Pit Stop #6 - Great Sand Dunes

 After leaving Denver, we headed south to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. 

From the distance, the dunes are something special...

Up close, they are SO much more.  

The kids had fun playing in the sand...

The sand was hotter than hot, so we opted for our tennis shoes while hiking the dunes.  The pitfall of that decision...

It also was windier than windy, which caused us to be pelted with sand.  That didn't make this one very happy...

Despite the heat and the wind, the views were breathtaking and gorgeous and worth every minute of it. It was quite the workout to climb the dunes, but oh so fun!  

Great Sand Dunes, we will be back sometime to breath in the majestic views and climb the hills.  To say we had fun would be an understatement.  

The following day we travelled north to Colorado Springs to do a bit of horseback riding in the Garden of the Gods.  

Don't the four of us look like we are straight off a Sorry! board game with all our bright colors...?!

Sullivan rode Cheyenne. She is not blind, despite what we previously thought.  She has pink colored eyes that are super sensitive to the sun so she wears protectors over her eyes.

Quinn rode Jane - who the horse trainers said is "aggravatingly slow".

Ryan rode Geronimo and I rode Ford.  

It was a beautiful way to see this amazing park.

Sullivan wasn't a big fan of the horse poo...

You can see just how slow Jane really was...her speed never reached past turtle pace.  

Nonetheless, we all had a great time horseback riding and we would all do it again in a heartbeat.

We worked up quite an appetite after riding, so we tried a new and very popular restaurant...

It was worth the wait - so delicious!

Next stop.... Back to Indy!  Yay!

Pit Stop #5 - Denver CO

After Wyoming, we traveled south to Denver to see Gigi.  It had been nearly 1 1/2 years since we had seen Gigi, and boy did it feel good to hug her.  We noticed that the height difference between them had shifted a bit though.  

The night we arrived, Gigi made a delicious meatloaf dinner and we spent the evening catching up...

The following day, Gigi introduced us to the most tasty restaurant that we fell in love with - Tokyo Joe's.  The girls loved it and wanted to go back!

We also took in an IMAX movie at the Denver Science Center. It was fun to reminisce a bit.  The last time I was in that theater was in 2006 when Quinn was 6 weeks old.  I remember holding and rocking her at the rear of the theater.  Seems like yesterday, yet here we are...

We made the most of the day too, and ended the evening at the Colorado Rockies game.  

It's a good thing that the weather was great, that our seats were good and the company we were with was amazing, because the Colorado Rockies playing left a lot to be desired.  It was a poor showing for them.

 

Despite that, we had a great time at the ballpark!

The following morning we traveled a bit south to Colorado Springs to catch the COG Railway up to Pike's Peak.  This railway was shut down in 2017, completely renovated and new rail lines put in.  It had recently reopened in May 2021, so we were lucky to be able to ride.

The sights were something like nothing else... lots of beautiful scenery.

A gold mine off in the distance...

We even saw a bear and it's baby cub.  You can't really see it in the picture, but it is there.  I promise!  

Atop of Pike's Peak...

Again, sights like nothing else... 

A storm was coming into the area, hence all the dark clouds.  Nonetheless, still breathtaking.

We so. so, so enjoyed our time with Gigi.  It was shorter than we would have liked, but other areas were calling our name.  Saying goodbye was incredibly difficult but we are thankful for the time and the memories made together with her.