Vegas

Okay, admittedly this was one of our least favorite trips.  We are really not Vegas fans but Mark had an Energy Summit that he had to attend so I went along with him to keep him company.  He hates crowds, drunks and gambling so you can just imagine that it was not anyplace that he would have chosen for us to go to on purpose. I swear if I wasn't with him he probably would have never left the hotel! 

I did manage to get him to go see some of the other hotels and some of the Vegas sights. 

View from our room

Caesar's Palace

Paris

Bellagio

Venetian

He didn't really have that much "off time" from the summit but we did manage to get some fun in while we were there.  We saw The Blue Man Group, Penn and Teller, The Body and the Titanic exhibits. 

Penn and Teller

Blue Man Group

The Body Exhibit

The Titanic Exhibit

We also had some really, really good meals while we were there. 

Lemongrass

Mastro's Ocean Club

Javier's

And one of the best surprises was that I got to see some good friends from Odessa.  Neither of us had any idea that the other one was in Vegas, but we were, so we were able to spend the afternoon catching up with one another.  I personally thought that was the highlight of the trip!

Debbie and Me

On our way home we noticed that there had been a significant snowstorm in the mountains.  Needless to say t was quite a shock getting off the plane to 40 degree weather after leaving Vegas' balmy 70 degree temps!

Family Weekend 2016

I can't believe this but this was our last Family Weekend!  We've been doing these since 2010 and now it has come to an end.  

We flew in on Thursday and were able to spend some extra time with Henley which was really nice.  We really like Stephenville and the area around this town.  It is more like Central Texas but it isn't as congested!  She had classes on Friday but was done by noon.  Delaney and Zack were in by 5 and Blaine came in late Friday so we were all able to spend the full weekend together.  

Henley's sorority had a really nice lunch for the family and we were able to meet several of Henley's friends and their families.  Of course we were happy to have a real chicken fried steak dinner and drink some sweet tea :)  That's something that we just can't seem to get in Colorado...that and Mexican food.  

Saturday afternoon Henley invited several of her friends over to her apartment for a pregame party and then we all headed to the stadium for the tailgating.  Ironically, Tarleton was playing UTPB so we saw several people from Odessa who had come to Stephenville to watch the game.  

Unfortunately we had to leave early on Sunday to head back to Denver.  It seems that the time just flies when we are there but we are so thankful that we got to spend some time with both of our girls and their guys!

Leaf Peeping

It can't be that time of year again but it is.  The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler so that means that the leaves are beginning to change. 

This year we went to the Northwestern side of the state to see the gorgeous fall colors.  We started off early on Saturday morning and actually had very little traffic to contend with on I-70 which was nice because there are times that it takes us hours to get up into the mountains.  The day was overcast and we had snow showers off and on on our way up to Steamboat springs.  But that didn't stop us from finding the foliage. 

We made it as far as Kremmling before we had to stop and have lunch.  After eating a quick bowl of soup we headed East towards Granby near Rocky Mountain National Park.  The snow had stopped and the clouds were trying to break up so we were able to see some really beautiful scenery despite the gloomy start to the day.  

After exploring the Granby area we headed west towards Steamboat Springs.  As we were driving up the mountain, the clouds started dropping and we drove in fog and snow for most of the trip.  Needless to say we didn't see much of anything on our drive. When we arrived in Steamboat it was pouring rain and it didn't let up for the rest of the evening.  Fortunately for us, we found a Pub to hang out in, watch a football game (unfortunately not the Horns) eat some yummy food and drink some good beer (for me) and scotch (for Mark).  When I tried to make reservations for the night, there were no hotels available in Steamboat so we stayed the night in Craig, which is only a short 30 miles down the road.

We woke up the next morning to dense fog.  We had already planned on driving to Rifle, CO, then on to Vail and finally ending up in Breckenridge and fortunately the weather app said that those areas had clear skies!  The drive was beautiful and the scenery was SPECTACULAR!  

 

We had driven over Boreas Pass (near Breckenridge) in the summer and had noticed how thick the aspen were on that road so we decided to see what it looked like in the fall.  Unfortunately, everybody else in Colorado decided that they wanted to do that too.  It was wall to wall traffic the whole way and we were about a week late for the peak colors.  It really didn't matter tho- it was still a beautiful day and the perfect way to end another great road trip!