hot air balloon -- can't update

I have been unable (after multiple attempts) to do the part two of the hot air balloon -- because the connection I have at this hotel is plug in & evidently can't tolerate the band-width -- or something.

So -- please check back after this weekend for part two of the hot air balloon ride.

In the mean time -- the only update I have is that the AHRA conference is absolutely fantastic! So far I have been to three days of it & can only say that the speakers have been between exellent & good!! With much more excellent that just good!

Darwin & Amie have had nice naps, and enjoyed a place called Tiny Town (a miniturized town for the kids to explore & ride a miniture train & everything) & today they went to the zoo! Unfortunately, Amie's short attention span didn't allow them to stay at the zoo very long!! Tomorrow I think they are going to the aquarium!!

Talk to you all later!
Dawn

Flying High in a Hot Air Balloon Part One

Grandma & I got a ride of a lifetime! We went up in a HUGE hot air balloon. I must not be super savvy, because I can only get 5 pictures onto a blog posting & I have several pictures I want to post. So, this is part one.

They had just begun blowing up the balloon, Amie was very intense on watching it!

The balloon just became upright -- Amie's still watching (jacket off now). Grandma is in the red teeshirt by the balloon.

Here we are with part of the balloon crew in front of the balloon.

We're lifting off!!! There were 12 passengers & the pilot. There were 4 groups of two people in their own little compartment!

Amie was not happy about Mommy & Grandma leaving her!!

Our 4X4 trip into the mountains!

The one thing that I really wanted to do, both so we could see areas of Colorado that not everyone gets a chance to see & because I really thought it would be Darwin's favorite part of the trip -- so we booked a guided 4X4 tour into the "back country".

Our guide John was excellent! He'd been driving 4X4 professionally for 32 years. He took us up into the Rio Grande wilderness on old logging roads & then up to the top of "Greyback Mountain", which is at an elevation of 13,000 feet!!

This is a creek that we crossed -- that was fun!

This is an old ghost town that we visited -- not a tourist ghost town -- an honest to goodness ghost town. Although the story is sad -- the area is contaminated with arsenic because of a millionaire that found a cheaters way to mine for silver. The government is now cleaning it all up (because the towns downstream from this area had contaminated water with hundreds of people getting deathly ill) -- because the millionaire fled to South America where he did the same thing there!! To this day, he has still not been prosecuted!

This picture was just after one of the scariest times on the trip. We were on a very narrow mountain road & got stuck on this tree. Darwin & John both worked to get us off the tree, without sliding off the road (which we slid several times & the road was VERY narrow!) We had two trees that caused us trouble & two boulders that Darwin & John had to move. Other than that, it was just trying to stay on the narrow little roads, without going over the side!!

The pictures at the top of Greyback Mountain do not do it justice -- we literally were surrounded by mountains on all sides -- nothing but mountain tops, with gorgeous valleys through-out!!

After we left the top of the mountain, we traveled down to a great little clearing where we ate lunch.

What a glorious day!

Colorado

We've seen some great sites & had some fun in Colorado.

We didn't hike down into the Mesa -- Amie was crabby & neither Tim nor Grandma thought they would be able to make it -- but it was a beautiful drive & interesting history at the visitors center.

We took the Cumbres, Toltec Narrow Gauge Railroad. It is one of the last narrow gauge, coal driven narrow gauge railroad lines in the country. This particular one is not as popular as the Durango, Silverton run -- but we had heard great things about it. It goes into the mountains (versus the Durango, Silverton runs through the valleys) & at the top of the mountain, you get out & have lunch. It was a very interesting day on the train!

This is a BBQ that we went to. During dinner, the entertainer came around to all the kids & talked about them particpating in a song after dinner called, "Button Maker". I really didn't think that Amie would partipate in it much -- but she had a ball! The song talks about a button pusher that is asked to push a button repeatedly with first his left finger, then both his left and right finger, then both fingers and a foot, then both fingers & both feet & eventually -- both fingers, both feet, forehead and tongue -- so these kids were hopping back and forth, poking their fingers back and forth, bobbing their heads and sticking their tongues out!! It was adorable!!

They also asked for people to tell jokes -- of course Tim told his Jeff Foxworthy joke, "you might just be a redneck, if you're biggest mall is Wal-mart".

Snow & Snowball fight in July!

On Monday afternoon, we drove up a mountain road (that had only been open about 3 weeks, because of the huge amount of snowfall this past winter). This mountain road is directly across from the continental divide outside of Pagosa Springs. At the top of the road is a radio transmitter tower, and several areas for hiking.

We didn't do too much hiking, but took advantage of the snow to have a July Snowball fight -- and Grandma made a little snowman!!

Colorado Scenery on Monday

This is a view of the mountains from one of the scenic overlooks near Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

This is Treasure Falls. It's not too far from our condo. We drove to several local area scenic points on Monday.

Amie isn't very happy with all the car seat time, but is enjoying "run"ing!!

If she starts getting crabby, we say, "Amie wanna get out and walk?" She will say, "No Run".

And that's exactly what she does & has two new knee scraps to prove it!!

Fun on the road......

Summer 2008....we're traveling to Colorado for a family vacation: Mom, Dad, Tim, Amie & Grandma Miller.

So, with two very long days on the road, of course we have to come up with creative new "toys" to keep Little Miss entertained.. right?

After all, that is what my parents did when I was a child. Have a hidden bag of new things, that were given out sparingly over the course of the trip.

Well, when I was shopping for the little tidbits of entertainment, I decided that markers would be a new adventure for her ---- luckily I chose the washable markers!!