Spring Break 2015

Last week was Spring Break for the high school, so we took a break from homeschool too so we could all go have a couple days of fun as a family. We left Monday afternoon and got home Wednesday night. And we crammed as much fun and adventure as we possibly could into those couple of days!

Monday:

We started our adventures with lunch at Costco. Gotta tank up and what better way to do it than with huge slices of pizza? Cheap eats for a family of five.

Then we hit the road toward Rifle, CO. It is about a 4 hour drive out there, over a couple of mountain passes and through a canyon. It is a fabulous and gorgeous drive! So blessed to have so much beauty to explore!

We stopped at our favorite rest stop in Glenwood Canyon to throw rocks in the river and run around. Much fun was had by all. 

After getting to Rifle that evening we drove around the town and then had dinner at Shooters Grill. HUGE portions of delicious, home-cooked food! Yummy!

Then we spend the rest of the evening swimming in the hotel pool which we had all to ourselves.

The girls had fun looking for pretty rocks in the little creek that flowed into the river.

My adventurers found a wall to scale...nearly giving me a heart attack watching my babies up there. But everyone survived! :)

Tuesday:

We woke up and had a lovely, free breakfast at the hotel before heading out for our day's adventures. We were planning on spending the day hiking and exploring out at Rifle Falls State Park. We missed our turn and drove about 30 miles out of the way. But it was still fun and we saw some gorgeous scenery! And we still made it back to the park to spend the rest of the day.

The falls were absolutely stunning! And there were caves to explore and trails to be hiked. We couldn't have asked for better weather either! Sunny and warm!

After hiking and spelunking (sort of) and picnic lunch we headed up the canyon past the park. There was a beautiful area that I guess the locals call the Cascades. The water just flows all over down this hillside and it is just breathtaking! It made me think of something you'd see in a fairy tale! It was so green and there were purple violets carpeting the ground.

Past the Cascades, we continued up the canyon and found a couple of ice caves. 

Finally, headed back down to town in time for dinner and then more swimming!

Rifle Falls

Pictures just don't really do it justice.

Scenery on our way back from our "detour".

Inside a cave!

My climbers!

Putting on a show!

Heading into the earth!

Inside

This was more my kind of cave. There was plenty of daylight coming in.

Checking out the cave formations.

James found a "trail". I think it probably was...for deer. Not so easy for us humans to navigate. But the girls did it with flying colors!

At the Cascades

I wish you could have been there with us! These pictures just don't do it justice! It was amazing!

Up in the canyon.

Ice cave!

Beautiful sunset by Rifle

Wednesday:

Time to start heading back home. But not before we did a little fishing in the local pond. Ellie caught her first fish! It was a good sized rainbow trout, and then shortly after that she caught another! This one was a little bit smaller. We could have had a nice fish dinner if we didn't have such a long drive ahead of us.

On the way home we also stopped back in Glenwood Canyon and hiked the mile or so up to Hanging Lake. Wow! What a gorgeous place! The hike up there was pretty intense, but it was so worth it! And we were so proud of the girls for hiking the whole thing without complaining or asking to be carried or anything. They are so awesome!

When we came back down it was going on 4pm and we still had quite the drive ahead of us. Thankfully it wasn't too bad until we hit road construction traffic and it took almost an hour to go 5 miles. But we were rewarded for our wait by stopping in Idaho Springs and getting some famous Beau Jo's Colorado pizza. Seriously, the BEST pizza ever! We always joke that that's what convinced Matt to move to Colorado. Our friends took us to a Beau Jo's when we were visiting and he was hooked. No turning back. :)

Ellie's fish!

Fisher girls

The hike up through the canyon to Hanging Lake.

Going up!

Hanging Lake

Oh, yeah! We made it up!

Happy hikers. :)

Glenwood Canyon

So thankful for all the fun we had and memories made! Can't wait to go on our next adventure and explore some more of our beautiful state!

Blessings!