Eclipse Tourism Trip to Wyoming and Colorado, August 2017

8-18-2017

It was rather last-minute, but we decided it would be fun to drive up and experience our first eclipse totality. This would be Griffin’s first trip, too! We were hesitant to go, since he wasn’t even two months old yet, but we figured we wouldn’t be around that many people. So it was settled. Off to Wyoming we would go!

Nate got home from work a bit early and we headed up I-25, stopping briefly in Las Vegas for dinner at Wendy’s, where I managed to tip a box of perfectly good chicken nuggets onto the floor. Grrr. We also quickly stopped at the first rest area thereafter so Hyla could use the potty. We tried to find a multi-cache geocache there, but too many muggles were around. One guy asked me if I lost something, and I told him it was for a scavenger hunt. He just laughed. My cue to leave! It was getting too dark to search anyway.

We made it up to the Super 8 in Trinidad before too long. It was unfortunate to not partake in dinner at Rino’s with the singing waiters, but with two kids, it seemed a bit much. Maybe next time. We settled in for the night on quite comfortable beds and had a great sleep.

8-19-2017

Got up early enough for Nate and Hyla to go down to breakfast. They kindly brought me up a pastry. I’d opted for hopping in the shower instead. We headed up toward Denver, making a stop here and there for potty breaks and whatnot. The traffic got rather crazy around Colorado Springs, unsurprisingly. We stopped at a strip mall in Castle Rock for a potty break and had to deal with horrible traffic. We decided to walk over to the Sonic and grab a quick lunch. I’d never eaten AT a Sonic before, but it was pleasant enough. They even had green chile cheeseburgers! From there, we battled our way through traffic up to the Denver metro area. We’d planned on going to the Denver Zoo today, but it was already pretty late in the day, and who knew what time it’d be once we got there, so I suggested we try something a little less time-consuming off our list. So we headed out to Golden to find the Amusement Park at Heritage Square.

We arrived around 3, finding ourselves at a curve in the road and a driveway leading up to a nondescript parking lot. The sign said we were in the right place, but it wasn’t obvious street-side. We drove on up and parked. Once we got the kids organized, we hiked over to the entrance area. Admission was free, and before long we saw a smattering of small rides all about. Our main goal was to ride the Python Pit roller coaster since it’d be a new coaster credit! Yay! We made our way to the arcade barn and Hyla and I got wristbands, excited to head out and hit the midway.

Our first stop was the Scrambler, one of Hyla’s favorite rides. I told her how it was also one of my mom’s favorites too. I tend to prefer rides that provide some height, but I love riding the Scrambler with Hyla – she just adores it. And she cuddles against me, mostly due to the ride’s forces, but it’s still a rare treat.

Next we went over to the Python Pit, a small kiddie coaster. We were settled in, second seat from the front. Nate and Griffin watched as we were sent around about 5 times, cringing each time we hit an ominous clank on the lift hill. I had visions of the train disconnecting from the track and sending us into the adjacent pond. I had escape plans in my head and everything! Luckily, we made it through safely, but Hyla wanted to ride again right away. Meanwhile, Nate decided to take Griffin for a hike up the nearby foothill and look for some geocaches. Hyla and I spent the next hour or so sampling more of the rides around the park: a Miner Mike powered coaster, the Scrambler again, the Tilt a Whirl, the flying bananas, and a carousel. Unfortunately, she was getting hot and didn’t really want to ride much else, so we bided our time looking at the games in the arcade until the other two rejoined us. She particularly enjoyed playing a spider stomping game, and we won some tickets which she used to get a purple jumping frog and a green unicorn. Overall, it was an ok time, but I think we got our fill.

Tired and somewhat cranky, Hyla really didn’t want to do much else. We still had to eat, though, so this was a great opportunity to head over to Casa Bonita for an evening of cliff diving and mediocre food. Nate and I had visited several times before we had kids and always enjoyed it, being kids at heart. Now was our first experience with the people the place was meant for!

We got there pretty early – before 5, I believe, and still had to wait in a significant line. We snaked through the themed corridors of an old mission. It took a while and was understandably boring for Hyla who decided, out of hunger (so she claimed) to take a bite out of my leg! What the heck?! I was not happy. I don’t consider her a biter, so this was a shock. I guess it broke up the monotony, anyway. Eventually we arrived at a cashier who took our orders. We snaked through some more corridors and realized we’d be picking up our own food and transporting it ourselves to the table. Between three meals and one of us holding a baby, I wasn’t sure how that would play out. Luckily, once we’d gotten our trays to the end of the tray support bars, we were met by an employee who not only took us to our seat but brought one of the trays himself. Phew!

We were seated on the second floor right next to the “stage,” as it were. After having had the mediocre enchiladas the last several times, I branched out and had the mediocre nachos, complete with “liquid cheese.” Ugh. They weren’t awful, though. Nate had a taco salad, and Hyla had the chicken fingers. Nate and I also shared a signature Casa Bonita Margarita. That was actually quite good! Every 10 minutes or so, some actors would come out and perform a scene resulting in someone plunging into the pool below. The first one involved pirates and was entertaining. Then we had a cliff diver showing off his stunt dives. Next came the gunslinger show which started out with a bang, literally. It made all of us jump a bit, and it totally freaked out Hyla. She was unhappy and frightened, so I took her away to explore the rest of the restaurant. We attempted Black Bart’s cave, but, already being on edge, the blowing air feature was enough for her to say “Nope.” Then we explored the arcade a while. We tried going back to our seats a few times, but the show kept going on and on. Eventually it was safe, and we returned to finish our meals.

Nate was almost done with his food upon our return, and Hyla wasn’t all that hungry, so shortly thereafter, he took her to do the rounds. Casa Bonita has lots of nooks and crannies to explore, so they toured the caves, checked out the magic show room, and spent some time riding the coin-op rides. When they came back, I took Hyla back to do more coin-op rides, but once that was done, she’d had enough. We were all tired, so we packed it up and hit the road for our hotel: the Best Western Denver Southwest in Lakewood.

I’d heard about the Best Western Denver Southwest a number of years ago when the website “The Oatmeal” ran a fundraiser in which, if a business donated $33,000 or more to the Tesla Museum, they would write about said business on their website. This Best Western came through, and had http://theoatmeal.com/blog/dinosaur_hotel written about them. Essentially, this Best Western decided to go from “tasting like chicken” to “tasting like pterodactyl.” I was intrigued and had to check it out.

We checked in pretty early, by our standards, and that gave us the opportunity to check out the grounds. When you first arrive, you’re greeted to a stegosaurus standing outside the lobby. It’s adjacent to an initially nondescript sandbox which, upon further inspection, is actually a dinosaur dig for the kiddos. Cool! Above the lobby’s carport, you’ll find a pterodactyl weathervane, and flags depicting prehistoric animals adorn the light posts around the property.

We got settled in the room, and relaxed a bit, taking turns walking around. I discovered each of the stairwells had a prehistoric scene, three depicting the age of reptiles, and one depicting the age of mammals. Pictures on the walls showcased drawings of dinosaurs, and the lobby was chock-full of fossils and dinosaur skulls. Super cool! Our own room even had a picture hanging of a fossil excavation site.

Another big draw of this hotel, to Hyla, especially, was the swimming pool. It was quite private, being in a courtyard surrounded by the hotel itself. A very strange shape, I believe it was initially intended to have ancient marine animals depicted on the bottom. If that was the case, I didn’t see it. I sat out with Griffin and watched Nate and Hyla enjoy themselves in the water as dusk turned into night. It was a relaxing way to end our busy day.

8-20-2017

We’d enjoyed another wonderful sleep on extremely comfortable beds – it was almost difficult to leave them. Nate and Hyla went down to breakfast while I got Griffin and myself ready to face the day. Our first order of business was the Denver Zoo. Neither of us is very keen on driving through busy cities, so we both felt a sense of dread realizing it was smack in the middle of downtown Denver. Nate was chivalrous and agreed to drive, much to my relief. We snaked our way through the city streets, as our Garmin directed, and were eventually greeted to a huge and beautiful city park that reminded me much of the one at which the St. Louis Zoo is located. I mentioned how we should do some geocaching here at some point (today would not be the day – too hard with exhausted kiddos). I bet there are some good ones to be found, though!

