Cub Lake Loop Trail

First, Julie and I always stayed up late making lunches for the next day.  Sometimes wine was involved.  But I had to document, so that we didn't forget THE BAGEL SANDWICHES.  We might forget with this amazing wine Julie brought...

But on this particular morning, we left fairly early to get a parking spot at Bear Lake, but we had to turn around because it was already full, so we adapted the plan and decided to hike to Cub Lake.

Our deck these first three nights was so nice!  Right on the little creek...

We hiked up to the pool (a bridge where we had lunch) and then trekked up the mountain to Cub Lake.  The portion up to the pool was more traveled than the Cub Lake leg, but overall, this was a great hike.  Creek trail, boulders, new forest, old forest, lily pad lakes, Aspen groves...and--spoiler alert--a moose!  The kids hiked over SEVEN miles today!  This was my favorite day.

SEVEN MILES!  The kids earned their RMNP stuffed animals for real today!  We stopped at Moraine Visitor Center and Micah got a little fox, Josh picked a mountain lion, and Grace adopted a black bear.  They were thrilled, and got to enjoy their animals the rest of the trip.  As a COMPLETE bonus, as we were leaving the visitor center, stopped cars alerted us to wildlife:  a mama bear and her TWO cubs!  We love this place.

Oh, and on our way out of the park we had to slow for this mammoth elk.  No big deal.

Swimming!!!!!!

Travel Leg #2--Ogden to Estes Park

Not many pictures today...8 hrs in the car...Wyoming was hypnotizing...and Chic-fil-A for dinner and groceries before ending up at our place in Estes Park.

Snowbasin Ski Resort Hike

This hike was marked as a good hike for kids, and there was a pond as the destination (we should've known!), but we made it into a loop trail, where the Strawberry Gondola was at the top and then we hiked back down.  It was SO. HOT.  This is the day we got more sun than we should've...but the kids were troopers and we ended up hiking 5 miles!  Ice cream was the treat after this hike, too.  It was Farr Better Ice Cream again, served at a local place by the condos.  Swimming is always the capstone to a good day of vacation with Auntie.

Ogden, UT--The Epic Waterfall Hike Day

We ended up taking the most strenuous hike on our first outing.  :)  Round trip, it was 3 miles, but the elevation gain was probably 1300 ft!  Had we known how difficult the rock climbing was at the end, we may not have gone, but it proved to be a great hike to refer back to the rest of the trip:  "It won't be as hard as the waterfall hike we took on that first day!"  And it was hot.  Holy Hannah, it was hot!  Of course, whenever we hike, there's always a treat at the end of the day...this time it was ice cream at the coolest ice cream parlor: Farr Better Ice Cream.

Vacay with Auntie Julie--Leg One--Tri Cities to Ogden

We took off on a Tuesday to go meet Julie at her mom's house.  We got to swim at Trina's pool and then we stayed there overnight to get an early start on our 9 hr drive to Ogden, UT.

 Here we are, all packed into Julie's new car!  Talk about an initiation!  She had the back seats all organized for Josh and Grace with holders...and she made travel binders for all three kids!  She also bought each of the kids TEN TREATS from the Dollar Store and wrapped them in three different colors for each of the kids.  Each night, if they'd had a good day, they got to unwrap one gift.  We were literally traveling with Mary Poppins and it was LOVELY.

 Dinner at IN-AND-OUT!

And we made it to the condo in time for a swim and a shower and a little TV vegg time.