Day 1--Paint Mines Interpretive Park

August 1, 2015

(click the pictures to see them larger!)

See the corresponding post on Colorado Conversations for more pictures!

We arrived in Calhan, Colorado shortly after 11:00 am. It was HOT.

Paint Mines Interpretive Park is located just south of the small town of Calhan. I compare it to the Badlands in South Dakota, only much smaller, and possibly more colorful.
If you have time to explore, park in the first parking lot you come to. For a shorter visit, continue down the road to the second parking lot. You can see the canyon from there, and it's just a short hike down into the dry, colorful world of the paint mines.

from the top of the trail, looking north

Looking north-east

Looking east

KT and Mainiac, exploring.

Mainiac is on the short side, not breaking 5' 5", so imagine her excitement when she stood up and bumped her head on the rock! To any person of average or above height, this is a common annoyance, but to her it is a rare occurrence indeed.

Fairy Trumpet Flowers, or  Ipomopsis aggregata

Goldenrod

prickly pear cactus!

Colorado: Day 1--Driving!

**Please see my blog created specifically for this trip! It's located at http://coloradoconversations.blogspot.com/
I'll post abbreviated versions of each post on this blog (trying to revive it a bit!), but the full posts (with more pictures!) will be at Colorado Conversations. Some of the other girls on the trip might post there as well--we'll see. You are welcome to comment on either blog, and follow the links to the corresponding posts on Colorado Conversations. :)

Evening 1--July 31, 2015

Day 1--August 1, 2015

Wisconsin to Bettendorf, Iowa

Bettendorf, Iowa to Calhan, Colorado

We left the house right on schedule: 6:30 pm! ....And then we had to stop 20 minutes down the road. Mainiac had accidentally left her phone, drivers license, and debit card in her family's car, and we needed to pick that up before heading out of state. Thankfully we discovered it was missing before we made it to Colorado!

Driving west into the sunset, we watched a rosy sunset ahead of us and the blue moon rising behind us. It was enormous and beautiful. (see picture below)

KT and El took the first driving/navigating shift, then we paused at my grandparents' house long enough to say hello, change into comfy clothes, and pick up the GPS.
I took the next leg of the journey and made it almost to Council Bluffs. Mainiac made a wonderful navigator, and kept me awake with funny stories, trivia pulled up on her phone (thank goodness for 3G!), and classic Newsboys/Michael W. Smith sing-alongs. Sometime between 1 and 2 AM I realized that driving any further would be a very unwise decision, so we switched out with El and KT and slept until we reached Kearney, Nebraska.

Blue Moon around 2-3:00 am.

From Kearney we dropped down into Kansas on a road parallel to the railroad, taking us through small towns such as Long Island and Funk.

Some might think that the drive through Kansas would be boring, since the road is so flat and straight, but I thought it was beautiful. We drove through fields of sunflowers and over the west end of beautiful Harlan County Lake.
Driving through Kansas might have been my favorite drive of the trip. Okay, maybe not The Favorite. The Peak-to-Peak Highway and Trail Ridge Road both had some fantastic scenery! But this was pretty and quiet and peaceful.

Harlan County Lake

Abandoned house close to the Colorado border

We're here!! (That's not us.)

Allow me to introduce the Colorado Crew!


El, back there reading

Mainiac, living up to her name. ;)
I think we were singing along to Fiddler on the Roof...

There's me, Kiwi!

KT finally fell asleep. (she doesn't sleep well in cars.)

 

First glimpse of mountains! Taken a little ways east of Calhan, Colorado.
You really have to squint to see it, but there's a mountain there!

Next post: Paint Mines Interpretive Park!

137 Days And Counting

Much has transpired since my last post! Please forgive me for my absence. My job has been hectic and stressful, and instead of writing I've been binge-watching The Office, Everybody Loves Raymond, and whatever else Netflix has to offer!

The countdown has informed me that we have

          One-Hundred 

                    Thirty-Seven Days 

[and] 

                              Six[ish] Hours 

                                        until we take off for Colorado!

