Thursday, July 29th

This was our last day with the True’s. It was hard to say goodbye. It was so great of them to open up their home to us and be such great hosts and tour guides. We miss them a lot! Just to make sure we were completely worn out before coming home we decided to go to Elitch Gardens which is owned by Six Flags. We had a good time but were exhausted! Ohhh and to make the day even better Justin and I both had two mishaps. The first happened at the very end of our time at Elitch Gardens. The kids wanted to ride the carousel with Blake before heading out. It clearly says on the sign Absolutely No Food or Drink on the ride. I had not planned on riding the carousel, but I wanted to help Blake get situated. I had put my shake I was drinking in the back pocket of my backpack. After getting Blake on his horse I saw a piece of paper on the floor so I bent over to pick it up, and the next thing I knew the shake popped out of my backpack and spilled out on the wooden floor of the nearly 100 year old carousel. I was horrified. I quickly went and told the worker and ran to grab napkins. I heard someone say in a snide voice, “The sign said no food or drink!” They were right! I ran back with tons of napkins and about had it cleaned up when the worker said, “I’m sorry but the maintenance crew says we have to get everyone off and have the spill cleaned.” I told him that I had it cleaned and to please not make all of these kids get off. I felt horrible. Of course I got a “the rules are the rules” look and he got on the speaker and told everyone they had to get off because someone spilt a milkshake. I told Brady, Madison, and Blake I was so sorry. They were sweet and said, “Mom, you didn’t know it was going to happen. It’s ok.” I overheard one lady tell the worker that I had done a great job cleaning it up and that there was no reason to not run the ride, but I got some dirty looks from other people. Ugh!

Then at 8:40 p.m. we pulled into a little town of Stasburg, CO to eat dinner at a cafe called the Patio. Justin was pulling through the parking lot and misjudged the height of the camper and hit their roof. It splintered some of the wooden shingles and made a horrible noise. He offered to fix it for them, but they declined the offer!

Wednesday, July 28th

We all had to pack up and leave as there was a vacation renter coming in later in the day. We decided to ride horses before heading to Denver. Madison rode on Star. Brady was on Sundance. Justin and Blake were on Max. I rode Phoebe. Sandy was on J.J. and we don’t know the name of Ryan and Bodi’s horse.
After the horseback ride we went to the Air Force base. Ryan is a pilot in the Air Force and Sandy was a navigator. She now investigates any time there is a crash or mechanical problem or accident involving an air craft. They downplay how important their jobs are, but we were honored to get an inside peak at a C130 that they have both flown in.

And then after that we went to a Colorado Rockies game in downtown Denver.  Justin ended up hitting a telephone pole guidewire in the parking lot with the camper!  We are just lucky it didn't bring down the entire phone line!! It was a busy day!

Tuesday, July 27th

We called this our chill day. We went to a park and everyone but me got in the Arkansas River and floated for awhile. Even Summit (Ryan and Sandy’s dog) got in on the action. The two snakes that we spotted in the river were a bit much for me to take. Brady and Blake both caught fish which Brady cleaned and we cooked up for supper!

Monday, July 26th

We took a train ride to the top of Pikes Peak. At 14,115 ft it was definitely chilly!

Madison found a flower to put in her hair before we boarded the train.

Sandy, Ryan, Madison, Bodi, and Brady on the Cog Railway.

One of the amazing views from the peak!

A picture of one of the cog railway cars which are made in Switzerland.

We could barely get them to stand still for a picture they were so cold!

Group photo!

We stopped in Mantitou Springs and did a little shopping and played at a park.

On the way to dinner at the Flyin’ W. Ranch we stopped by the Air Force Academy for just a bit. Ryan and Sandy have both taught classes at the academy.

Sunday, July 25th

We went to church and then headed out to the Royal Gorge. Pictures cannot do this place justice!

This is one of the world's highest suspension bridges and it hangs over the Arkansas River. 

They have all 50 states' flags flying on the bridge so we stopped for a family photo in front of the Illinois flag.

The bridge was made of a lot of wooden slats.  Some of the gaps were a bit too big for my liking.  Here is a photo looking through one such crack.

We rode in the aerial tram.  It is more than 1,100 fee above the canyon floor and is the world's longest single-span Aerial Tram.  You can see our tram shadow on the rocks.

Here you can see the tram off in the distance.

We also road in the world's steepest incline railway down over 1500 feet to the canyon floor.

Bodi calls Justin Uncle Jusseee and it is so darn cute.  He loves Uncle Jusseee's tractors and camper bus!

When we got back to the house Madison decided to relax in the hot tub.  Check out the view behind here.  Imagine how gorgeous it would be in the winter when the peaks are snow capped!

Saturday, July 24th

We headed out of the campground by 11:00 and headed to Florence, Colorado. This is where we met up with Ryan, Sandy, and Bodi True and headed on to their house – the Twin Creek Hacienda. They currently use this is a vacation rental. But in 15 months when Sandy retires from the Air Force, they will make this their permanent location. The views from their house were breathtaking! It still just blows our mind that we met the True’s in Vladivostock, Russia. We are so blessed by their friendship.

Off the back porch having lunch!

I will probably have this picture enlarged.  I love it!

View from the valley looking up at the house.

The Overstreet family of 5... for now :o)

Bodi and Blake!

After walking down a trail from their house, we went to the local county rodeo. I learned about muttin’ bustin’ – I think that was what it was called. Brady and Madison decided to enter the sheep scramble. They both decided that the sheep were too fast, kicked to hard, and they smelled bad!