Snow Mountain Ranch - Part 2

We had lots of activities planned while on vacation, but the whole week we were in Colorado Emma was looking forward to one thing more than all the others: meeting the husky dogs.  They have huskies that race in dog sled races and give rides on the dog sleds to visitors in the winter.  One day there was a chance to meet and play with some of the husky dogs.  Emma asked about it nearly every hour while we were there.  Finally she got to see the huskies!

We drove over to Grand Lake and went on a little hike

Got to stick our feet in this river

And climb on the trees

Back in the city of Grand Lake we had lunch at a local BBQ place and went down to the lake.

Sitting on the dock dangling our feet in the lake.

We got ice cream in town then drove into Rocky Mountain National Park

We saw lots of elk in the park and even a moose

We drove to the Alpine visitor center (which is at a very high altitude - I think 12,000+ feet.  All of us except Anna, who wasn't feeling good, hiked to the top of the peak there.

Stopping to look at a herd of elk on the way back down

Here's the view of our cabin.  It was a busy but fun week in Colorado.

So glad we got to go!

Snow Mountain Ranch

We went on vacation this past week to Granby, Colorado.  It's on the west side of the continental divide (the back/sleepy side of Rocky Mountain National Park).  It was a wonderful vacation and we did a ton of stuff.  We stayed in an old cabin at YMCA of the Rockies.  It had beds and a kitchen.  It was small and nice, just a little dated and basic, but it was just what we needed.  Here we are on our first night, just after arriving.

We played on a little playground before heading to bed for the night.

We tried archery

Rock climbing

canoeing

played some fun outdoor games

went on a hike

Grant thought this view looked like a postcard

Made it to a waterfall

A "gold mine" that's over 100 years old.  

If a gold mine doesn't have any gold in it, is it just a hole in the ground?

We tried fishing.  We didn't catch anything, but learned a lot.

Checking out some historic homestead buildings in the area

Painted pottery at the craft shop

Getting ready for our horseback ride

John was just barely old enough to go on a long ride.  I stayed behind with Emma, but I heard they all had a great time.

Emma was too small to go on a longer horse ride but got to have a little walk around ride on this horse (Pawn).  The other kids wanted to remember their horses names - Scott rode Sturgis, Matthew rode S??, Anna rode Shark, Grant rode Little Ben, John rode Topaz and Emma rode Pawn. 

Got to go on a wagon ride

We had a fun outdoor steak dinner.  It was tasty!

Our wagon horses, (clydesdales) Scotty and Junior

Anna and Matthew got to do a little mountain biking

more canoeing

tubing down the summer tube hill

Emma and I tubed together, each in our own tube but strapped together. 

It was a wild ride down the hill.  You could go forward, backward or spin...or super spin.  There is a moving ramp to bring you and your tube back up and we got to tube for an hour.  So fun!

Go Anna, Go!

Zip lining

Scott, Anna, Matthew and Grant did this

Rollerskating, which we haven't done for a long time and some of the kids didn't enjoy

The view from our cabin

So beautiful.  We were at about 8000 feet there.

camp fire

s'mores

More Colorado adventures to come