July 4th

We spent a few days up in Breckenridge over the holiday weekend.  Breck's a tourist town, which means it gets very crowded during these times.  Fortunately, we live a few miles out of town, so even though the town is packed, it feels like we are roughing it.  We didn't spend much time in Breckenridge because of the crowds, but we did go down for lunch on Sunday, and stopped for some neat photos on the river walk.

   

We did some work around the house, and also spent some time just sitting and looking at the mountains.  In a 48-hour period, we went from paddle-boarding on the Gulf of Mexico to hanging out at 10,000 feet above sea level.  Nothing like shocking the lungs at our age.

On Independence Day, we decided to hike up the Continental Divide.  We've done this hike before, and it's not too difficult, but it is challenging for an eight-year old.  We also brought Joey for the trip (we didn't bring Harley, and I'll address why next post).  Here's a cute shot of a boy and his dog at the start of the hike.

The hike went well.  We brought plenty of Gatorade and water, and even remembered to bring a bowl for Joey.   At one point, we even had to go through our version of the ice falls (I watched the movie Everest the other night).

At this point, we are above tree line.  We trudged on and eventually made it to the top.  Ashley's phone said we were at 12,217 feet above sea level.

The hike was wonderful, as was the time up in Breckenridge.  I left early in order to get home so I could go to work on the 5th.  I wish I had stayed, because two huge moose decide to walk right in front of our house.

   

   

   

Bode was impressed with their size, while Joey was going bonkers trying to get out of the house.

Overall, the 4th of July was pretty tame.  The hike wore us out, and we all ended up going to bed just as fireworks were starting.  It's just wonderful being back at work :-)  Pleasant week to all.