Colorado

11/28/12 After a long drive from Santa Fe, with a brief stop over in Taos, we arrived late to the Kringle's house in Golden CO. We enjoyed a colorful sunset as we entered into Colorado; it was absolutely beautiful! We were greeted at the Kringles by three little cousins and their Nerf guns (ready to ambush us). We had a lovely dinner with my cousin Perrin, her husband Kirk, and my cousin Sam. So nice to be united with family on this long journey!

11/29/12 We began our exploration of Colorado by heading out on a hike in the "Flatirons" right outside Boulder. We hiked the "Royal Arch" trail, which took us up to an expansive overlook of Boulder/Denver.

 

 After our hike we headed into Boulder for a bite to eat after which we walked down the main street, the "mall", in Boulder. We came upon some commuter bikes which we rented without hesitation and cruised around the city and checked out the UC Boulder campus. We then headed to "Mountain Sun Brewery" to grab a beer  before driving back to Golden. It was a fun and full day.

11/30/12 Our morning began by going for a refreshing run through the mountains with Perrin and the two dogs (Sailor and Dory). The trail took us to a gorgeous overlook of the Rockie Mountains. It was a fabulous way to start our second morning in Colorado. The rest of the day we took it easy and explored the area a bit more.  For our last night with our Colorado family Alex and I made a dinner of spicy peanut noodles with chicken, peas and broccoli for our wonderful hosts!

  Perrin, Jake, Kate, and Whitney!

Cousin Sam, cousin Perrin, and Jake! No photo of Kirk, per his request (you got out of it this time Kirk). A great visit with awesome people! Much thanks and love to the our Colorado family.

12/01/12 We got off to an early start as we had a long drive to Utah ahead of us, but only minutes after leaving the Kringle's house there was a large herd of about 20-30 Elk awaiting us on the road....a proper Colorado send off, of course.

 And THEN we were on our way to Zion National Park!