Colorado, Part One

Our first stop was at Cooper's in Llano. It's pretty much a Hames family tradition to stop at Cooper's if we're in a 30 mile radius and if it's anywhere close to a meal time. We left Friday morning about 11:00 so the timing was perfect. We spent the night in Clayton, NM. It was a long day because Luke decided he didn't want to sleep at all in the car (or the hotel), he didn't want his paci!, he didn't want a bottle, and none of our normal tricks for entertaining him worked. We were kinda tired and cranky by the time we got to Estes Park on Saturday evening. We had a great dinner in the Pine Room at the YMCA of the Rockies where we're staying, though, so that helped.



This is our cabin at the YMCA. It has 3 bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, a dining area, living room with fireplace, and a large deck. I doubt we'll use the fireplace because it's pretty hot here. It's cool in the evenings, though, so it's nice to hang out on the deck.



Here's Jackson with my parents at our favorite place to eat in Estes Park.



This is Mills Lake, the destination of our first hike of the week on Monday. We went into Rocky Mountain National Park with a group from the Y. We left at 8:30am and got back about 3:30pm. It was about 6 miles round trip. Jackson spent the day at day camp. Mat and I have done this hike before and it's one of our favorites. Not too hard, but a really beautiful pay-off. I was so proud of my parents for doing the hike. With the length and the elevation gain, it was a little outside of their comfort-zone, but they finished and felt proud of themselves when it was over.



We took some great classic photos at Mills Lake but this is my favorite. It cracks me up every time I look at it.



After our hike, Mister Baby was totally energized! He had a blast and even got to take two naps during the day. Here he is with my sister, Becky. The leader of our group was a little concerned about us taking him, but he did fine. And I got to change a dirty diaper at Mills Lake! haha



The man on the left (next to my dad and Luke) is Brent Washburn. He is 81 years old and still hikes in the National Park every day in the summer. He's done all of the hikes. We first hiked with him in 2002, and we were happily surprised that he is back again this year. What an inspiration!



I took this shot at a cookout we had after our hike on Monday. Mat grilled hamburgers for everyone and we ate s'mores. I'll post more in a few days...