The parking lot was absolutely packed! I imagine a lot of eclipse-tourists had the same idea we did. We parked at the far reaches of the lot and made our way to the entry gates. We were excited to discover they had an animatronic dinosaur show going on throughout the park, so that would add even more fun to our trip. We worked our way counter-clockwise around the grounds, enjoying the sites. I was super impressed when, upon spotting a duck-billed dinosaur, Hyla exclaimed “It’s a parasaurolophus!!” I have always been into dinosaurs, and for some reason, that one never crossed my radar. But she knew it, alright! She would name all the dinosaurs we came across without error, too. When we got to the dinosaur dig sand table, she wanted to spend all day there, unearthing the bones. She imparted her knowledge on the employee working the table, impressing her, too. So cool.

Other highlights of the zoo included the coati exhibit – despite living in New Mexico, I’ve never seen one in the wild, and that is one of my must-dos. We enjoyed watching these fascinating critters as they puttered about. We also noticed a large number of Japanese beetles roaming the grounds. Hyla always wanted to catch them, so we did. I’m sure the zoo would have preferred we take them with us. Haha. Hyla rode the carousel all by herself for the first time. She didn’t want to ride one of the moving animals, instead opting for the peacock chair. I’d heard a child behind us in line say he wanted to ride it, and Hyla grumbled that she did, too, so I suggested she share the seat with him, and she did! So proud of her! I noticed that the moving animals rose higher than just about any other carousel I’ve ever seen, so that was exciting. Maybe next time she’ll try one of those.

Beyond this, there was a huge new tiger exhibit where they could watch you intently from above. Right outside that was a “human” exhibit where kids could pretend they were the zoo animals. Hyla adored that, and it was hard to pull her away from that one, too. Another impressive site was watching them move the pachyderms from habitat to habitat. I believe they interchange elephant and rhino exhibits fairly regularly, so we got to watch the rhino move between them, at rather close range. Very neat. One of my favorite exhibits, however, was the huge Tropical Discovery building showcasing all sorts of fascinating tropical animals, particularly amphibians. I could have spent all day in there. Unfortunately, strollers were prohibited, so Nate and I took turns inside. While waiting on them, I chit chatted with the security guard outside about the upcoming eclipse. She was concerned she wouldn’t get to experience much of it, since she’d be working at the time. I hope it was at least somewhat noticeable for her!

Overall, I have to say Denver had a quality zoo, well worth revisiting, even if the dinos aren’t there, though it was certainly a nice perk! We spent around 5 hours there and were all pretty exhausted (hence no geocaching).

We decided to head on over to the official Blue Moon RiNo Brewery brew pub for dinner. Our booth was set inside really interesting round pods, and we enjoyed our meal and a flight of beers. Our waiter mentioned that, since he worked there, I was the first person to pronounce the meal I ordered, chicken paillard, properly. Haha! (It’s “Pie-yard,” by the way.) It was delicious, though – seared chicken with arugula, tomato, parmesan, potato, and lemon parmesan dressing. After our meal, we did a quick tour of their brewing display before hitting the road.

We’d considered spending the evening at Lakeside Amusement Park, one of my top-five parks, known for its impressive nighttime light displays. I haven’t been there in years, and there’s always talk of it closing, which breaks my heart. It’s just such an historic and amazing site, it would be such a shame to lose. Unfortunately, it was well after 6, and the kids (ok, just Hyla) were getting tired, so we decided that’d be a trip for another time. We had a two-night reservation at a Best Western in Longmont: the closest place we could find a hotel reservation to the path of totality. So we made our way up for the night.

We’d have to get up early to beat the traffic up to the eclipse, so an early night’s sleep was in order. We watched some cartoons in our large room and eventually tried to get some sleep. It was difficult, though, due to the incredibly uncomfortable Sleep Number beds in the room. I’d never experienced such a bed. Despite our attempts to adjust the comfort level, it never got beyond feeling like a cross between a waterbed and a concrete slab, and I’m talking at the same time! After the last two nights of comfort, this was a shock to the system! Still, we managed to get some shut eye eventually.

8-21-2017

We got up around 5 am, threw on some clothes, and hit the road. We were greeted to ridiculous traffic on our drive on northbound I-25. It was Monday morning, so I suppose some of it could be attributed to rush hour traffic, but I’m sure not all of it, as we were averaging about 20 mph on the interstate! Worried we wouldn’t make it up there in time, there was talk of stopping in Cheyenne and calling it good enough, even though it wouldn’t hit full totality. Our goal had been to stop in Glendo, WY, at an airport that had opened its grounds for viewing, and at this rate, we just weren’t sure we’d make it. Luckily, things opened up somewhat once we hit Wyoming, and we found we’d have plenty of time to make it to the totality zone. About 10 or 11 miles south of Glendo, we noticed a lot of people parked down on the frontage road, alongside open fields. There were still openings, so we figured why risk it in Glendo? We exited the expressway and found a nice spot on that frontage alongside fellow eclipse viewers.

Totality was still about an hour off, so we entertained ourselves by watching the eclipse’s progress through a viewing box I’d made for Hyla as well as through the viewing glasses I’d gotten from the Socorro Public Library (since Albuquerque libraries weren’t handing them out until the day of the eclipse!). We had fun just hanging out and enjoying the anticipation. At one point, Nate said he noticed it had gotten darker, though it was so subtle I hadn’t really detected it. It was certainly cooler, though.

Eventually, just as totality was approaching, everything got significantly darker. Not like nighttime or anything, but definitely mid to late dusk. It happened so quickly! It was probably at 99% coverage at that point, and once totality hit, cheers could be heard amongst all the other viewers. Then silence. Absolute, almost eerie silence, as we all took in the scene. There were no cars, no birds, no insects…just complete quiet, as we all were lost in our awe.

Despite assurances that you can look at totality with the naked eye, it was still kind of worrisome. We all made sure to just make quick glances up during these two surreal minutes. I’d hoped we’d get some pictures of the eclipse, but, as luck would have it, the batteries on my camera died JUST as totality hit. Nathan had planned ahead, thankfully, and had spares in his pocket, which he managed to replace just in the nick of time. Phew!! He got some incredible shots, too! I do have to say that most photos you see of the eclipse are quite different than what you experience with the naked eye. Basically, it just looks like an eerie black disc with a glowing background, hovering in the sky like a UFO. It really was surreal. Totality was over before we knew it, and we hung around a bit longer, experiencing the retreating eclipse and letting some of the other people go on ahead.

Once we hit the road, we were treated to more epic traffic issues, but at least now we weren’t in any hurry. Most overpasses we went under had people waving flags and holding banners that wished us safe travels. We even saw a lone cowboy on a horse watching the traffic spectacle from a hillside. Good times. It took forever for us to get back to the Denver metro, though, and we decided to exit the interstate long before the Garmin called for it. We made our way, through significantly lighter traffic, to the Pumphouse Brewery back in Longmont. We had a decent dinner (the chicken salad sandwich was so huge it was almost inedible!) and tried their beers, too. It wasn’t bad, though not all that memorable, I guess. Then we retreated to our room, as it was getting pretty late at this point. We had a long trek planned for tomorrow, and sleep, even on those uncomfortable beds, was in order.

8-22-2017

We took our time this morning, heading over to have breakfast at the hotel’s dining area. It was actually quite decent, with hot food like bacon and eggs! I went first, since no one else was awake yet, and then Nate took Hyla. We packed up and hit the road before too long, though, not knowing if eclipse traffic would still be awful. Luckily, it wasn’t too bad! As we headed south on I-25, we agreed we wanted to at least see something along the way so we wouldn’t be stuck in the car all day. We’d tossed around the idea of seeing Capulin Volcano in northern NM, but we both agreed it was too far off the expressway to make much sense. I was relieved, too, because I’d forgotten to pack Hyla’s National Parks Passport, and forbid we see one that I can’t document! Haha! Then I suggested we visit Garden of the Gods again. It really is stunning, and it’s easily accessible. So we did just that! We found a decent parking spot and did a nice hike, seeing a mule deer at close range and taking in the beautiful red rock formations. It really was a lovely stroll – Colorado Springs is lucky to have such a great recreational site. From there, we got lunch at Colorado Mountain Brewery. We’d been there on our last visit, and while we really didn’t want to waste much time eating, kind of leaning toward getting fast food, we remembered just how good the food here was. I wound up getting a flight of their beers, which are pretty good, and getting the duck poutine again. This is seriously the epitome of comfort food. It is so good. Nate got the nachos, forgetting that’s what he got last time, and liking it just as much as he had. I think we even had the same waitress! I should have asked if she was from Indiana…lol. Anyway, it was a lovely stop, and I highly recommend it!

