Rocky Mountain Backdrop

Colorado was a high time, both literally and figuratively. (That was a stupid way to open this blog, but I’m not changing it).

After about 10 hours’ driving, we arrived at the Country Inn & Suites near the Denver airport. We chose the place because it has a "bedroom with a door" separating AJ and me from the bed where The Champion Teenager and her little buddy would sleep at night. That first evening we just relaxed in the room.

The next morning we visited the Budweiser plant near Fort Collins just to kill some time before white water rafting. We couldn’t stay long enough for the 1-hour+ tour. But we sure did partake of the "sampling" and the viewing of the Clydesdales.

Then we went to A Wanderlust Adventure rafting guide company (or something like that) in Fort Collins. A big school bus hauled the four of us along with a bus full of other people out to the Poudre (pronounced "Pooter") River. I’d like to brag that we were one of the only rafts off of which no one fell, but there really wasn’t much of a risk since we had one guide and two guide trainees on-board with us (the other rafts only had one guide and no trainees).It was very fun and, when splashed, very cold. We had to use our muscles to "dig those paddles into the water" like we meant it. We took two 2-mile trips on one of the more mild trips due to the fact that we had two minors on-board with us. It was still pretty thrilling at times. For some reason, we took more pictures while white water rafting than we did at any other time on the vacation.

Including....Six Flags Elitch Gardens in Denver, where we went the next day. We got up early and arrived at the place around 10:00 am in an effort to avoid the longer lines that would come later in the day. This concept worked well. We scared the wind out of ourselves a few times on the coasters and the free-fall drop-straight-down-from-way-up-high ride. AJ said this Six Flags was small compared to others he’s visited (it was my first Six Flags experience).

Back at the hotel, nighttime entertainment included Tina (Champion Teenager's buddy) wondering where the snow-capped mountains would go at night. She was puzzled by how they "disappeared" in the dark.

Also, during the course of the trip, I bought my first ever pair of brilliant white sneakers. Just thought I should note that somewhere.

Unsurprisingly, the downfall of the trip was the long, tired drive back home. Our sheer will alone would’ve probably brought us back faster, but our lead feet didn’t hurt either. We were back in less than nine hours, shaving more than an hour off the time it took to get us there. I think I sound like a man with all these "hours of driving" time stats. I wonder why I’m bothering to mention all that.

We were so tired when we got home, but I knew I had to get up early the next day and help my mom and aunt set up for the pre-wedding reception, which I did so dutifully and gladly (see next blog for details). By Saturday (the day after the reception), we were pretty much exhausted, and that goes a long way toward explaining why we did absolutely nothing after arriving back home from the hotel except for buying some groceries and staring at the television until time to go to bed.