John and i and my sister Susan and brother in law Greg took a little trip to LaVeta, Colorado over Labor Day. I grew up going up to this cabin at various times so have great memories of the area.
We hiked to the meadow as soon as we got their and got settled in. The last time i hiked to the meadow i was 8 months pregnant with Raegan so this time it was a bit easier!
This is the tree that my parents have carved on for years...you can see a lot of years there!
Back in 1994 we came on a family vacation here and it just so happened that John and i got engaged on that vacation, so we started our own tree. We have been back at different times (but separately) so we have gotten all of the kids initials on it over the years.
John went to work re-carving the kids initials because they were hard to read
i just love the Aspen trees!
this was the finished tree
we visited one of our favorite spots the Dog Bar and Grill in Cuchara
We spent one day mountain climbing. The West Peak was our destination. The last time i climbed this mountain was in high school and we got caught in a really bad storm and there was lightning all around us and hail...i remember trying to get down that mountain so fast and thinking the faster i get down the less likely i get struck...all of that to say i was a little nervous and hoping for no storms!!
At the tree line we caught up with another group so we took pictures for each other so that we could get the whole group in a picture.
after tree line the real work began! the air got much thinner and the climb got tougher! We did find a trail (painted markings on rocks) to follow which was much better and we were able to keep our footing as opposed to where we Were climbing causing a rockslide every step we took!
and still climbing...
my younger sis and i
at the top of the mountain they have a list in a bag where you can write your name and where you are from
on top of the world at 13,626 feet...it did sleet on us just a little bit while we were up there but no storms!!
We were a bit worn out by the time we got back down...
The next day my sister and i had plans to get in an 8 mile run and run to town from the cabin...that is until on the way back to the cabin that night this furry little guy walked across the road! It was on, we were suddenly stalking this bear...
We watched him run across a huge field and let me tell you this guy was moving!! We cut him off around the corner and got some great pictures of him. No more running to town for us girls!! The thought of playing dead to that big guy was less than appealing and my gut instincts of running or climbing a tree to get away probably wouldn't work either!
One thing we did that i have no pictures of was White water rafting down the Arkansas River. I was terrified! After making it most of the way our guide asked how adventurous we were feeling. Long story short he dumped us all out of the boat after one of the falls!! (on purpose) It was adventurous for sure. We floated under the Royal Gorge which was absolutely beautiful!! Such a fun time!! Even though i was extremely nervous i am so glad that we did it!
So, in 1994 back to the family vacation John asked me to marry him down by the stream. We went and found the spot and re-enacted the proposal
This is the cabin where we stayed. We were told there may be a bat in the cabin, someone had seen one but thank God we never saw one! I don't think my sister and i would have handled that very well!
We laughed a lot on this trip!
The last time we walked together down this road back to the cabin i had just said yes...here we are 17 years, 4kids later...so much life has happened. It was fun to walk down memory lane!
