So when it came to planning this trip, we knew I would be gone for at least a week, which is a long time for Ryan to be without a car. Ryan's parents thought it would be fun to pick a spot close to a half way point where they could scout out future family camping spots and have all three of us join them for the weekend. Then Ryan could take the car back to Casper and I could head to Utah with his parents. As for getting home, to spare you a long and drawn out decision making process on my part, I decided to fly home. Originally, his parents thought we would aim for the Jackson area, but we ended up opting for Steamboat Springs, CO in hopes that Ryan's sister Jodi, her Ryan, and their three kids would be able to come up from Colorado Springs and hang out with us for the weekend.
We decided to be brave and take the route MapQuest gave us, which told us to take 487 instead of 220 all the way to Rawlins. Honestly, it probably only saved us a few miles, but it was fun to see some new country.
P only took a short nap, maybe 30 minutes, so he was pretty tired on the way there, but of course he perked right up as soon as he saw Oma and Opa. We stayed at the Nordic Lodge. It is run by a sweet couple who I think are from Armenia. Could be totally off on that one. I am just trying to remember what I saw on one of the reviews. Anyway, Ryan's parents got us our own room, which was very sweet of them. I would have been fine with sharing, but they were afraid that between the grandparents snoring and Pierscen hating his pack 'n' play that no one would sleep. They did allow pets, so we were able to bring Dodger along. I wasn't sure how he would do with us leaving him in the room considering he barks when we leave him in the backyard, but he actually did really well. Just curled up on the bed and went to sleep.
After settling in and changing P's clothes (hurray for blow outs) we hit the streets. Steamboat Springs is absolutely beautiful. It's a resort town that reminds me a TON of Park City, Ut. In fact, just across from our motel you could see the ski jumps on the mountain. The main street had a pretty artsy feel to it, lots of fun shops and places to eat.
This horse, named Lightning, is parked outside of the F.M. Light and Sons store with a sign that says to climb on up, take a picture, and if you send it to them, they will post it on their website. I submitted the picture below on the right, though I don't know if it has been posted yet. You can check it out, though be prepared to sit for a while. I haven't figured out how to make it scroll faster. http://fmlight.com/lightning-riders/#.UaeGzcrElU0
We enjoyed dinner at Johnny B. Good's Diner. I ordered a club sandwich and it ended up being ginormous! Everyone else got the burger special. It was yummy stuff. We wandered up and down the streets for a while, enjoying the scenery, fun window shops, and nice weather.
Eventually we headed back to the motel to get ready for bed and so Opa could hit the hot tub. We put P in his pajamas, then he took off to the bathroom and shut us out. I figured there really wasn't anything he could get into...
Wrong! Hey, for all of you parents out there thinking, "Well duh," this was a first for him. I wish I could say it was the last time... but that would be a big lie.
Getting him to bed was a bit of a nightmare, but after letting him scream and cry for a few minutes, I was able to go scoop him up, rock him, sing him some songs and he was out. Truth was, the kid was EXHAUSTED. Running off only a 30 minute nap, yeah I don't blame him. So I am glad he gave up relatively easy once I had him in my arms. Thankfully he let me put him down without waking up and he slept through the night. Wish I could say the same for myself... but that would also be a lie.
The next morning we headed out to find Fish Creek Falls. The path to the falls only took about 5 minutes and is totally paved. It was really pretty, even with all the patched of snow. I can only imagine how gorgeous it will be in a month or so when all the leaves are back!
After the falls we went for a nice long drive to explore the area. Pierscen took a 40 minute nap or so, which was wonderful. When he woke up, we stopped at a park to let him play.
He loved trying out the slide and the tilt-a-whirl thingy with Oma and Opa.
Following park time, we decided to go grab lunch. We headed to The Cantina which was just a block or so from our motel. We had just sat down when we got word that Jodi, Ryan and their kids had made it. They had texted us maybe 10 minutes earlier saying they were stuck in traffic in Denver, but they were just kidding. :) They joined us for some yummy Mexican food.
We all waddled back to the motel where they got a room of their own and got settled in. P was tired, but we knew he wouldn't give in for a nap, so we decided to head back to the waterfalls knowing that the other kids would love to see it.
