Summer Trip

Last Christmas, Jeremy and I decided that our kids had enough "stuff", and that we wanted to provide them with experiences rather than things. So, instead of buying a lot of stuff (they all got a little present or two), we told them that they were going to get a fun family vacation in the Summer.  The kids were, luckily, on board, and so they looked forward to our upcoming vacation for six months.  We decided to head north to Mount Rushmore, and other surrounding sites, and we had a ball. We have been back for a little over a week now, and I am finally getting around to looking through our pictures.  I will break the trip up into days, so you won't suffer too much picture overload.

First up - day one.

We left Taylor early, early in the morning and headed East on I-40 into New Mexico, then headed north into Durango, Colorado.

We stopped there for lunch and the kids had fun at the little train park where we stopped and also seeing the pretty river that flows through Durango.

We then continued North through Ouray.  I don't know why I didn't take more pictures here, The drive into Ouray from the south is beautiful, and I think Ouray itself is such a pretty town.  Oh well, at least I got this picture of my boys at the waterfall.  We took a short little hike up to see it and the boys loved it.

From there we continued north into Grand Junction and spent the night there.

Day 2

We left Grand Junction and traveled east on I-70 to Denver.  I love this stretch of I-70.  It is one of the most beautiful freeways I have ever traveled.  Here are a few pics . . .

From Denver, we headed north to Fort Collins, Co.

We stopped and saw the beautiful Fort Collins temple.

We also spotted Drake Rd., so of course, we had to stop for a picture.

From there we went to Cheyenne, WY, and saw a few of the sights there.

My kids especially loved the little wading pond and stream at the Children's village.  It was a good place to take a break and cool off.

After we left Cheyenne, we headed north to a cute little town called Lusk, WY.  

The kids really liked where we stayed in Lusk.  It had a fun outdoor pool and it also had bikes that you could borrow for free.  Jeremy and the three older boys took rides in the evening, and again the next morning before we left.  I liked the fact that it had a large family suite, that could accommodate all seven of us with room for more!!

We covered a lot of miles the first two days, but we saw some new things, and made some good memories as well.