Day 3: Keystone and THE WEDDING!

On the third day of our trip we all headed for Keystone where Mitch and Mallory were getting married.  We met in Breckinridge for lunch on the way.  The weather was bad and we didn't have much time to spend there, which was disappointing since the last time I was there I was only 13 years old.  

After our quick lunch in Breckinridge we went to the the resort where we were staying.  Its the off season so there was really no one there, no one but wedding guests.  After a quick change we headed to the gondola that would take us up the mountain to the ceremony.

The view from our condo

Below is our ride to the wedding...

We had to take two gondolas to the top of the mountain.  Jayke thought this was pretty cool.  I was just happy it wasn't a chair lift!

On the way up the mountain it stopped raining and there was a rainbow over the mountains...a good omen. 

Jayke got to join in the Champagne toast!  Look how happy he was about it...then he tasted it.  (Non-alcoholic of course) He claimed it was good but I noticed he didn't touch it again.  He tried several of the h'ordeuvres, which I was proud of him for.  They were prepared for the 3 kids who were there and had chicken strips for them, much to Jayke's relief!

Before dinner...the guys watching football on their phone...smh.

There was lots of dancing.  I danced with Jeff, I tried to dance with Jayke, and my mom tried to dance with everyone.  As the night grew later and later I began to wonder how some of these people would get on the gondola to get back down the mountain.  The ride down was a little scary.  It was Jeff and I on the Gondola in the pitch black.   All you could see were the lights from the resort at the bottom of the mountain.  The only noise was when you went over the periodic stands that held the Gondola cables, which was a little disconcerting.  They gave you a blanket for the ride down which was little comfort in the pitch dark, on the side of a mountain, hanging by a cable in a metal and glass box.  I was more than happy to get off of that thing and wondered how Jayke did.  Turns out, he didn't like it much either.

The next morning we headed back towards Denver to have lunch with Kelly and go spend the evening with Mark and Robin.  After running around non stop for 3 days I was happy to just hang out at their house and eat pizza from the grill.  On the way back I took the below picture at the continental divide.  We would have loved to have had another week to hang out in the mountains but unfortunately, we had to go home the next day.  Maybe someday we will be able to go back.  4 days is not enough!

Day 2: Garden of The Gods and Pike's Peak!

Day two of vacation was another fun and nerve-wracking day of watching Jayke spider monkey up every rock he could get near and a long nervous drive up...and back down Pike's Peak.  

First stop was Garden of the Gods.  Jayke was more than eager to climb any and all rocks possible.  He clearly doesn't share my fear of heights.  I spent most of the time yelling at him to "get down!" and "stay away from the edge!"  I finally had to give up before everyone around us thought I was a crazy woman.  I decided moving along out of the area on to the next thing was the best idea and probably the only way I was going to keep him off these rocks...and save my sanity.

The picture below looks way worse than it actually was.  It was an easy climb up the back side of this rock formation.  I was able to get below for the shot that makes it look like he is a rock-climbing extraordinaire.  I really didn't allow him to climb anything difficult at all...much to his dismay.  He was quite aggravated with my lack of willingness to turn him loose.  I kept promising there would be more rocks to climb around the next turn...we just didn't stop at them.

The tallest point in the background is Pike's Peak, our next stop.  We called to try to get a reservation on the cog train but it was sold out for the day.  Not very good planning on our part but I will take the blame for that since it was I who decided we shouldn't drive up.  Jeff was confident he could do it and I figured I could always get in the back seat and curl up on the floor board if necessary.  Jayke was nervous about it too and I wasn't very good at reassuring him since I, myself, was terrified!

We got a little lost trying to find the road up and stopped off in some park where Jayke had to attempt to take off on some trail.  Once again, I had to reign him in which disgusted him.  I don't think falling or running across a rattle snake even crossed his mind.  I kept telling him that is why I'M THE MOM!

We finally found the road to the peak and started up.  It wasn't bad at all for a long time but then...

I managed to ride up and back down without getting in the back seat and even took picture and recorded a video.  I noticed while watching the video, that you could hear me moaning and cussing most of the way.  You could also hear Jeff laughing at me in the background.  As you can see from the pictures, no guard rails and nothing but sky over that edge!

It was pretty chilly at the top, 37 degrees with the wind chill.  I don't think it was all Jayke thought it would be.  He was over it pretty quickly and retreated to the warmth of the car, after hitting the gift shop, of course.  Jeff and I walked around to see the view from different directions.  The weather wasn't that great to be able to see very far.  I'm not sure if we saw 5 different states or not but we were trying!

Here's the train I WANTED to ride up.  In the end, I'm glad we drove.  It ended up not being nearly as bad as I had imagined it would be.   Jayke slept the whole way down...some mountain explorer he is!

When we got back to Dona's house there was more excitement!  A BEAR was on the side of their house trying to get their bee hives!  WE were able to see the baby bear briefly before he was scared off by all the crazy people with rocks and flashlights.  Jayke says this was the highlight of his trip.  I imagine we were all quite a site as we were told of the bear and all went racing through the house throwing small children out of our way!  Even more entertaining when while we were watching for the bear, several of the bees got in the house and even stung one of their protectors.  Kelly's Jeff soon changed from "team bee" to "team bear" after one of the little buggers stung his face!

Bear watching

Wonder what we would have done had mama bear come charging down that hill???

Day 1: Golden, Coors Light Brewery Tour, and Lookout Mountain

Our first day in Colorado we began with breakfast in Golden at a little cafe.  I made Jeff drive down the main road so I could take this photo because it reminded me so much of something I would see in the movies.  We made our first stop the Coors Light Brewery where we took the tour to see how our favorite beer is made.  Really, we took the tour to get free beer but some of the information was interesting too.  For instance, Indiana was the LAST state that Coors was sold in.  I think the people of Indiana have been trying to make up for lost time since everyone drinks Coors here!

After the tour we drove up in the mountains where I took the picture below of the Coors Brewery.

Our after-taste-testing selfie!

After the tour we drove up Lookout Mountain...

where we took another selfie, of course!

....and a lot of pictures of the mountains...

We would have walked more on the trails but I was wearing flip flops, of course.  Mountain trails were not in my plan for the day so I was unprepared.  Probably a good thing considering my horrible fear of heights.  This was a small test to make sure Jeff would be able to drive up Pike's Peak the next day...and to make sure I wouldn't be on the floor board or walking back down!!

We stopped and saw Buffalo Bill's grave site while we were up on the mountain.