This time, Ryan, Opa, Me and P took the path to the base of the waterfall. I think P really liked this option because it meant throwing rocks in the river.
While we waited for the rest of the gang to hike the upper path and then come down and join us, Ryan took P down to the river and let him throw more rocks. And then in turned into snowballs - at me!
The picture bellow is a perfect action shot, though zooming in is helpful. If you look above Ryan's head and just off to the left, you can see the snowball flying my direction. And yes, it was a bullseye.
Following the falls, we set out to find a different park to let the other kids run and play. We had a map of the area and went to several different "parks" but none of them had any playground equipment. So after another long drive, we headed back to the motel. We all lounged around for a while before decided to head out for a pizza night. We had a coupon for a place that offered something like a free salad bar for 2 with the purchase of a premium pizza. Sounded like a good deal until we got there and found out that these premium pizza's cost $39.99. Say what?!?! So that was a no go.
We Googled another place and started down the road. When we reached the corner the map indicated, we found no pizza place. A kind blind man asked us what we were looking for. We told him the name of the place and he laughed and said that it is a mobile unit some guy owns. He drives around mostly in the summer and parks at random corners. Apparently, this corner was where Google said he was registered. Oh well. So the guy recommended we go across the street to Mambo Italiano. When we arrived, they asked if we had called ahead, which he hadn't, but the lady said she would "take a chance" and gave us the table she had reserved for another group. Very nice of her. The pizza was still expensive, $20 for a large, but they were really big. We ordered two Hawaiian, since that was the only one we recognized the name. When you think about it though, $40 for a group of six adults and four kids, that's pretty dang good! The pizza was totally different than anything I have ever had, but it was delicious! The first couple of bites were kind of weird and it took a while to adjust, but after a little bit - man oh man - I couldn't get enough. It was way good! It was more of a sweet and spicy Hawaiian. Yum yum yum. I would totally get it again.
The second night was much better for sleeping. P, who hadn't had an afternoon nap at all, fell asleep in my arms within a minute of me rocking him. I slept much better too.
Sunday morning Ryan took off back to Casper after breakfast. The rest of us went to Sacrament meeting. The Steamboat Springs ward is TINY! We were all surprised because the building is nice and big, but wow. We definitely added to their numbers. Jodi's Ryan bore his testimony which was really powerful. It was also really neat because an investigator got up and bore his testimony. I have never seen that. I guess it wouldn't be called a "testimony" quiet yet, but it kind of was. He talked about how much he has learned in the church and how he hopes that someday he will be able to say that he "knows" it is true. He isn't there yet, but he believes he will be soon. Wow. How cool is that?! Humbling for sure.
Following Sacrament, we headed back to the motel for check out. We said our goodbyes to Ryan and Jodi and fam, and P and I climbed in the car with Oma and Opa. P fell asleep literally the moment we pulled out from the motel. He took a nice long nap, which was wonderful.
At one point along the drive, traffic came to almost a standstill. There were people with cameras, trailers, trucks, etc all lining the road. This is what we saw:
Literally hundreds of horses. I have never seen anything like it. We still aren't sure what that was all about, because most of the horses had branding on them, but hey - it was fun to see.
We stopped in Vernal so Opa could help my brother Paul's friend, Christian, out with his car. Paul actually wasn't going to come, but we gave him a guilt trip and told him to get his butt out of bed (it was 2 pm) and come say hi. I haven't seen him since my brother Philip got hitched over a year ago. So he made his way over and we were able to say hello. Good to see you Paul!
Ryan's sister Jen, and her family were nice enough to make home made Cafe Rio and have it waiting for us when we got home. Yum! Yum! Thanks Jen! It was awesome to be back and enjoy time with family. The cousins were all very excited to see each other.
We had to snap a picture, or two, or three of the blonde hair, blue eyed kids. It's kind of crazy. All of the latest grandkids on this side of the family have blonde hair and blue eyes, including Jodi's youngest Kaden. Where did they come from? :)
The rest of the week was busy, but wonderful. And for that post, check back shortly!
