Mt. Evans

Colorado is home to America's highest paved road.  I guess back in the late 1800's the road to the top of Pike's Peak (near Colorado Springs) was completed.  The mayor of Denver didn't want to be outdone and  so the road to the top of Mt. Evans was begun.  It was completed in 1927.  You can drive (or bike if you are really in shape) to the parking area at 14,130 feet.  Then you walk the last 130 feet to the summit at 14.264.  This was an amazing drive.  The road was very narrow at spots with sheer drop offs on one side and no guard rail.  Jeff was quite nervous as he isn't crazy about heights. :)  But the views were amazing.  Once you get past a certain elevation you notice all the trees are gone.  It's just rocks, dirt and grasses.  We actually noticed the elevation in being a little light headed.  I don't know how people climb Everest and live.  There is also an observatory at the top that has the highest telescope in the world.  Michael was determined to see the animals that live up there (mountain goats and big horn sheep mainly).  We didn't see anything on the drive up but we hit the jackpot on the way down.  We saw two different groups of mountain goats, one of which we got out of the car and walked right up to.  We also saw a group of big horn sheep but they appeared to all be females and babies....no males with huge horns.  (We did see one of those on the side of the road on one of our Utah road trips though)   Mt. Evans was an amazing experience.  One more mountain added to our list of ascents.  Definitely a fun Saturday activity.



View of Summit Lake from the drive up.





At the top.  I think the sun was too bright for Michael.




You can see the observatory behind us to the right.





There was a building at the top that used to be a tourist cabin with food and such. 
There was a propane explosion in the late 70's that ruined it, but some of it is still there.





The baby goats were so cute.




Throwing rocks in the lake.





Notice the purse.  You'll never find Annie without a
purse of some sort......even in the bathroom.



New School Year

We're already into our second week of school here.  Seems like it started really early, but then they get out by May 18th so that seems early too.  Christopher is in 2nd grade and his teacher reminds him a lot of his teacher last year so he is really enjoying himself.  He's already made friends and is having a blast playing kickball at recess.  Michael started kindergarten and he's had some rough days but he is starting to like it, making friends and really likes his teacher.  His only complaint is that they haven't taught him everything about dinosaurs yet.  :)  I really like their school...Mark Twain Elementary.  You can enroll in any school you want here so I did my research and picked this school.  I hope we can buy a house closer to the school.  Here are some first day pictures.


Christopher's first day of 2nd grade- August 15, 2011.  He was just a little excited.





Showing Jacob all the stuff in his backpack



Going into class

  

After school ice-cream at McDonald's



Michael's First Day - August 17, 2011



Working in the classroom

All the kids.  I promise Jacob isn't getting choked here.



This is how Jacob feels about the big boys leaving him at home with only Annie to boss him around. 
Just kidding, they get along good.  Sorry about the creepy red-eye.

 

Colorado Parks

Colorado is full of fun things to do...mostly outdoor things which is what we like. I admit we didn't take advantage of it as we should have this summer but let's face it...it's been a crazy summer.

Colorado has great parks. They are all over the place, have walking paths, big green grassy fields and nice playground equipment. We found this really fun splash park. It has fountains and also a man-made stream where the kids can plan. It also had the coolest climbing structure ever.