Before we knew it, we were back on the road, trucking it back down to Albuquerque. I noticed all the amazing sunflowers flanking the road and wished I had thought about how much they resembled eclipses DURING the eclipse! It’d have been so neat to get a picture of a bunch of sunflowers with the eclipse behind it. Next time!!

We got home just before dark, exhausted, but none the worse for wear. Our first trip with two kids had been a wonderful success! We’re chomping on the bit for our next adventure!

Welcoming Griffin Karl to the World

On June 28th, our family grew a little larger as we welcomed our son, Griffin Karl into the world. Here is his birth story:

Just as with our daughter Hyla, I was very fortunate to have a smooth, easy pregnancy. No morning sickness, no stretch marks, no complications…in fact, my energy levels were as good, if not better than when I’m not pregnant. I never thought I’d actually enjoy being pregnant, but it really has been enjoyable and relatively easy on me. I knew that this state of being was coming to a close around June 27th when things started to indicate our new arrival would be here soon. I’ll spare most of the gory details, but I’ll say that when I went in for my appointment that day, my midwife confirmed that, while I was not dilated yet, I was certainly effaced, and my cervix had moved forward preparing for the big event. Based on how things went with Hyla, I thought our boy would be here two days later, on the 29th, but nature had other plans.

That evening, Nathan, Hyla, and I went out for dinner at Taj Palace for some aloo gobi and saag paneer. I’d been having somewhat minor contractions reminiscent of Braxton-Hicks before we headed out, but I really didn’t think too much of them. However, once at dinner, things started to ramp up a little bit. They especially kicked in when I was more active, triggered by my movement. Still, I didn’t give them much thought until one hit me on the way back to the car. They were definitely getting stronger, and the Braxton-Hicks-esque feel of them was turning into something more serious. When I lay in Hyla’s bed waiting for her to fall asleep, I started timing them, and they ranged from 18 to 9 minutes apart. I thought it wise to alert both grandmas as well as our doula, Sarah, that evening because I wasn’t sure if we’d have to call on them in the middle of the night. With everyone on alert, I turned my attention to packing my bags. I felt incredibly confident about the whole situation – I knew how smoothly things went with Hyla’s delivery, and I had no reason to stress about the events to come. All would be well, and worrying wasn’t going to help anyone.

I spent the evening having contractions on and off, at somewhat irregular intervals, but mostly ranging from 8 to 18 minutes apart, giving me just enough time to doze off before waking again. These were often quite intense, frequently peaking three times each! Around 1 am I experienced full-body shakes that lasted for 20 minutes. I just couldn’t stop shaking – not due to coldness but likely due to a huge rush of adrenaline. With Hyla, I just had the leg shakes, so this all-encompassing full-body experience was new and crazy. I was really hoping to hold on through the night because I didn’t want to have to wake our moms or the doula. I was determined to wait until morning to go to the hospital. I got up around 7 and went to contact Sarah only to discover she’d already texted me to see how things were going! Then Nate contacted his mom to make the drive down. At the time, I thought it might be too early to bother her, but about a half hour later things started ramping up again, and I was glad she was on her way.

At one point the doula, my healthcare provider, and I all agreed that I should head down to triage to see how things were progressing, especially since I was group B strep positive, and I would have to sit through 4 hours of antibiotic treatment. Waiting too long wasn’t a good option at this point. Nate’s mom hadn’t yet arrived, so I called my mom to come over and watch our daughter in the meantime. It turns out both grandmas arrived at roughly the same time, and we were able to briefly say our hellos and goodbyes before running out the door. Hyla was glad to have some grandma time for a while, I’m sure.

We took Zuni down to Presbyterian Hospital since Central is a big mess due to ART construction, making accessibility from that end highly questionable. On the way, I had about three contractions (possibly more) ranging from 4 to 10 minutes apart. We parked down on S-2 and hurried up to triage as best we could, arriving around 10:30. I had to stop a few times for contractions, but they weren’t nearly as bad as the one that stopped me on my way up with Hyla. Sarah was already waiting for us, but we must have walked right by her. Triage admitted us right away – they had my name and everything was good to go. I was instructed to prep for examination and did just that. In the meantime, Nate texted Sarah back, and she met us in the room. We had a lovely time chit-chatting for what seemed like quite a while, and I didn’t have a single contraction the entire time until the triage nurse Gretchen came in. Then WOO did it hit. From that point on, it seemed as though the contractions were triggered by any changes: new person in the room, new question for me, and movement on my end, no matter how minor. We all marveled at the contraction readings being printed out and their occasional intensity. Anyway, the triage nurse checked my dilation, and I was at SEVEN! Not quite the nine from last time, but we didn’t want it to be, since I needed those antibiotics. So they ushered me down to room three, which everyone touted as having one of the best views, facing the Sandias in the east. Honestly, I was so preoccupied I hardly looked out there.

The next few hours involved a lot of sitting around, getting my IV penicillin, and waiting the four hours for the second dose. Lots of contractions hit during this time, and I found it most comfortable to sit crisscross on the bed, later moving over to the rocking chair against the window, which was even better. I hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink yet, though they did start bringing me some water once here. One neat aside was that the midwife was called Lisa, and I’m fairly certain she’s the same one who delivered Hyla! I never did get to ask her if she was from Wisconsin, but she did say she was the only Lisa working 4 years ago, too. I’ll have to see if I can find any record of her name for sure, since I’m not positive the other one was Lisa – plus, I thought she may have been a traveling midwife from WI. Hmm, who knows?! But how cool if that were the case. The day before, my midwife Erin told me she’d be working this day from 7pm to 7am the next day and to wait to deliver then (jokingly, of course). I was sad she wasn’t my midwife for the process, but she’d come by later that evening to check in.

So let’s see…those contractions got exhausting after a while. At one point, my body just wanted to give up, and while sitting in that rocking chair, the contractions became further apart and slightly less intense, giving me a chance to doze off a bit in preparation for the big show. It was wonderful to have the support from Nate and Sarah, though I felt bad for drifting off and kind of ignoring them. During contractions, I’d moan as suggested, which was helpful, and Sarah would too, to encourage me. I was often so tired, though, that I couldn’t even get those out. Then we heard it: everyone tried to convince me I was hearing a newborn baby crying, but nope, it was undeniably a woman giving birth next door, emitting blood curdling screams of agony. It really didn’t bother me too much, as I know what I was going through wouldn’t have warranted such cries, but what got me is that anyone at this point in labor had the energy to commit to screaming. I could barely breathe anymore, I was so tired, merely from quietly fielding all those intense contractions.

At one point, I felt a quick gush that felt a lot like losing a clot during one’s period. They called the nurse in to check, and it was in fact my water breaking – something I never experienced with Hyla until they did it manually. They managed to get me on my second antibiotic drip, and I thought that the contractions I was feeling might be the end game, but I never had an urge to push while sitting there. He was definitely close, but no one wanted to check dilation for fear of slowing things down. Later on, as the quiet period was ending and the contractions were getting more intense (and I was starting to sweat, indicating the difficult transitional period), we heard a distinct “clunk,” on the monitor just as I felt another huge explosion of water down there and felt the boy drop. They immediately called the nurse in, and they took me over to the bathroom to see if I needed to use it. I barely made it to the door before a huge contraction hit. I felt the boy’s head really low now, and distinctly. It was very strange, and while I won’t say it hurt, it was freaky – I was at the point of no return, and the reality of it all had finally set in. I told them, and they ushered me back to the bed. They checked, and he was at station 2, and coming. This was the end game. They had me lay back and relax in a butterfly position with people holding my legs. The contractions weren’t that painful anymore. During them, Lisa rubbed my legs, which was comforting and encouraging. They told me to push during them, and I did, though I felt it was weakly. I had no energy left at all. This time, though, despite my lack of active pushing, they’d tell me it was good progress and to keep it up. My body was doing most of the work on auto pilot, even though it didn’t feel as much like an involuntary gag reflex as when I pushed with Hyla. I would push when I could, and finally, around the 5th contraction since pushing (which is way less than what I went through with Hyla), I pushed enough to get his head out. I felt what was probably the ring of fire this time, from the stretching and slight burning. It hurt a little but wasn’t awful at all. Still, I was exhausted and wanted him out. I felt Lisa (I think) grabbing him, and I was all, “Get him out!” since I wasn’t sure I had the energy to push him out myself. I tiredly pushed again for the shoulders and out he came, even easier than my last birth. Just like with Hyla, it’s so weird to feel a person coming out of you like that. They immediately put him on my bare belly for skin to skin, and let the cord pulse some. Here was my son, red and goopy (though they cleaned him frantically as he lay there), right on my belly, with people telling me how cute he was. I couldn’t get a good look at his face from my angle, and I was too tired and in another mental zone to try. I was just glad he was out and with me. He cried more than I remember Hyla doing, and he had quite a bit of fluid in his lungs, which is probably why. But he was healthy with apgar scores of 8 and 9, which is excellent for high-altitude NM. Anyway, I knew how significant this moment was, but I was so tired I think I was only partially present. I did have to deliver the placenta at this point, which was super easy. Then Lisa was going to give me a stitch for a small tear I had from the birth, but I asked her if it was necessary, and she said no – just like with Hyla. I’ve never had stitches in my life – why start now? I had a full hour with him for snuggles before they did the vitamin supplements and measurements and such. He was born at 5:34 pm at 8 lbs even, 20.75 inches long. I was later told by our nurse Aretha that he was the largest baby on the floor, and it had been a very busy day of deliveries. I guess NM babies tend to be small due to lack of proper nourishment. Sad. Anyway, he’s big and strong and alert, and he already seems to be trying to roll over.

