Sheep Mountain, while the mommies rock climbed in Cracked Canyon (part of the Ophir Wall), then we dropped the kids off at Barbara's parents condo in Telluride and us grownups went out to a fancy dinner in Telluride.