Weekend in the Mountains

We are just coming off of a great weekend in the mountains of Colorado. It was such a fun filled weekend that I don't think I will get it all posted tonight. However, I wanted to get some of the photos up and hopefully I'll get the rest up before we leave town for the 4th of July.

Saturday morning we packed the car and headed West toward Vail. Our goal was to get to Vail sometime in the afternoon to meet up with the Hess family. Before we did that, we wanted to get in a hike for some exercise and fresh air.

Oliver has been fussy lately and we think he may be teething even though we have yet to see actual teeth. We weren't sure the hike was going to go so well but it only took about 20 steps for him to calm down and start to perk up. We think that we have a mountain man in the making.

We hiked the Rock Creek Trail just north of Silverthorn, CO. The trail takes you to breath taking views of the Gore Mountain Range and an old mining site. It is about an hour West of our house on I-70 and then about 10 miles North of there. The hike was only 1.7 miles one way, but we thought that was plenty since we haven't really been hiking since before I was pregnant AND we were now doing it with a (potentially teething) 8.5 month old mountain man in the making.

Oliver did great on the hike and Keith and I felt rejuvenated to get back to hiking. When we were dating we used to go hiking nearly every summer weekend, usually in Estes or Rocky Mountain National Park.

On the way up, Oliver talked and talked the whole way. Once we go to the top we took him out of the pack and he got SO upset. We thought for sure the ride down would be miserable! We quickly enjoyed the view, loaded him up and headed down. It only took a few minutes before.... well, you'll have to look at the pictures for the rest of the story.

Oliver scoping out the bark on a tree. He is still deciding if he is happy to be hiking or not, but his senses are loading up on new things and he soon decides that hiking is on his list of favorite things to do. Besides, who wouldn't like hiking if someone else did all the work for you!!

I just love this photo. It shows off his crystal clear, bright blue eyes. You also get a great view of his bottom toothless gum. Hopefully it will sprout teeth soon! Do you see any? Out of nowhere, we noticed that Oliver had snagged an aspen branch. He loved it! As the wind blew he would wave it around. We soon noticed that his hands were out touching everything. Maybe he is a texture person, like his Mom.
I love this shot of Oliver and Keith amongst the Aspen trees. We may have to do this hike again in the fall when the leaves are gold.



Here I am!!! I don't just take the pictures but I actually do the hiking too!
Our first big glimpse of the Gore Range.
What on earth is this plant growing in the Colorado wild? It reminded us of something from a more tropical place. Then, we noticed that this small area was kind of like a rain forest. Check it out!
Gore Range

Family Self Portrait. We loved this hike because we were practically the only ones up there and it was beautiful. Good thing we are getting good at self portraits since we didn't have a fellow hiker to talk into being our photographer.
As we enjoyed this view for just a few minutes, Oliver decided to warn the wild life we were there by letting out a few sounds of dissatisfaction. Uh, oh... we better head back.
Maybe 5 minutes down the trail I noticed this head bobbing on the side of Keith's pack. Oliver had fallen asleep. He slept nearly the whole way down the trail.

Can you see Oliver's head sticking out by Keith's right shoulder?

Awake, just in time to see the end of the hike a couple of minutes from the trail head.
Time for a quick snack and then it's off to Vail.