Just a note: throughout the process, everyone seemed so impressed with how I was handling this. I don’t think I’ve ever been called a rock star so much in my life. Sarah thought I was good at internalizing the struggle, and everyone thought I was so cool and collected. That’s what lack of energy does for a person, but honestly, at no time did I ever feel like I needed to scream or have pain meds. The thought of having them just cut him out did occur to me a time or two, and wondering if I really wanted to go through with it was a thought, too, even though I obviously had no choice at this point. It is just such a weird sensation, and kind of scary even though it all works out in the end. I did often think about how lucky everyone else in the world was that wasn’t experiencing labor. It was hard to imagine that it would be over anytime soon, or very abruptly for that matter. I also felt mostly present, though near the end with the tiredness, I couldn’t really look at anyone directly or communicate as much.

Back to the room, eventually Sarah left us to our bonding, and my midwife Erin came in to say hi and express her excitement for us. I went into the bathroom, and while there, I heard familiar voices. My mom, Karla, Sumarin, and Hyla had shown up! I couldn’t believe they let them into the delivery room, hazmat that it probably was at this point. We had a wonderful time showing off our newest addition. Hyla seemed somewhat interested, but she was so distracted by all the family around as well as the zeroth birthday cake they picked out for Griffin. It had two candy stars on top, one for each kid, and she had to eat them right then and there. Too funny. Then, before long, they transferred us up to the recovery room, where we’d spend the night, room 633, looking to the south, just like Hyla’s recovery room when I had her. The family met us up there briefly before heading back home, probably almost as exhausted as we were.

The rest of the evening and next day would consist of lots of nurses and techs coming in to take vitals, do tests, and have us fill out birth certificate paperwork. He passed all his tests easily (heart defect, hearing, etc.) Thank goodness he’s such a healthy one! As for how he looks, he has dark slate blue grey eyes so far and some blonde hair all over his body, dark brown wispy hair on his head, but not much, and no eyelashes. If he has eyebrows, they’re so light you can hardly tell. He has great coloration and very wrinkly hands. As for me, I did get my energy back about 2 hours after birth, so that was good. I could focus my time on snuggling our son and eating some dinner.

The night went smoothly, and it felt so good to rest a while. Anyway, back to that night, I didn’t want to leave my bed, but I always kept checking if Griffin was breathing. He seemed to do fine and slept a lot. We wound up staying until about 9 pm the next day, since we had to wait for all the testing to be completed, but all went smoothly and without incident, and before we knew it, we were home, starting the next chapter in our lives with our new son Griffin.

Pacific Northwest Adventures 2016 (Part 2)

4/24/16 (continued)

Oh man, talk about waiting a long time to revisit this! It’s October now! I hope I can do this trip justice!

To recap, my mom and I had just completed our week-long cruise up the Columbia and Snake Rivers, and Nathan, Karla, and the kiddo drove up to meet us for the second half of our adventure. We start here in Clarkston, WA, on the banks of the Snake River.

Once we left the American Empress, we were able to track Karla down. She drove us over the river and to the hotel at which they stayed the night before. Hyla and Nate were still sleeping, but started getting up as soon as we got there. I didn’t realize up until now that Hyla was suffering from an awful case of croup, and her cough was terrible! I felt so awful for my little kid. They said she was worse in the mornings and improved as the day wore on. I really hoped so! She wasn’t very happy to see us, either, and wanted nothing to do with me at all. She cried and I couldn’t console her. Poor kiddo. She just needed a day of rest, which wasn’t going to happen for a while. I hoped that she could at least relax a bit in the car.

Everyone got dressed and ready, and we packed the van. Then we headed back over the river to points west! The drive was very pretty: rolling green hills stretched as far as the eye could see. We timed it just right, as the green season is very brief, and all the hills would turn brown in just about 6 weeks. Trees were also very sparse. It turns out there are no native trees between Clarkston and The Dalles, so any we did see were transplants. We eventually made it to Kennewick and headed to the Gesa Carousel of Dreams. Located by the Southridge Sports Complex park, the carousel started its life in 1910 at Silver Beach Amusement Park in St. Joseph, Michigan. A handcrafted masterpiece, the carousel thrilled riders at Silver Beach for 62 years before being purchased by a collector in Roswell, NM. It sat there, unused, until 2002 when the city of Kennewick bought it and once again made it available to the public. We were excited to ride it, as this is one of the few remaining carousels with a ring machine – you can grab rings as you ride by, with hopes of catching the brass ring which allows you another ride. Nathan and I did quite well at ring-grabbing, and I never missed a single one! During our rides, I got 2 brass rings, and Nate got 1! Hyla loved holding onto the rings as we rode around. She was so enamored by this ride that she still asks to go back today. If only it weren’t a two-day drive away!

We broke up the time on the carousel with a visit to the adjacent playground. Nate found a geocache while Hyla enjoyed the slides and other activities. Then we headed off to find lunch at Ice Harbor Brewing Company. The food was delicious – I had a French dip sandwich and shared a beer sampler with Nate. Hyla had desperately been wanting ice cream, so we were able to fulfill her wish here, and she was thrilled. She was also quite tired, and it was starting to show. Once we left, she was able to take a nap in the car until we arrived at Maryhill Stonehenge: a replica of the original Stonehenge, located high above the Columbia River. Dedicated in 1918 and completed in 1929, it serves as a WWI memorial. We enjoyed the amazing views before continuing down the road.

We headed on toward The Dalles, noting just how far from civilization we seemed to be. There really isn’t much between the Tri Cities (Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco) and The Dalles, though the views of the Columbia River prevent it from being too monotonous. Once we reached The Dalles, we thought a stop at a park would be perfect for everyone, so we made our way to a high point in town and parked at Sorosis Park. We all got quite a kick out of that unfortunate name. Hoping to find a geocache, we were amazed that such a huge park didn’t have any for us to find. Instead, we took Hyla to the playground for a bit, until she was spooked by all the boisterous kids. Then we hiked around the perimeter trail, getting some exercise and enjoying the cool air. The views from this height were astounding! What a great park!

After this, we continued on to Hood River, where we had a hotel reservation. The rest of the evening was trying and stressful for me, but we got through it. We ordered a pizza, swam, gave the kiddo a bath, and went to bed exhausted.

4/25/16

Karla’s birthday! We celebrated a bit in the room before striking out on our way again. We visited Bonneville Dam again, this time from the Oregon side. Nate and I had visited this side years ago, and I thought it was better than the Washington side. Upon seeing it again, I concur. There was just so much more to see and do here. We strolled the grounds, visited the museum which had a large field trip going on, observed some more fish ladders which were still as empty as a few days prior, and my mom got Hyla a stuffed pika. You don’t see those every day!

Then we explored the fish hatchery and ponds for a while. It’s always so neat to see these fish up close. They had some enormous sturgeon on display – I’m sure they were big enough to ride. So fascinating. We fed the fish and ducks for a while before continuing on again.

