On Sunday, August 22, 2010, we left our house around 7am and drove into Laramie, Wyoming, at 7pm. We spent the night and enjoyed the hotel's indoor pool.
Monday morning we drove 3 1/2 hours down to Colorado Springs, Colorado. After having a picnic lunch we checked into Towne Place Suites by Marriot. At 1:45 we picked up Trey and Kari at the airport - just 5 minutes away.
I love this shot! :)
Tuesday our families split up.
Trey and Kari had a meeting to go to and some work to do.
Dan, the kids, and I headed for the old gold mining boom town of Cripple Creek.
Our first stop was the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine.
This tour guide and the yellow cage took us 1,000 feet down into the mine.
Love the hard hats!
Across the highway was our next stop...
The Pikes Peak Heritage Center.
Admission free, but the displays and information are really worth paying for!
I hightly reccomend this stop if you are in the Colorado Springs area sometime.
View of Cripple Creek from the Mollie Kathleen.
The main road, Bennett, is the vertical road on the LHS.
Mining display in the heritage center.
Aren't they the cutest miners you've ever seen?!
That reminds me....
Want to know what all important piece of history the kids learned that day?
If Dad and I were miners in the late 1800's,
we would both be about dead.
Miners usually died by the ripe old age of 35 due to coughing up chunks of their lungs, caused by breathing in rock dust.
Splendid.
Stuffed bear (pretty sure fake stuffed)
in the heritage center.
(The kids are real...)
Cruising down Bennett Ave in Cripple Creek.
We had just visited the candy store.
Krystin chose orange cream fudge
Kaylin chose to pick out a $1 worth of nickle and dime candy.
Same for Ethan
Dan and I went for the dark chocolate turtle :)
By the time we got home, Kari had a lasagna in the oven.
But there was a good hour before it would be ready to eat.
What to do?!
Swim, of course :)
Uncle Trey and Aunt Kari took the kids to try out the pool.
(Dad rested after 2 full days of driving and I took pictures)