It's getting closer!
El, The Maniac, and I have been feverishly going over our Google Drive files, adding to the List of Ideas, the Itinerary, and a Packing List.
(I've also created a blog that we may start using to document the preparations and the actual event, so keep an eye out for a link. It should be up and running by the end of March.)
Here are a few things we're looking forward to, in no particular order:

• Driving through the night in 4-hour shifts
• Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs
• Focus on the Family Headquarters (El and I grew up on Adventures in Odyssey, so visiting "Whit's End" is a MUST!)
• Estes Park (there are plenty of fun shoppes to visit downtown! Including one devoted entirely to Socks.)
• Rocky Mountain National Park (This year is their 100th anniversary!)
• Horseback riding
• Maybe some gemstone mining?
• Discovering the best coffee shops in each town
• Visiting a good Indian restaurant (Maniac is a big fan of Indian food and good chai tea.)
• Journaling
• Photobombing the webcams in RMNP
• Souvenir collecting

Is there anything we're missing?

It seems the more I look, the more I realize that there is no way one week will be enough time to see and do everything.

There are so many
     museums,
          exhibits,
               trails,
                    mountains,
                         lakes,
                              restaurants,
                                   landmarks,
                                        ghost towns,
                                             curiosities...

So many options for souvenirs:
     Jewelry or t-shirts?
          Christmas ornaments or post cards?
               Worth the money or woefully overpriced?
                    Tacky or tasteful?

How do we choose?

You decide: Is it acceptable to decide your vacation's fate by drawing destination options out of a hat? What if it's an Indiana Jones hat?


--Kiwi d. Fruit

A Change of Plans

We are down to 

          Three-Hundred 

                    Seventy Days 

[and] 

                              Five[ish] Hours 

                                        until we take off for Colorado! 

I get rather excited when I think about it, but it's also bitter-sweet right now.
The "cousins" we planned to travel with are not able to come.
To be completely honest, that was going to be half the fun of the trip. The four of us are best friends. El and Emmers are both adventurous but cautious and sensible. KK and I are more adventurous and crazy. We would have balanced each other out perfectly!
There were so many plans, and now they have to change. Life doesn't always happen the way you plan it, so you adapt and enjoy. And sometimes the adaptations surprise you.

El and I started brainstorming immediately about who else we could invite. The two of us would be fun, but you know what they say: "the more the merrier and the cheaper!" She called up one of our dear friends who is living in Maine right now, but comes back to Wisconsin regularly. We were both surprised and amazed when she replied (paraphrase):

"Of course! I have no idea what I'm doing next year, but I would LOVE to go!! How much do you need? I can't pay all of it right away, but I can send you a check for part this week if you need it!"

How awesome is that? No questions, no "let me think about it," just "when do I pay?"

I spoke to one of my long-time best friends, Ruthie. She's spunky and crazy and adventurous too, but will be taking paramedic classes next summer (she had worked her way up to advanced EMT at 19!), so can't commit. That's another disappointment, but we'll see what happens.

Right now there's one friend pending decision, and we might have to start looking for a fourth adventurer if she can't go.
          But we'll see.
                    We still have three-hundred seventy days and assorted hours left.

--Kiwi D. Fruit

Another Trip?

Well folks! It's been what, 6 months since I posted here last? Pretty sad, isn't it. Eventful things have been happening in my neck of the woods, but most of them aren't really the "Share With the Interwebs" type of thing. I've been wanting to get back into blogging some, but frankly didn't know what to type about.
Then at the beginning of this month my sister and I started making Plans.
Big Plans.
The kind you Capitalize.
People, my sister and I are going to Colorado next summer, and we are stoked!

We're not leaving until July of 2015, which is 498 days away (yes, there is a Colorado Countdown Timer), which gives us plenty of time to plan, save, and scheme. As of March 20, the brief rundown is as follows:

• Arrive in Colorado Springs on Saturday morning, and explore the Garden of the Gods visitors' center, maybe Focus on the Family/Whit's End, etc.
• While in Colorado Springs we'll be exploring Garden of the Gods, the city itself, hike on Mt. Evans, celebrate our "cousin's" birthday, and whatever else we feel like doing.
• Then we're headed over to Estes Park, where we'll get to go into Rocky Mountain National Park during its 100th year of National Parkhood! (If you remember from my last post, I got to go stand by the sign but never actually enter!) We'll hike in RMNP, of course, and tour the town and buy souvenirs and take pictures. We also might take a horseback ride--that's still in discussion.
• We'll also spend about a day in Denver, touring the city and seeing all the sights.

My sister and I invited our "adopted cousins" to accompany us, and we're all so very excited about taking at trip to begin with--to be going with each other is even better!

I'll try to blog a few times as we continue to plan. We'll be doing hikes and walks in our area to start getting in shape for next summer. The next 498 days can't go fast enough. =D

--KiwiDFruit