Our next stop was Multnomah Falls. Nate and I also visited here on our last trip, and we thought it was incredible enough to take our moms to see. We all went up to the viewpoint, taking in the immense power and beauty of the Falls. Karla, Nate, Hyla and I then went up to the bridge viewpoint. Karla took Hyla back down with her while Nate and I continued up to the upper viewpoint. It was a great hike, and it was easy going despite the steepness. Being down near sea level does wonders for one’s stamina. The view from above the waterfall was incredible. We tried to spot our moms and Hyla from up there, sadly to no avail. The Columbia River was just beyond the trees. The air was cool, the breeze was comforting, and the setting was serene. We didn’t stay too long, as we figured everyone would wonder where we were, so we hurried back down the path. On the way, I noticed a group of people in front of us sporting Illini jackets. I asked if they went to U of I, and they DID! What a small world.

Once at the bottom, we met up with our family and hit the gift shop. Karla bought Hyla an orange bouncy clownfish that lit up, and it was all the rage. In fact, months later, when Hyla popped the light ball out and it became a choking hazard and mysteriously disappeared, all she could do was obsess over her “yoyo fish,” and ask us to get her another one. Poor kid. Luckily, several months after that, Karla bought a case of yoyo fish – a different style, but 6 colors of bouncing, light-up fish. Hyla was complete again.

We continued on toward Portland, making our way to the Portland Children’s Museum. Despite being tired, we tried to get the most out of it. The museum was quite large, and I wish we’d have had more time to really explore, but we did at least see everything. There was a crocodile whose teeth you could brush, a whole town with interactive shops, a water discovery zone, lots of arts and crafts opportunities, a hollow tree to explore, and an outdoor area with a stick maze and lots of amazing trees you could climb.

Ready for supper, we determined there was a kid-friendly brew pub nearby: the Laurelwood Public House and Brewery. So we plugged it into our Garmin and headed there. It took an eternity to get there, thanks to the crazy traffic. We parked about 2 blocks away and got settled, glad to stop for a bit. We found that “kid-friendly” was an understatement. Kid-infested seemed more accurate! The food was good – I had the nachos. I can’t speak for the beer because I was so dehydrated, beer was the last thing I wanted. Instead I enjoyed a lovely strawberry lemonade. Honestly, I was so tired at this point, I really don’t remember many details, but it was nice enough.

We were excited to get to our hotel and relax for the evening. Pulling into the lot, we were all so relieved and ready to be done with travel. Nate went to check in, but he was out really quickly. It turned out the Garmin brought us to the wrong hotel. We still had several miles to go before we could rest. Luckily the next place was correct, and we spent the next hour or so shuttling our belongings up to our room, finding milk (the breakfast milk stores were locked, but the desk clerk went on a mission to find the key for us – he really went out of his way, and we were grateful to not have to trudge out again to find a convenience store), exploring the hotel, getting the internet code, and finding the elusive hot chocolate that was apparently free for guests. Phew! I was so glad to settle in and get some sleep at last. It had been quite a journey.

4/26/16

We woke up and took it relatively easy. Hyla got to swim before we had to pack the car to head off. Our first stop was the Portland Airport. Karla was flying back today, but luckily we had time to have lunch with her before she took off. When we parked, I was excited to see that each space had a green or red light above it, allowing you to see if a space was empty from a distance. Since the lot was so crowded, it was a huge help! Once in the building, we found a section of the airport outside security that featured a number of faux food trucks showcasing numerous cuisines. I opted for pad Thai, and everyone else had gyros. Again, I was struck by how nice this airport is! The interior is just so clean and welcoming. Once we finished eating, we said goodbye to Karla and headed off to continue our adventures.

We headed over to the Portland Zoo, which happened to be off the same parking lot as the Children’s Museum from yesterday. We paid our meter and headed inside. What a nice zoo! There were a lot of little sections, we were worried we might miss something, but I think we managed to see it all. Hyla got to ride on another carousel, and Nate and I grabbed two geocaches within the zoo itself! I almost considered not actually grabbing the first one, even though we found it, because it was behind a barrier. We returned to the site later during our visit, and since no one was around, I jumped the barrier (only a few feet from the cache) and frantically opened it and signed the log. Once I finished, there were about 5 families nearby. Eek! Luckily, I used to work at a zoo, and Nate said that I looked pretty official about the whole thing, as though I actually worked there. So go me! (Not that I advocate jumping barriers, mind you…) The second cache was near a train stop on our way out. There was a lot of construction, but the cache was present and accessible. Yay! We spent a lot more time at the zoo than I realized, and I panicked when I noticed we were there one and a half hours more than our meter allowed! I bolted back to the car, but luckily no one was enforcing the meters that day. Phew! At this point, we decided it was time to move on.

We headed north over the Columbia River, eager to get into Washington and away from the crazy traffic in Portland. We even drove right through Vancouver, WA and spotted the hotel at which my mom and I stayed our first night! Once we broke past the metro area, we were treated to lush green forests, dotted with ponds. It was a dream! We continued north along the Columbia River and eventually stopped for the night in Kelso where we’d secured a room at the Best Western Aladdin Inn. A perfect stop, since one of Hyla’s favorite movies at the time was “Aladdin and the King of Thieves,” which she talked about a lot on the trip (not that there was any theming at the hotel or anything). We asked the desk clerk for restaurant recommendations, hoping for something seafood related, being near the coast and all. He highly recommended Freddy’s Just for the Halibut, not far up the road. It was outstanding! We had a sampler platter and clam chowder, and it was all delicious! Hyla even got a surprise complimentary ice cream! We even talked to the owner for a while – it had an extremely “ma and pa” atmosphere. This was easily one of the best restaurants of our trip.

We made it back to the room and took the kiddo swimming. Then we had a good night’s sleep. It had been another eventful day!

4/27/16

Now’s where it gets tricky – I didn’t take any notes for the rest of the trip! Eep! Let’s see what I can remember…

Once we were packed, we headed out toward Mt. St. Helens. We were aware the upper visitor centers were closed for the season, but the lowest one, Seaquest, was open, so we stopped there, perusing the exhibits, watching the film (well, as much as the kiddo would let us), and taking a stroll along the beautiful boardwalk.

Then we continued up toward the volcano itself. It was a misty, drizzly kind of day, so we never quite got a good look at Mt. St. Helens, but the views of the surrounding country were amazing! We had to turn around due to a road closure right around the point when it started to snow, so we doubled back to an overlook and looked with wonder upon the green valley below. We knew the volcano lurked just beyond the clouds in front of us, and we waited, hoping the clouds would clear, but they never did. Once we returned home, we heard there had been an earthquake swarm right when we were there! Of course they were too small to feel, but that’s still exciting!

Then we headed north toward Leavenworth, an incredible Alpine town I thought my mom might enjoy. I’m not sure if we ever stopped for lunch this day, but I think we grabbed snacks at a gas station or two. I remember stopping at one station and getting Hyla a book on insects, and the lady at the checkout counter seemed repulsed at the idea that anyone should be interested in such things. Ah, people.

We drove through rain and wintery mix conditions, and eventually we made it to Leavenworth. We admired the architecture and design in this European-themed town. We knew we wanted German food for dinner, and we opted for a place that turned out only to have outside seating: The Munchen Haus. Unfortunately, they really only specialized in brats and beer, but we still enjoyed what we had! They certainly had a variety of both, and all sorts of specialty mustards to choose from. You could also help yourself to unlimited apple cider sauerkraut. It was a little chilly, but the food was good, at least. We wound up talking to a couple from Clarkston who had no idea that cruise ships visited their town and wanted to learn more. What fun. Once we were done eating, I ran down to grab a geocache, passing some familiar places from the last visit: Andreas Keller Restaurant, where we ate last time, and the Australian shop – an odd establishment for a European town! As for the geocache, it was on private hotel property, so after nosing around, I cheated and asked the desk clerk about its whereabouts, as I don’t like looking suspicious. It was an easy find after that! Nate also looked for one, but it appeared to be missing, so we called it a day and headed back to the car.

Evening was approaching, so we hurried off toward Spokane. We had a reservation for a two-bedroom suite near the airport. It would be a welcome place to settle for the night after another long adventure. I was able to write out my postcards (which took weeks to get anywhere – I was worried they were lost at the hotel!), and we prepared for the next leg of our journey.

4/28/16

Once packed, we hit the road again, heading east to Coeur D’Alene, ID. I remembered really enjoying this town when Nate and I traveled through here last time – we had spent time at Silverwood Amusement Park and stayed at a hotel with an indoor waterpark. This time would be a bit more low-key. We stopped at McEuen Park, a large park right along the waterfront, and did some hiking and geocaching. Hyla got to enjoy the playground for a while, too. Nate and I had visited here last time, as well, so it was fun to see a familiar spot. The lake views from atop the hillside are gorgeous, and it’s definitely worth a visit.

