Tag: rmnp

After hitting up Fort Collins on Wednesday, we began Thursday at the Alluvial Fan. We got going pretty early that day to avoid the crowds, but still had to contend with a lack of parking.  Still, Meg and I made the trip all the way up the fan and she did shockingly well.  I had to help lift her up and hold her hand as she placed her feet carefully on wet rocks.  There was definitely some slippage, but overall, I was pretty proud of her!  Calvin wanted to go too, of course, but there’s no way he could have made the trip except on one of our backs (and that wouldn’t have been the smartest choice…).  Ultimately, he hung out at the bottom of the waterfall throwing rocks in the water, while the rest of the Baumann Clan tossed rocks and enjoyed the nice weather.

We then took a drive around Rocky Mountain National Park via Old Fall River Road.  We’d driven past its entrance a few days before.  It’s a dirt road with countless switchbacks that ultimately makes its way up to the Alpine Visitor Center.  It was a fun drive, though a dusty and somewhat slow one.  Calvin actually fell asleep halfway up, though at the top, the kids got to play in a little snow.  We also ran across a late-model Nissan Altima whose transmission belt apparently gave out, yielding no forward motion on its part (Mark tried to help to no avail).

Most of Thursday involved driving around RMNP, seeing some marmots, elk, mule deer, and chipmunks.  The kids enjoyed getting to see the variety of environments, and a few waterfalls, though we could tell that the incessant driving had worn on them a bit.  It was good to take a break from the hiking, but all the driving didn’t really help their demeanor.  Still, at least the adults had fun. 🙂

The next day, we tried keeping things a bit light, as the 5K was scheduled for that evening and, well, we wanted to keep our ankles in shape.  Obviously, the best thing to do is to get up early and go to Bear Lake, right?

As the picture all the way at the top shows, the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  We ended up hiking 2.5 miles or so between Bear Lake and Nymph Lake, and ended up dealing with some cranky kids who either a). didn’t want to hike, or b). wanted to climb every rock they saw.  I can’t say that Friday morning was all that “fun” for us, but at least the weather was good, and we could keep things a bit light.

The rest of the afternoon consisted of napping and watching TV.  Calvin slept for 3 hours that day, if I remember correctly, as he was catching up for not substantially napping the previous 4 days.

That evening, everyone except Mallory, Meg and Calvin ran a 5K around the lake in Estes Park.  The weather stayed pretty good, though a few rain drops fell around the time Brooke was finishing up.  The race itself went pretty well for everyone, though I had some qualms with how it started with a hill on a narrow path, where a lot of people slowed down at the beginning and forced us to try and fit around them by jogging on the side of the adjacent road.  Ultimately, I did about as well as I did in Hannibal a few weeks earlier, and Brooke did about as well as she wanted to for her first 5K.  The elevation affected everyone, to a degree, but being there for a few days (and jogging and hiking…) beforehand made a difference in our performance, I’m sure.

The next morning, Mallory ran the Half Marathon and placed fourth in her age group, so we were all very proud of her.  After the marathon, the rest of the Baumann Brigade headed out to do some last minute hiking, while the Linsenbardt side headed to the Moraine Park Discovery Center in RMNP to go on a “discovery hike” with the kids so they could complete their Junior Ranger certifications.  This took an hour and a half and, overall, was pretty fun for the kids, as other kids were also along and they finally had someone else to interact with aside from adults.

As you can see, they were pretty pleased with themselves. 🙂

After that, we returned to the house so Calvin could take a nap.  Again, everyone mostly hung around the house (though Meg and I briefly headed out to see a friend of mine from high school who happened to be in Estes Park that day with his family) until dinner, our one night out around the area.  We ended up at Tavern 1929, a place just outside of town that was a part of a lodge.  I’m not sure if it was the fact that we really hadn’t eaten out much that week, or whether we had all done a lot of running recently, or whether it was our last night in Estes Park, but that food was really good.  We all left positively stuffed.  No complaints, except that the restaurant couldn’t install larger stomachs in our bodies.

That night, we packed things up and prepared to leave.  We left the next morning by 8:30 am MST or so (the Baumanns left a little earlier than we did) and made it back to Marshall by 9:00 pm CST.  The kids were both shockingly well-behaved for this portion of the trip, likely because they were watching shows on their Kindles again, and because they were tired from the week behind them.

It was a great trip!  We look forward to returning to Colorado, though next time, we’ll probably try and hit the southern area of the state.  Lots of other national parks to hit up in the coming years, though!

