Good Morning Colorado! Day 1

After leaving St. Peter on Sunday, May 27th at 6:15pm, we arrived in Denver around 6:30am.  It was quite the road trip, one to be remembered for sure.  Shortly after we left our house we noticed the skies getting quite dark off to the west.  It rained off and on, nothing major until we got to Windom.  So since the girls were a little hungry we decided to stop eat something quick and wait out the rain for a while.  Well, it never really let up so we thought we might as well get back on the road.  The line of thunderstorms was quite large and we basically drove into it until Omaha Nebraska.  I'm glad I didn't have to drive because there were times it felt like we were hydroplaining.  I was sick of hearing the raindrops and seeing the lightning and wondering if there was more serious weather (like a tornado)  Amazingly, the girls fell asleep thru it and it didn't seem to bother them.  Once we got past Omaha the trip got better.  I was able to fall asleep for a little while until it was my turn to drive.  Around 1am we stopped for gas and bathroom break, even the sleeping girls.  Brian drove 2 more hours before he had to pass on the reigns to me.  So I took over from 3-6:30am.  I didn't like being the only one awake and it seemed as though there were "Deer, next 5 miles" signs every 5 miles.  And there were a lot of blown semi tires littered on the highway.  I did enjoy though watching the sky get lighter and lighter as the sun rose behind me.  It was beautiful and the shadows of the mountains got me excited because I knew we were close to Colorado.  I was the only one quietly cheering as we passed over the state line and Colorado welcomed us.  Just outside Denver we stopped and got a coffee and switched drivers.  The pictures above are of the girls as they woke up in Denver.  They did spectacular on the drive out!!

We could't check into our rental house in Divide, CO until 3pm so we continued on to Colorado Springs and ate breakfast and freshened up a bit.  Our first big stop was the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

This zoo was so cool because it was up in the mountains overlooking Colorado Springs.  The major attraction was the 30+ giraffes you could get close to and feed and pet.  They're such pretty animals.  Natalie loved this part.  It was perfect weather, sunny with a cool breeze.  After a few hours there we found a nice little picnic area had lunch and then headed to Divide.  We still had an hour before our arrival so Caitlin and I got groceries for the week in Woodland, CO while Brian and the other 3 stayed in the car.  After Woodland we had about a 25 minute drive to our house.

Here's the awesome house/cabin we stayed at while vacationing in Colorado.  It was perfect for our family and a good base camp for all of the local activities and attractions we were planning on going to.  It had 3 bedrooms, dining, living, kitchen, 2 baths, 2 decks, a hot tub and laundry onsite.  Every morning we opened the blinds to see Pikes Peak in all its glory.  The girls enjoyed the hot tub the first evening we were there and later in the evening Emily broke down and wanted to go back home.  Pretty sure she was exhausted and tired!  All was better once we woke up in the morning after a more restful nights sleep!