Category: 2012

As I said in the post before, my husband and I went on a little trip to Golden, CO.  We visited a couple of different museums and visitors centers.  However, one of the best parts of the trip to me (besides being with my husband), was the drive up to Mt. Evans.  Mt. Evans has the highest paved road in North America.  From where you turn off the major Interstate 70 you will drive until you are 14, 240 feet at the summit.  The drive up to the top and back down to the bottom is truly amazing.  The views are gorgeous and the wildlife you see is just beautiful.

As we were driving to the top, we first pulled off at the Mt. Goliath Natural area.  It’s a little building were they talk and show the landscaping of the mountains.  It shows the 3 different levels of the mountains.  It also showcases the vegetation of the land.  The plants, flowers and trees are different at each level due to the climate.  This area is actually a boundary between the sub-alpine forests and the tundra.   This area also contains most of the Bristlecone pines.  They have dated some of the pines to be older than 1600 years.

We continued the drive to the top and then came to Summit Lake pull-off.  At the time we were there, Summit Lake was still frozen.  I had never seen a frozen lake before!  However, we were unable to walk to the lake due to safety concerns.  The Wildlife Rangers were accessing the situation at the time.

The first day we went to Mt. Evans, Summit Lake was as far as we could drive.  It had snowed the previous day/night and they had the road closed to the top. We were determined to go to the top of the mountain, so we came back the following day.  We wanted to tell our kids that we had been 14,000+ feet on top of a mountain!  {grin}  So the next day, we made the journey back to Mt. Evans and were told we could drive all the way to the top.  I never tire of the beautiful views that God has created.  The views did not disappoint as we passed Summit Lake.  Around every curve there was another gorgeous view.  What surprised us was seeing people riding their bicycles and even a man walking up so high.  We know the air gets thinner as you go higher and was told to be careful and to drink plenty of fluids.  Yet, these men were out enjoying a ride and stroll at such a high altitude!

We then came around the corner to the very top.  There was this huge stone building that I later found out was once called The Crest House – “The Castle in the Sky”.  However, a propane tank exploded and blew the roof and part of the building up.  They then changed it into a visitor’s platform.   The views from the different levels were amazing. There is also an Observatory on top of the mountain as well.  We didn’t make it around to see this.  The wind was blowing so hard that it was very hard to stand up and was freezing cold!

What surprised me the most up on top of this mountain?  Seeing mountain goats and sheep!  I had never seen a mountain goat or sheep before.  I could not believe how docile and calm these animals were.  They continued grazing, breaking through the little bit of snow and ice that hadn’t melted yet.

I was unable to get close enough to the mountain sheep to get any pictures of them.  However, take my word for it when I say that they are beautiful creations of God.

The views from the top were so beautiful and I am glad we had decided to come back on that second day.

I am so glad that I was able to go on this trip with my husband.  It was definitely a once in a lifetime trip with just the two of us, until our children are all on their own.  As much as we enjoyed being with one another, we both said the next time we took off again on a trip like this, our children will definitely be with us.

Have you ever been on a trip and wished you had your children with you?

The last week of May, my husband and I were blessed to have been able to go on a little trip.  Just the 2 of us.  In the 20 years (Oct.3rd), that we have been married, we have never taken a trip with just the two of us.  We have always had the kids with us.  Our youngest two have never even stayed away with others, without one of us always being their with them.  So when this opportunity arrived, we took it and said this would be our anniversary trip.  It was also the first time that I had ever flown.  I have always been afraid of heights, but I truly loved flying in a plane and look forward to doing it again.   We were blessed to have been able to take a trip west to Golden, CO.  This is a beautiful little town at the foot of the Rockies.  We stayed in a beautiful hotel called The Golden Hotel.  The view from the room was amazing.  I couldn’t wait to get to exploring around the area. One of the first places we went was to the Buffalo Bill’s Museum and Grave.  I love history, especially that of the Old West.  So to be able to go see where Buffalo Bill and his family were buried and to see a place dedicated to his life, was awesome!

Once we left Buffalo Bill’s Museum, we just rode around looking at the different views.  It is so amazing how the Rocky mountains are so different than the Appalachian Mountains. We rode to the Red Rocks Amphitheater.   While we didn’t get to go into the amphitheater seating area (they were having a graduation), we did get to see the visitor center and walk around the outside of it.  It is gorgeous there!  I would LOVE to go back and walk the trails around the area, as well as see a concert in the amphitheater.  The pictures I took with my phone does not do this place any justice.

Another cool place that my husband and I went to was The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.  It is one of the largest urban refuges in the United States.  It has over 330 different species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and amphibians.  The story about how this refuge came about is truly amazing.  The U.S. Army had built this area as a chemical weapons manufacturing facility after japan bombed Pearl Harbor, to support the war effort.  After the war was over, the land was then leased to the Shell Chemical Company for agricultural chemicals. Then the Arsenal was then used for Cold War weapons production and demilitarization.  For the rest of the story of who started cleaning up and how they did it, go to the Arsenal’s site.

While we were at the visitor center at the Arsenal Wildlife Refuge, we saw prairie dogs!  I had never seen one before and we saw close to 100 or more running across the plains.  God’s creations are amazing!  I wish we could have gotten a good picture of live ones close up, but they were too quick for us.

This picture was taken at their museum they have set up.  One day, I am hoping to go back so I can take my kids.  They have tours of the who area and you can see the mule deer and bison roaming on the prairie.  I know they will love seeing this!

I thought I had better split this up into two posts.  It was like we were on a field trip.  I took around 700 pictures and can’t wait to tell you about the trip to Mt. Evans and show you the views from 14,000 ft.

Until then… 🙂