Colorado Vacation Days 1 and 2.

Yesterday was day one of an eight day trip to Colorado for us. Darin has a work conference, so we are embellishing it into a family vacation. This is pretty much how we roll these days....Ellie listening to music on her ipod, Logan playing his DS, the DVD player waiting it's turn to entertain, and Darin pumpin' the gas and doin' the driving.

We drove to Grand Junction, Colorado. This picture doesn't do it justice......but it was really beautiful as we came into the area. Green valley along the river, tall mesas and vistas, and a storm rolling in with frequent flashes of lightning.

We went just past Grand Junction to Palisade. Never even heard of it before, but it is this beautiful small, green valley full of vineyards and fruit orchards. Fruit stands are everywhere, as well as wineries and vineyards. I had no idea this lovely place existed!

We stayed at the "Wine Country Inn", which  was just charming. White rocking chairs and white wicker furniture run the length of each building. Gorgeous flowers everywhere. Rows and rows of grapes growing on all sides of the inn. We ate breakfast outdoors on the patio this morning.

We drove an hour today and then stopped for sacrament meeting in  random town. We don't usually do that on vacations, but it was really nice to go to church today, even though we were traveling. Next, we stopped in Silverthorne to check out our digs for later in the week. We can't wait to get back there on Wednesday! So beautiful!! We hopped on our bikes and took a ride on part of the bike path that runs for miles and miles. We played by the river for as little while, and I even played hero and saved Ellie's run-away flip-flop a quarter mile downstream, after she accidentally dropped it in the river.

We made it to Denver and had dinner at......drum roll please.......WAHOO'S Fish Tacos!!! Our all time favorite place to eat out when we lived in California a decade ago!! Wahoo's has branched out into the Denver area. We may eat there every day this week!! There are several in the area, with one less than a mile from our hotel!!!
We eventually got settled into the hotel. Had to change rooms because of a broken A/C. Darin took the kids swimming while I transferred our "U-haul semi-trailer" amount of stuff to the new room. Come to find out the new room is handicap accessible, so has no bathtub, only a shower, which is even with the bathroom floor. We used every towel to mop up the floor after the kids showers. The room is also minus one bed, so Ellie is sleeping on a make-shift bed we made with the couch cushions. Whatever. We are happy to be settled in and look forward to a great few days in the Denver city area.