Colorado Trip 2013: Day 3

Friday, October 25: Day 3

Everyone slept in until 6:40 this day. This counts as an amazing morning in my book, no matter where we are sleeping. We ate breakfast, drank coffee, and then Nate and I were off to hike Horsetooth Mountain---the local Fort Collins foothill trail that is named because of the rock at the top. Apparently it looks like a horse tooth with the splits down either side?

The map online, and the 'in case we never see you again' family shot before we left. Truman was thrilled at the prospect.


What's this? A paper map?? And driving towards the mountain


We left the house at 9 am and I admit, I was kind of nervous not knowing what to expect. What if the altitude was killer and I was sucking wind the entire time? Nate had picked the trail to the very top of the rock, which is 2.6 miles one way and ends up being at 7200 feet. It started off just like trail walking up a small incline then it gradually got a little steeper. But overall it wasn't too difficult although we were both out of breath at times. The view itself was also breathtaking and worthy of many, many pictures on our hike.













Getting closer---see the horse tooth?






I found a heart-shaped rock! And getting even closer...





Eventually we had to do some legit rock climbing up the side of a giant cliff (slightly dramatic but it was really scary!), or 'bouldering', as my mom calls it. I wasn't sure I wanted to get all the way up the tippy top of the rock but Nate promised me I could make it. I just had to put away my camera and phone to focus;) We hadn't seen a single person on our trail until we got to this rocky part, and then we ended up seeing three other groups of people on our way up.

Tried a panoramic near the top, before I committed to go all the way up there:


Alright, here we go!





Totally.Worth.It. On top of the world.



A fave:


Panoramic time:

















It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to climb all the way up the 2.6 miles. We spent about 30 minutes 'on the top of the world', and after eating an apple and chugging water we started heading back down. We saw a ton of other people on the way down and it took us about 50 minutes. A lot faster and easier! We got pretty hot in our long sleeved shirts and on the way down we finally had to shed them. Even at just 60 degrees it felt a lot warmer in CO, maybe because of the low humidity?

We got back home at noon and ate lunch, then showered. The kids did not mind us being gone most of the morning (duh) and had played at the playground with my parents, amongst other random activities.







They both went down for their naps, dad stayed back with the sleeping children, and mom took Nate and I back to Old Town for some shopping/exploring. I wrote down that we were shopping from 2-5pm and those three hours passed pretty quickly!

I had a few recommendations from IG friends/FB friends about where to go. And I was also bound and determined to find some Toms for Cecelia, so we had our mental list of where we needed to explore. The adorable shop called Clothes Pony did have tiny Toms but not in CC's size, but their other adorable clothes were almost too much to handle. Mom got the kids their Fort Collins tee shirts here and all three of us had a ball looking through this store.





Then we went to Mary's Mountain Cookies and nearly drooled all over the glass while looking at the options. We settled for a Charlie Brown (PB and milk chocolate) for me, a Turtle cookie for Nate, and a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie for my mom.




But wait! How can one eat a cookie in the afternoon without coffee? Nate had spotted Mugs Coffee and we made the trek over there, where I ordered my favorite iced Americano. Added half and half and a shot of vanilla syrup and was seriously impressed. Nate got a hot soy latte and stated that it was one of the best he's ever had, and my mom got a Chai latte. I mean, pairing coffee and a big fat cookie at 4pm isn't always the best idea (ruining dinner, staying up until midnight) so we saved half of our cookies for later.







Then we were on the hunt for tiny Toms. After trying a few other places in the Old Town area, we ended up finding a place nearby on our phones and decided to drive to Jax. This was like a badass REI or something and I literally thought Nate's head might explode when we walked inside. They had  tiny Toms, oh did they have some Toms. We finally settled on a pair of hot pink glitter ones for CC and some canvas boots without laces for Truman. LOVE. Nate and I also each got a pair of Darn Tough socks because apparently they have a lifetime warranty on them? Sold!



When we got back home CC and my dad were just chilling together, watching sports on TV. I guess she napped for 3 hours this day and woke up really content with PoPo.




Truman was still asleep when we got home so we woke him up, since he had been sleeping for 3.5 hours! We played with some bubbles outside and I snapped a few pictures of our family in front of my parents' new place.

Mom's face!








Friday night is always pizza night for my parents and we decided to go out to one of their favorites: Pablos Pizza. My mom says their gluten free crust is amazing, which is saying a lot since it usually sucks. Did I mention that my mom has Celiac's disease? Diagnosed fairly recently, within the last 2 years, and Colorado is a MUCH better place to live for her with all of their super healthy/GF options there. Anyway, pizza was amazing. Kids were hilarious and in great moods. CC ate three ENTIRE pieces of thick crust pizza and was 'dancing' in her seat, and T ate at least 2 slices, too.











After dinner Mom wanted to take the kids to Toys-R-Us across the street for a 'treat' (i.e. to spoil them rotten). Truman picked out a new crane/train (Harvey from Thomas and friends) and CC picked out an obnoxious elmo book that has drums built in. Sigh.


We got home and the kids played with their new toys for quite a while. Eventually they did go to bed, but not until 8:30 for CC and 10:30 (!!) for Truman. Nate and I started the map of the USA puzzle this night, since it's tradition to do at least one giant puzzle when we visit my family. This one was no joke though and would prove quite frustrating over time! Stay tuned;)