Months ago, Mallory decided to run in the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, to be held in late July in Estes Park, CO.  One thing led to another in various discussions and the Baumann clan decided we’d all go.  It had been years since some of the girls had been to Colorado and Meg and Calvin had never seen “the mountains” before, so plans were set in motion.

We left Marshall last Monday and stayed overnight in Nebraska via Airbnb.  It was an 8 hour drive that took more like 10 hours, but we’re glad we split up the trip to Colorado into two days, giving the kids a bit more “decompression time” after being in the car for so long.  Also, we could be a bit more leisurely in our plans, allowing for longer stops and possible diversions along the way.  The kids did pretty well, really, as Brooke loaded up some thin plastic bins with activities, and I grabbed a season of a TV show for each of them to load onto their Kindle Fires.  They were very ready to be done with driving once we got there, and getting to run around the front yard of a house (as opposed to around the beds in a hotel room) was great.

We drove toward Estes Park the next day, taking a trip through Big Thompson Canyon, which contains the Big Thompson River.  It’s a pretty drive and the kids enjoyed looking up as high as they could along the rocky walls of the canyon.  Again, nothing that Brooke and I hadn’t seen before, but to them, where rocks don’t normally get that tall in Missouri, it was pretty neat.  Eastern Colorado and the drive through the canyon took more than a few hours (it always takes longer than you think…), but we ultimately reached our destination early-afternoon on Tuesday, July 23rd.

The house we stayed in was pretty cool, though it was located in a more suburban neighborhood a few miles from downtown Estes Park.  It was pretty close to everywhere we wanted to be, though, and we could get to Rocky Mountain National Park within 20 min or less, depending on traffic.  The house had 3 bedrooms and a loft on the third floor, so plenty of space for people to get away from things, as well as a large living room and a “living space” on the second floor with couches.  There were two full baths, though the hot water pressure could have been better.  Overall, it was a beautiful place to stay for a few days!

That first day, we killed some time in RMNP with a picnic, letting Meg and Calvin run around a bit and get their feet wet (literally).  We also stocked up at Safeway, though being the only grocery store in town meant that everyone in town was there (also literally).  The rest of the Baumann clan had driven in overnight from St. Louis, so they were on the tired side of things and opted to take it easy for the rest of the day: fine by us!

The next day, Mark, Brooke, the kids and me traveled to Fort Collins to go hiking with Brooke’s cousin, Jared, and his daughter, Elle.  We went hiking on a dirt trail out in Larimer County, not within RMNP.  It was a pretty easy hike, really, though Elle and Calvin wanted to walk for part of the trip, slowing us down considerably.  This was our first real “hiking experience” in Colorado, and though the weather was actually pretty good, there wasn’t much shade, so the kids got tired, too.  We only went a few miles, but found a trickle of a waterfall at the end, so that made the trip worth it for the kids.

After the hike, we all went to Coopersmith’s Pub & Brewing for lunch (also joined by Jared’s wife, Andrea) in downtown Fort Collins.  The food was great, especially after a morning outside.  The flight of beer I got was also very good, though I wished I could have stayed longer to sample some more.  However, we had reservations for a tour at New Belgium Brewing Company and couldn’t stay long.

The New Belgium tour was great and, shockingly, the kids also were very well-behaved!  Maybe they were just worn out from the morning (heavy sun can do that to you…), but they actually listened pretty well when we told them what to do, and also stayed pretty quiet while the tour guide was speaking to us.  The tour itself was also good, though not necessarily informative (once you’ve been on a beer tour, you’ve seen most of what you can possibly see…).  We didn’t learn all that much over the course of the 1.5 hour tour, but we did get to taste four 6 oz volumes of different brews, including Fat Tire, Sunshine, Heavy Melon and La Folie (which is a sour beer that apparently starts out as Brooke’s favorite, 1554, but is instead aged in red wine barrels).  We filled up a growler with De Konink from their bar after the tour and took it back to the house with us.  If you’re ever visiting Fort Collins, take that growler along because they’ll fill it with their regular, all-season beers for $6.  A steal!

After that, we stopped for ice cream on the way home because the kids were so good and headed back to the house.  I think Brooke and I agree that this was probably our favorite day of the trip.  Not that the other days weren’t good, but everyone seemed to be in a good mood, it was great to see Jared, Andrea and Elle, and it was our first real day of “vacation,” so everyone was excited to see some cool new stuff.

And beer.  There’s nothing wrong with beer. 🙂

The next day, we spent a lot of time in RMNP…but that’s best saved for another post!