From here, we grabbed lunch at Paragon Brewing. I recall the menu was a bit limited, and the beers were good, but nothing special. We had a lot of driving ahead of us, so we didn’t really drink very much. Overall, I wasn’t all that impressed, but it was good to be nourished. Once full, we hit the road again, heading east on I-90. We stopped in Missoula, a lovely college town, and spent about an hour at Dragon Hollow Playground, right on the riverfront. A clever and unique castle play structure, I almost lost Hyla at the bottom of an enormous twisty slide. I let her slide first, and by the time I made it down, she had run off! Yikes! Nate and I took turns wandering off to try and find our first Montana geocache, but it was a bust. We observed kayakers battling the frigid currents right in the center of town. How exciting! I wish we’d have had more time to explore Missoula, but it was getting late, and we had a schedule to keep.

We decided to spend the night in Deer Lodge, part-way between Missoula and Butte. We secured a room at the Travelodge, against my better judgment (I’ve stayed in some disgusting Travelodges). It actually wasn’t too bad, luckily. My mom and Hyla stayed in the room while Nate and I went out to explore the town. It was almost completely dark, but we attempted to find a geocache until we just couldn’t see anymore. Then we drove down to look at the historic prison, which would have probably been neat to tour. Maybe one day. Finally, we swung back and grabbed some McDonalds to take back to the room, since it was about the only thing open. I was fascinated by the older people in the restaurant, wondering what their lives were like, living in this small town. So interesting. Anyway, we brought the food back and had another relaxing evening.

4/29/16

We had a lot of ground to cover today and plans to visit with friends in the evening, so we had to book it. Our first stop was the Berkeley Pit in Butte, MT. Compared to Missoula, Butte wasn’t exactly an inviting town. A bit rough around the edges, it felt very industrial. We made our way over to the Pit, which is considered one of the worst toxic waste sites in the world. This former copper mine is highly acidic and has given rise to new species of extremophile bacteria. Supposedly the water color changes frequently, but the reflectivity was so high that we couldn't really even tell what color it was. We walked to the lookout shelter and watched a foolish bird swimming peacefully in this toxic water. Beyond that, there wasn’t much else to do but answer a few geocache questions and continue on our way.

We grabbed another geocache in town, so we could say we’d found a physical one, and we dropped off our travel bug. Then we hit the road, catching I-15 and heading south toward Utah.

This portion of our trip was mostly uneventful. We stopped at a few rest areas for some more geocaches, and we marveled at the beautiful scenery. Eventually we crossed back into Idaho and decided to stop in Idaho Falls for some lunch. Nate and I had visited here back in 2008, while I was working in Utah. We decided to see if the brew pub we’d enjoyed was still around, and it was! I’m not sure if the name was the same, but Snow Eagle Brewing and Grill was certainly in the same location. In addition to pub fare, they also featured sushi now! It was a little weird eating that in front of the glowfish tetra and black molly in their aquarium, though. We also found some time to walk along the beautiful riverfront, admire the falls (which are odd in that they run parallel to the river, instead of the typical perpendicular falls), and grab some geocaches. A lovely time in a lovely town was had by all.

We got back on I-15 and continued on into Utah. I got such a kick out of driving between the border and Salt Lake City, as this was one of my major stomping grounds back in 2008. I was sad that I blinked and missed Smith and Edwards, the massive military surplus store where we bought our dragon lamp. I would have liked to have visited it again.

Once we hit Ogden, we decided to see if we could find my old residence – the Ogden Bay Wildlife Management Area. I was able to stay rent-free in a creaky old metal trailer while I did my flying squirrel and pika fieldwork. Well, it took longer than we anticipated to find it, traveling through miles of farmland and salt marshes, but eventually there it was! It appeared my trailer was either no longer there or turned at a weird angle, and more structures seemed to have been built, but there was no mistaking my old home! We parked and hiked out along one of the marsh roads, hoping to grab another geocache, and enjoying the beauty of the marshlands. Waterfowl were abundant, and the views of the distant Wasatch Range were stunning. We were at a far point when I realized how late we were for meeting our friends! Yikes! We ran back to the car as quickly as Hyla would let us and snaked our way back to the expressway for our mostly straight shot down to Salt Lake City.

I think we made it to my friends’ house about a half hour late. The traffic from Ogden to Provo (a good 80 miles) is awful, and Salt Lake City is in the center of that mess. It was so good to see my old friends again – Trish and I go way back to the days when we were both members of the American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association (AFRMA). She’d been my pen pal since I was a kid, and she, her husband Rob, and her kids have always welcomed me every time I was in the area. Seeing them was the highlight of the two research stints I had in Utah. We hung out at their house for a while, meeting their wonderful pet rats. This was Hyla’s first introduction to rats, and she was a little nervous, but you could tell she liked them. I hadn’t held a rat in years (shocking!), but it was nice to have that opportunity again.

From there, we went out to dinner at La Puente, a Mexican restaurant. Rob was born in New Mexico, so he knew the place to take us – apparently this place had a New Mexican flare, which could even be seen on its sign, which sported the Zia symbol, the same symbol you see on our state flag! The food was wonderful, as was the company. We had such a nice time catching up. I only wish we’d have had more time. After 8 years (has it been that long?) there’s a lot of catching up to do!

After dinner, it was getting pretty late, and we were exhausted from another long day on the road. We said goodbye and headed south to Provo where we had another reservation. We hoped to be home tomorrow, and we wanted to get as close as we could while still having some civilization around. I forget if Nate and Hyla swam this evening or the next morning (I think it was the next morning), but she did get to enjoy another pool. It had been another great day!

4/30/16

We were excited to hit the road for home at last. We’d had an enjoyable trip, but we were exhausted, and we looked forward to getting back to our animals. Angling southeast out of Provo, we drove through the small town of Helper, picking up an “Inside Out” activity book at a gas station, before catching up with I-70 in Green River. We were only briefly on I-70 before we took the exit for Rte. 191 to Moab. Driving past the imposing Arches National Park entrance (we’ll have to go back sometime, though Nate, Hyla, and Karla stopped on their drive out.), we made our way to yet another brew pub for lunch. We’d eaten at Moab Brewery years ago, and it was ok. The food was par for the course, and the beers were typical, though watered-down, as is expected in Utah. Still, it was a nice place to stop and take a break. Once satiated, we headed over to Rotary Park, a neat little park with two playgrounds: one classic one, and one based around music! We grabbed a geocache (of course!) and took Hyla to enjoy the two play areas, particularly enjoying the enormous xylophones and bells. What fun!

Finally, we decided we’d better head off. On our way out of town, I hoped to find a place that sold shakes. Both times I lived in Utah, I LIVED on Oreo shakes. I was addicted! Utah makes the best ones! Sadly, I was not to get my Oreo shake fix. Next time for sure!

We continued on through the Four Corners region and finally back to New Mexico. The scenery was stunning, though much more deserty than when we started, of course. We drove and drove, eager to get home. I believe we made it back before dark, glad to be back safely and exhausted from an incredible trip!

Colorado: July 2016

Colorado, July 2016

Well, it’s been months since I’ve taken this trip, so we’ll see just how much I remember! Luckily I try to take good notes.

We had limited vacation time to play with this year, so we decided a nearby road trip would be the perfect summertime getaway. Colorado is beautiful and full of so many things to see, so it was an easy decision.

7-21-16

Being a Thursday, Nate had to work, so we didn’t hit the road until 3pm. We wanted to leave early enough to make it to Rino’s in Trinidad, one of my favorite restaurants. The drive up was uneventful, save for seeing random fires off in the distance, and we made it to town with time to spare. Located inside a former church built in 1887, the atmosphere is historic and airy. Though serving delicious Italian fare, the main draw of this restaurant is the singing staff. In my experience everyone, including the busboys and kitchen crew, sings here! It’s always a great experience, and I try to stop every time I’m in the area.

I was heartened to see the place hopping despite being a Thursday night. The food was nice, and the singing was, too, though a bit sparse. I think this was our daughter's first time here, and she got rather cranky mid-way through, so that was unfortunate. Nate took her out to the car and walked her around to see the sights of the restaurant, too. Before long it was time for us to hit the road again.

We made it to Pueblo that evening, not quite in time to enjoy the swimming pool. For the first time, our girl slept in an actual hotel bed and not her Pack N Play! She did really well (despite fighting sleep for a ridiculous amount of time)! Other than being situated along the train tracks, it was a nice spot and a good place to end our first day in Colorado.

