My summer holidays generally only include myself and my boyfriend. This year it included his entire family which included his mother, father, two brothers who are twins along with their spouses and a shrieking two year old. If the poorly behaved two year old was avoided, the vacation was lovely.
We stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies, and if you overlooked the obscene amount of religion and the fact that the BF's brothers would just walk into the cabin, it was almost as thought we were alone.
Here it is, Casa de Aspen. This is where the magic happened.
Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain Park
My first cookout
Our second day included a hike up a steep incline to Bible Point, named thus due to a grave placed at the top of a young missionary who died at 18 in a totally unrelated way in a totally unrelated part of the country but had come to this area once many years earlier. So obviously this was the best place to drag his coffin all the way to the top of what was formerly known as Buena Vista. The name was changed to Bible Point after the father of the deceased placed a mailbox with a bible at the top of the mountain in case God might want to write a letter or something. The USPS is already unreliable and putting a postbox at the top of a steep hill is not helping matters... plus the fact that the Great Pumpkin is more likely to write a letter.
Finally after wheezing and puffing the thin air of Colorado we reached the top, and it was worth watching the BF nearly pass out.
And here is the grave of the young Edwin Bradt, who lead a "normal life" according to the tomb stone. I realized later that we were supposed to place a pine cone on the grave, I just thought they fell there, I am such a dumbass.
We found the postbox and even signed the notebook. this too was intended for prayers to be written but let's get serious here, I am about as religious as a mouse turd.
My most favorite place in Colorado; the Stanley Hotel. This time we got the tour full of history, made for TV movies and ghost stories, you know, everything I love.
We had to wait about an hour for the tour which was the last one of the day, so I proceeded to get... relaxed at the bar with a clever cocktail by the name of the "Redrum Martini" It was great.
The tour began which was lead by a wonderful guide by the name of... something or another who told us of the Stanley family, fortune and the hotel and it's revival (thank you Mr. King.)
But the Stanley Hotel is not all Redrums and room 217s, the Stanleys were most famous for the first steam powered automobile which could go up to 127mph. The first muscle car if you will. Small glitch was that it would burst into flames. According to the owners manual, this was fixed by driving faster until the flames were extinguished. Okay, so maybe they weren't that smart.
On the last day we rose early for the traditional family portrait made more enjoyable by the addition of the two year old who cried, flailed around, kicked and every now and then smiled. Once the last shot was taken we rushed off to the stables where we had an appointment for a two hour ride in the trails on horseback.This was my first time riding a horse so naturally I thought it was best to start big. I now know what "saddle sore" means.
I had a sweet horse by the name of Babe who nibbled my ankle and the BF got a spunky grey horse named Murph. Murph was later renamed to Mr. Bouncy.
The ride took over two hours but went up to Emerald Mountain and then back down. To my utter delight not all of the ride was along a perilous rocky trail with a near shear drop, but the threw in some trotting for good measure. No one warned me about the trotting, ouch.
The vacation at Estes Park has ended and I am awaiting my return to Boston, but all things considered, this was a wonderful trip. So goodbye dry air and nature, it was fun while it lasted.
