We survived Corkscrew and California Gulch Passes!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
We joined Brian's cousins Sherri McBee and Nancy Schiller and their families in Montrose and then headed over to Ouray for a day of 4 wheeling over the mountain passes. We all piled onto dirt bikes, 4 wheelers, a razor and a bronco and traveled over Corkscrew and California Gulch Passes (12,000 and 11,000 ft). I am such a ninny on the mountain passes that they let Jasmine and I use one 4 wheeler. I don't get so scared when I am in control. Being able to see both sides of the road made a big difference too. I didn't feel like one wheel was halfway off the cliff and we were about to plumet to the bottom! Brian took Ethan on a 4 wheeler for a part of the time, the Bronco part of the time, and took both kids in the razor for a portion of the trip. Brianna actually rode in the razor most of the time with Taylor and Riley and really enjoyed the ride. Ethan was not too crazy about the 4 wheeler and kept telling daddy to "Go Slower!" but he enjoyed the Bronco more because he could not see the gaping cliffs (taking after mommy?). Of course, he did fall asleep for the 2 hours it took to get back. Even with all the bumps!




Sorry Jasmine, but I have to mention our little suicide jump off the trail! I know you were just trying to wake me up but.... ! Jasmine has a go-cart and rides dirt bikes so she is a pretty good driver. When we hit a little field that was a little flatter, I let Jasmine drive. Unfortunately, I forgot to switch it to 2 wheel drive. It was a little squirly to control in 4 wheel and when she hit a rock on the side of the trail, it jumped to the side and between the 4 wheel steering and the weight of the ATV, she lost control and we flew of the trail almost flipping in the process. Thankfully, were we went off only had about a 4 ft drop and it wasn't quite as steep as most of the trail. After recovering from our heart attacks, I drove on and right after that the trail became rough again. As Jasmine put it... "It happened for a reason. Heavenly Father didn't want her driving on the rest of the trail because if she had lost control anywhere else, we could have been in serious trouble!"


So after that when we were coming back and hit the switchbacks coming down the pass, I almost could not do it. Yes, I am such a ninny! But coming down, we were turning toward the cliff side not the wall side. And they were so steep to drive down and such sharp turns. If someone else had been there to drive for me, I would have probably gotten off and walked down. But we were in small groups so I mustered my courage, put it to the test and did it. Whew...!!! I just wish I had thought to get pictures of some of the crazy places we went!

It turned out to be a lot of fun. We saw some very beautiful country, a magnificant lake and a ghost town called Animous Forks. Of course, being so high up we even got to see some snow. The kids even got to have a snowball fight between vehicles. They were so excited to hold snow when at home it had been over 100 for over 30 days! The ghost town was really interesting to go inside of all the old buildings. One even had a "bathroom" ... a bench with a hole in it! I can not imagine living that high up in the mountains with no heating other than a wood burning stove. It was a beautiful spot for a town, but so difficult to get to. I have to say that I am glad I don't live there... maybe a little too used to the Texas Heat! At the end of the day and six hours on the trail, we were filthy and tired, but oh it was worth it!

Dinosaur Museum and Colorado National Monument

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009


We spent the day browsing downtown Grand Junction with its unique stores and Street art. The street art contained everything from a frog prince and peter pan to a motorcycle, pig and Indian warrior. They were sculptures by local artists that decorated the pretty streets of down town. The kids enjoyed going from statue to statue to see what they would find next.


We then headed out of town to the Dinosaur Museum. It was really neat. they had not only bones and fossils and pictures and statues... but some hands on exhibits like panning water for fossils & gold, digging for dino bones, making dino footprints in the sand and an earthquake simulator. It also had great animatronic dinosaurs that moved and roared. There was even one that spit on you!

Ethan loved it... of course, he fell asleep during the movie though! We found Ethan a great dinosaur souvenier that was 3 dinosaurs that came apart and had mix and match parts. He has had the greatest time making up goofy dinosaurs! Brianna got a geode to break apart and was so excited at all the crystals inside (will she take after her world champion crystal digging aunt?)

On the way home, we took a small detour to drive over the monument. We drove extra slow so we could pretend we were hiking it :-). Ha! We had been there before of course, but it was so beautiful we could not resist another look this trip. The Independance Rock and Coke ovens and other formations are georgeous! We wrapped up the day with hamburgers at Aunt Carol's with Kim & James. While watching "Mama Mia" Ethan announced that "Dancing Queen" was his favorite song! My little boy loves to sing and dance... what can I say! It has been great to spend a little time with Aunt Carol & Uncle Jerry... especially after Uncle Jerry's heart attack. They are wonderful people and I want my children to get to know them along with their Grandma and Grandpa Watts and other family that is here in Colorado.

More pics from Rifle Falls

I am finally pulling the pictures from my camera to add in to the ones from my cell phone. It was such a great day.

Riley Falls, Colorado

After a very crazy month, our family has taken leave of Pflugerville and gone to visit family in Colorado. Leaving on July 10th, we drove all night straight through. We saw phantom lights in West Texas that turned out to be wind turbines (thousands and thousands of red blinking lights). We stopped and had lunch near a pond after we entered the mountains. We stopped in Eagle, Co to stretch our legs. We visited a little museum there and the kids got to see a lot of what it was like to live in log cabins and ride in buggies and what not. They especially enjoyed being able to explore a train car from early train history.

They were very excited to see Grandma & Grandpa Watts when we finally arrived. On Sunday we joined them at church for Grandma to show off her grandkids and then we had dinner at Aunt Carol & Uncle Jerry's. Brianna had chicken enchiladas for the first time and actually really enjoyed them!


On Monday, we met Kim and James and traveled up to Rifle Falls. We started with a picnic lunch by the creek. Ethan had a blast climbing up on the trees... except when we set him on a large branch for a family picture. He was afraid he would fall! Of course, he did fall as he was running around playing with Jasmine & Taylor. He banged himself up pretty good but was a trooper as always! We then hiked up the falls. They were beautiful! Brianna hated the water spray and would hardly go near enough for a decent picture. But they both enjoyed playing in the caves around the falls. At least, after they realized there was nothing in them that would get them. It was pretty dark in them, but they were not very deep. One cave they actually had to climb up a little to get to, but by then, they were all into it. Another cave, they enjoyed playing with Jasmine like something was in the cave coming after them and would run screaming out. We even found a little snake by the trail and filled our canteen from the stream.

Though the kids were worn out, they were still up for a visit to the fish hatchery. They enjoyed watching the 1.5 million fish swim around in the little tunnels and watching them flop and jump as they poured food in for them. They also liked watching the workers clean the tunnels. They rode on a scraper that was pushed by the water flow and it scraped the tunnel clean. When they got to the end, they would open a little hatch and the fish would shoot out into the clean tunnel. I only wish we had gotten a picture of Ethan and Taylor imitating the birds that were walking around!

To finish off the fun dirty day, we stopped at Kim & James' hotel for a swim after a nap and dinner. Today, we will be off for the Monument and another busy day!