7-22-16

Woke up relieved that our daughter didn’t fall off the tall bed during the night. She was excited to get a chance to swim in the pool before we headed out. So she and Nate did that while I packed and loaded the car. Then we drove up to Colorado Springs for our next big adventure: Santa’s Workshop!

Ever since Jeanine and I visited many years ago, I knew I had to take my kiddo to Santa’s Workshop. Geared toward young kids, most of the rides were just her speed, and I knew it would be a great introduction to amusement parks. I was so excited to finally take her here and see if she liked rides as much as I do. None of us were disappointed! She rode all but 3 or 4 rides (the only ones I remember she didn’t ride were the sky ride, zip line sleigh, and horse hopper). She loved them all! We rode motor cars, a giant spiral slide, a tilt-a-whirl, the world’s highest Ferris wheel, a Paratrooper, the Christmas ornament ride (they had one at Santa’s Village in IL when I was a kid), various kiddie rides she rode by herself with no problem, a swinging rocket ship, flyers (no cable snapping, sadly), you name it. She even rode her very first roller coaster: The Candy Cane Coaster! It was awfully rough, and she told us she was afraid she’d chip her teeth on it. Oh dear. She seemed to like it, though. I rode with her the first time, and Nate went the second time. I’m so glad she’s finally riding coasters with us! I’m sure this is the first of many!

We explored a mirror maze, visited some shops, ate at a cozy burger stand while it drizzled outside, touched the north pole (brrrrrr!), and saw some reindeer. At one point, lightning struck pretty close to the park and all the rides shut down. We took shelter in the Skee Ball pavilion and won some tickets, turning them in for a blue snowflake yoyo and two tiny rubber reptiles: a lizard and a snake. The magic show was about to start, so we hurried over to the theater to enjoy that while waiting for the weather to clear up. It was short but entertaining, and by the time it was over the rides were open again! I was able to take a ride on the zip line sleigh, and I have to say it was a little scary. I was mostly nervous about the stop – it seemed pretty abrupt, and there was no barrier between one’s legs to stop you from flying forward under the safety bar. I held on for dear life, and as you can see, I’m here today! Haha! I can see why they don’t let little ones ride it, though.

We stayed until the park closed. We never did get to visit Santa, though we did see him make a run for the exit once his day was over. I don’t think our kiddo wanted to see him anyway, so no problem there. I do have to say the staff was phenomenal – always so nice and accommodating. We had such a lovely time, and I’m sure we’ll go back again someday.

By now it was 5pm, and we were all a bit tired. Our daughter fell asleep in the car, but we still had things to see! We drove over to Garden of the Gods and took turns hiking while the other stayed in the car with her. The scenery out there is incredible!! I took some pictures that don’t do the place justice, observed the wildlife (mostly rabbits and birds), saw people on Segways, and watched a huge line of trail riders go by. How fun that would be! The weather here was perfect and seemed cooler than up at Santa’s Workshop. I would have loved to spend the rest of the day here!

Once we had seen enough, we headed to dinner at the Colorado Mountain Brewery. It felt so good to just sit and relax a while after all our running around. And this was a wonderful spot for that! Our food was sooo good! Nate had the nachos, but my duck poutine was out of this world! It was the ultimate comfort food – so tasty and satisfying. I also had the beer sampler and really enjoyed their creations. Our waitress was from Indiana, and we had a grand time reminiscing about Gino’s East pizza. How funny! A perfect end to a fabulous day!

From there we made our way to our hotel, a Hampton Inn located out east near the airport. While I love the hilly and topographical nature of the west side of town, this side was a bit less hectic and busy. It was refreshing to just slow down at last. We enjoyed the cookies they offered before walking to the nearby 7-11 for some milk. Then we grabbed an easy “lamp post skirt” geocache in the parking lot before heading in to hit the pool. All three of us swam in the frigid pool before hitting the hay. A great day was had by all.

7-23-16

Woke up to find the kiddo on the floor, fast asleep. Nate thinks she must have fallen out of bed and been so tired she didn’t wake up. It would be quite a fall from those tall beds, so hopefully she just crawled down, but Nate was probably right. Poor kiddo. Luckily she seemed none the worse for wear. We took it easy this morning, enjoying breakfast at the hotel before heading out around 10. Our first stop was The Space Foundation Discovery Center, which was free with our Explora pass. The museum was the perfect size, and it was full of fun activities for kids including exhibits on recycling, efficient houses, and healthy produce. Nate and I went nuts for the recycling video game, and I got the high score on both machines! Woo hoo! There was a working R2D2 that interacted with us, a neat show on the planets featuring a 3D orb that showed each celestial body from all angles, hands-on projects involving propulsion, and lots of outer space displays. I’m really glad we checked it out, and it would be worth seeing again.

From here, we grabbed lunch at the Trinity Brewery. Sitting outside, we were joined by an unusual beige ladybug that hung out at our table throughout the meal. We ordered another flight and were excited that it came with some cheeses. Most of the beers were great, though I wasn’t thrilled about the strawberry. I told Nate it tasted like “a computer lab.” It’s hard to explain why I felt this way – maybe it had an electrical flavor? But the amazing thing is that Nate saw where I was coming from and agreed. The food was good, though the portions were a bit small. I had the hummus, and I think Nate had a burger. In comparing this brew pub to Colorado Mountain, I’d say if you want great food, go to CO Mtn., and if you want great beers, go to Trinity. Overall, though, both are good establishments.

Bellies full, we decided it would be fun to drive to the top of Pikes Peak. We’d taken the cog railway up many years ago, but the drive sounded like a lot of fun, too. Plus, we’d be able to stop and site-see along the way. The drive on this 19-mile toll road takes you from montane forests up to high tundra at and below the 14,114-foot summit. We were told the weather was questionable and we may be instructed to turn back at some point, so we crossed our fingers and decided to go directly to the top in case they did decide to shut things down. We encountered drizzle, as well as slightly heavier rain upon our ascent, but nothing too major. On our way we saw a bighorn sheep and some incredible views of the surrounding countryside. Nate pointed out a mine in the distance, too.

The top of Pikes Peak is quite striking in that it’s essentially a giant parking lot. Kind of a letdown after driving up through some gorgeous scenery, but it is what it is. It was raining harder up here, and lightning was in the vicinity, so we camped out in the car for a while. Our daughter was asleep anyway, so there was no real reason to get out. Eventually, Nate left to use the bathroom, and then I went out to get us some of their “world famous” donuts. They weren’t bad, but certainly not out of this world or anything. While outside, I wandered over to a viewpoint and saw a rainbow reaching over the world below. It was just perfect! The rain was starting to subside, and the kiddo started to stir. It was time to head down and see what else the mountain had to offer.

Our first stop was just a little down the road, still in the tundra. We parked on the shoulder and struck out along a narrow trail. We were treated to more beautiful scenery and even saw a pair of yellow-bellied marmots! We were hoping to glimpse at least one of those critters. I was dealing with the effects of low oxygen and found myself almost gasping for air, though I have to wonder if it was more psychological than anything. You definitely do fatigue more quickly up there, though.

We descended further and were once again in the company of trees when we stopped at Glen Cove Inn for a quick snack and a bathroom break. Our girl enjoyed the gigantic bear stuffed animal by the snack shop. We wandered around in the woods for a while before descending further, stopping for a geocache along the side of the road. Then we stopped briefly at Crystal Creek Reservoir where we hiked the small trail around part of the lake and strolled out onto a couple of piers. Beautiful!

Unfortunately, at this point Nate was experiencing an awful migraine, so we got back to the car and headed out to find our hotel. I stopped briefly at Target to get him some Advil, but he was so sick at this point it didn’t do much good. We had reservations at the Doubletree, so we checked in and got settled in the room as quickly as we could. Then I took our daughter and we headed out to find some dinner.

I’d spied a Fazoli’s earlier, and, being one of the closest restaurants of its kind to Albuquerque, I knew I had to go. I have fond memories of eating there in college and, while their recipes aren’t as good as they used to be, it’s still a comfort for me. I really wanted to eat there because Nate needed some peace and quiet, so against my better judgment, I attempted my first solo dinner experience with my girl. I thought it would be so nice to spend some time with her, one-on-one, in a restaurant setting. Well, thanks to me not thinking about how she might need to use potty, this was a big fiasco. We had our number and our table, and that’s when she decided she needed to go. NOW. I tried to get her to wait, but she wasn’t having it. I wound up having to get our meal to go after all (which probably wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought it was at the time), but it was a stressful experience. I’m so bummed my first mommy/daughter dinner date was a bust.

