A Fine Day Out

Yesterday (Friday) was as cold and gloomy as it could get, and we all were thinking of autumn, fireplaces, hot chocolate & books. This morning it warmed up and was a typical late summer/early autumn day in Colorado, and is a good thing because we had a full day planned.

It started early with Seth leaving the house at 6:30am to go to a cross country meet about 40 miles away. He went with his team on the bus to a town called Larkspur. Five or six high schools attended and it was a lovely (but hilly) course in the foothills covered with trees. We weren't sure of the starting time, and when we arrived we found out that Seth had already raced. Here he is in his running uniform holding Grace Thornbrue (Allie and her girls spent the night while James and Ben attended a father/son campout).

On the way home from the cross country meet we stopped at a roadside campground with these train cars and an indian tee pee. It turns out that the caboose has been converted into a bunk house that sleeps nine and costs about $60/night. Grandma Jane has this vision: cousin camp, sleep one night in a caboose while she reads from "The Boxcar Children", and listen to trains going by in the night on the nearby tracks.

This is the inside of the caboose.

When Seth got home from his cross country meet, we all went to Elitch Gardens, which is an amusement park near downtown like Six Flags. Microsoft bought tickets for every one in the office as a sort of end-of-summer party. They had the typical kind of rides, and one of them a boat that goes down a ramp and makes a big splash at the end. Jarom and Melissa thought it looked fun, and you can see the results:

Notice the wet pants!

Once they got soaked, they didn't last much longer and ended up going home about 4pm. Jane, Molly and I stayed until about 7pm looking for some of milder attractions. Our favorite was a big swing/merry-go-round. Here is Jane and I before take-off.

Molly flying solo.

Live action video of this ultimate thrill ride.