We brought the food back to the room with us, including some Burger King for Nate, and I did all I could to avoid disturbing him, though I’m not sure it worked so well. After struggling to get our girl to eat and scarfing my own dinner, I ran out to the 7-11 across the street to get her some milk. Of course, while waiting to cross at the light, some guy comes up and says something like, “You’re going to 7-11, too?” Uh, none of your damn business! I mean, I’m all for being friendly, but you don’t talk to an unfamiliar lone woman outside at night. I was already on high alert, being in strange surroundings. Mega super alarm bells for me! I grumbled something at him and booked it once the light changed, leaving him in my dust. I wanted to get what I needed and get the heck out of there before he could follow me, but of course, there was some woman at the milk case hemming and hawing for what felt like an eternity. Eventually I excused myself, grabbed what I needed, checked out, and literally ran all the way back to the hotel. At least I got a good workout from it!

Once back, I made sure everyone had what they needed, and then I made at least 5 trips back and forth to the car, bringing in all of our stuff. While I typically like Doubletree (can we say, amazing cookies??), this one wasn’t really the best. I discovered that the bottom of our door (I assume there’s usually an attached strip of metal or something) was missing, leaving a good 3-inch gap. While sitting on the floor, you could comfortably look out into the hallway. Weirdness! We also only had one bed, so the kiddo had to sleep in her Pack N Play again. She wasn’t happy, and it was a struggle. On top of it, I was starting to feel a sore throat coming on. Ugh. Still, I was glad to finally be settled for the night.

7-24-16

I think we all felt better after a good night’s sleep. We made sure to get up in time to enjoy Doubletree’s splendid indoor pool. It was an unusual shape, and part of it spanned out under a glass ceiling. I’m sure it would be amazing in the snow or rain. Nate said the pool was warm and inviting, too. Of course the one day I swim is the one day the pool is ice cold! I packed up the car, explored the hotel some more (despite our room and its issues, the common areas of the hotel were splendid), and hung out with my swimming duo before we hit the road.

Today our destination was Cripple Creek, Colorado. We wanted to experience the narrow gauge railroad. We arrived at the station just as the train was boarding, so we decided to explore the town a bit and catch the next ride. We parked about 2 blocks from the main strip and wandered down, gawking at the many casinos and eating establishments. We decided to get a bite to eat at Maggie’s, which we found just off the strip in the basement of the Colorado Grande Casino. It sports a welcoming atmosphere consisting of several small rooms in a casually elegant setting. I had a French dip sandwich, but I forget what Nate had. Either way, there was a lot of food, and we really enjoyed ourselves. We had a long wait to get a table, so we didn’t quite make the next train out of the station. When we finished, a storm was rolling in anyway, so we drove over to the Cripple Creek Heritage Center, which was free and indoors, so that was a win! We wandered around the first and second floors, enjoying the informative exhibits and occasionally looking at the driving rain through the huge windows. The storm hadn’t quite subsided by the time our train was scheduled to board, but we went over to the Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railway depot and got our tickets anyway. There was a bit of lightning around, but luckily it stayed out of our way during our journey.

The train consisted of the engine, our covered car, and an uncovered car. The front of the car had plastic windows, which was nice as it was pretty chilly once the storm passed. None of us were really dressed for the occasion, but we made do. We even ended up scooting toward the back of the car for a more unobstructed view. We enjoyed a 45-minute trip through historic gold mine sites and surrounded by beautiful scenery. We would stop several times so the conductor could impart facts about everything around us. The turnaround point was the abandoned mining camp of Anaconda, right next to the functioning Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine. This was most likely the mine we observed from atop Pikes Peak! We slowly snaked our way back to the town of Cripple Creek, our conductor occasionally indulging in an echoing toot or two from the engine.

Once back, we’d considered doing the gold mine tour, 1000 feet below ground, but our girl was getting pretty tired, and we weren’t sure they’d let someone so small on the tour anyway, so instead we took the long way back down to Pueblo, heading back through the peaceful town of Victor and enjoying the Colorado countryside.

We rolled into Pueblo around 7pm and headed straight for Pueblo City Park. It turns out they have a small amusement park complete with a kiddie roller coaster, and we just had to check it out! The amusement park is open in the evenings throughout the summer and has many lovely attractions including an historic C.W. Parker carousel. The tickets were $0.25 each, and the rides were either one or two tickets to ride, so it was extremely reasonable. We wandered around, and the kiddo rode nearly everything: the kiddie Ferris wheel, the kiddie circle rides, the kiddie whip, the carousel, the train (a pretty decent one we all rode, went around a big pond), and of course the kiddie coaster which, again, was rough. I was a bit worried she’d be put off about roller coasters, but she would be a trooper. She just didn’t want to re-ride this one. There were two bounce houses, and she begged to go in one. So we paid the ticket and in she went…for all of 5 seconds. Luckily the ride op gave us our ticket back. We enjoyed a relaxing evening at the park and played until dark. After a quick time at the adjacent playground we headed off to find our hotel.

For our last night, we had a reservation at Econo Lodge West in West Pueblo. After having a quick bite to eat from Sonic, we managed to find the energy to visit the pool before hitting the hay. Another good day was had by all!

7-25-16

Even though this was the last day of our trip, we had a lot planned! We took it easy in the morning before heading back to Pueblo City Park to check out their zoo. It was located right across the small parking lot from the amusement park. Though it was a small zoo, it was decent, and it easily filled up our morning. We wandered around, admiring the animals and artwork. Our daughter has been fascinated by the color indigo and its absence in most depictions of rainbows, so I was excited to point out an animal that’s about as close to indigo as you’re going to find: the hyacinth macaw! In the same building, a few windows down, however, she found her favorite animals yet: meerkats. They were so active, and they were really interested in her, too. It was adorable! We fed some birds at the farm, walked down every path, and checked out an interesting area of empty exhibits: remnants of antiquated animal enclosures that wouldn’t work in modern zoo practices. Very interesting. We ended the day with a trip to the gift shop where the kiddo picked out her very own stuffed meerkat.

From here, we started thinking about lunch. There was another brew pub, the Brues Alehouse, down near the Riverwalk (which we also wanted to see), so we headed downtown and found parking. We wandered the three-armed Riverwalk, admiring the artwork and enjoying the stroll. It looked a lot more established than the last time I was there (in 2006). More art, less construction, and bigger trees made quite a difference. As we rounded the corner on the last leg of the Riverwalk, we came upon the Brues Alehouse and went in. Being an off-time at this point, it wasn’t particularly busy, but it took quite some time for the hostess to discover us. When she finally did, she asked us if we were ok sitting at a table with super high stools. Since we had a little child with us, we said we’d rather not, but she said there were no regular tables available, despite there obviously being plenty of open low tables around, as well as a few that currently seated people, so apparently they must be usable. There was also a whole other room full of nothing BUT low tables, a few of which were occupied, but most of which were quite empty. Ummm, okay.

Once seated, it took forever for our waitress to arrive. When she finally got there, we ordered our beers. At least 15 minutes later, she returned with Nate’s beer and told me the one I ordered wasn’t available. Great. So I ordered another one and didn’t hold my breath. We ordered our food at this time. Another enormous wait ensued. During this time, our daughter had to go potty, so Nate took her back to the car, which was no small walk. From what I recall, the waitress came back to me while they were away and told me the meal I ordered was not available, so I needed to choose something else (mind you, this was another 20 minutes or so after I ordered). All told, we were probably at the restaurant 2 hours or more. By the time Nate got back, we still hadn’t received our food. Once it did come, it wasn’t that great. I know that our kid’s PB&J had a homemade jam that contained seeds that could just about break your teeth! Yikes! My turkey sandwich might have been ok, but it was served on white bread – about the worst bread you can get! Bleh! Overall, we were not impressed. And we would have liked to have gotten on the road a lot sooner than this place let us. Eventually, we managed to pay and break free of its grasp. We were on the road by about 4.

Luckily, the drive home was, again, uneventful. We had a great time just enjoying each other’s company and chit-chatting. We did stop at a nice Dairy Queen in Raton (it seems like the non-Albuquerque DQs make the best George Mud Fudge Blizzards), and then drove on through the intermittent rain. The rain stopped as soon as we passed Santa Fe, and we made it home by 9pm. Another successful road trip was complete!