Up, Up, and Away….

I know you are breathlessly awaiting the continuing story of our Labor Day adventures.

It has been cold and rainy today (65 degrees or less), and as we all know, nothing puts me in a writing mood more than a good old rainy day! And so, even though it’s been a tough few weeks at work, I find so much solace, comfort, and joy in our little home on a rainy night, and even more so in our little family. It was 15 years ago tonight that Ryan called me up in my dorm room and asked me to go on a walk to “discuss a book.” That was only the beginning of something wonderful. :-)

So the trip to the Royal Gorge was quite exhausting, especially since we had gotten up so early at 4 a.m. on Saturday. Plus, there’s just a lot of hilly walking at the Royal Gorge, and since we’re not really what you would call “in shape,” we were really physically tired when we got home that evening. The Balloon Classic was supposed to take place Sunday and Monday mornings as well, weather depending, and we still really wanted to make it work since we had looked forward to it for so long! But when we went to bed Saturday night, I didn’t have high hopes for convincing the fam to take yet another sunrise trek to the Springs.

But we did it. We were up at 4, and after checking all the weather reports this time, we decided to buzz down and try it again. And I am so glad we did….

The first balloon at the Colorado Balloon Classic in Colorado Springs….

We made an interesting choice, and I feel like if we ever attend this event again, we might do it differently. Because we had read online that the best photographic opportunities are across the lake from the launch, we decided to set up camp there. So though we saw some beautiful scenery (and missed traffic, crowds, etc.), we missed out on actually witnessing any of the balloon lift-offs up close. I don’t regret our decision, but I think I do want to try the other experience too sometime. :-)

But it was just so peaceful sitting there, watching balloons slowly lift into the sky….

Boring? Probably, to some.  But we all enjoyed it thoroughly.

They just kept coming and coming and coming. Just when we thought they were about done, more would appear on the horizon.

Can you guess which balloon in the picture below was Ryley’s favorite?

I know all these pictures look the same, but they’re just so pretty!!!! :-)

So around 8:30, it seemed that the balloons were all gone – probably 40-50 in all. We lost count after awhile. So we packed up, headed out, and decided to go find some breakfast. But unbeknownst to us, the fun wasn’t yet over!!!

We were probably 10 miles down the interstate when we saw several balloons headed for landing in the area. One was particularly close to us, so we pulled off the highway to see if we could watch.

It flew right over our car, and I jumped out to take some pictures.

We drove to the next intersection, flipped a U, and pulled into the parking lot of a hotel and McDonalds just as it was landing.

It was so exciting!!!

What a way to end our hot air balloon experience! :-)

After grabbing breakfast, we decided to also stop by the Garden of the Gods since it had been awhile. We felt like we’d been there fairly recently, but when we did the math, we decided it had already been four years, and Ryley had no memory of it.

I think Ryley had envisioned an actual garden, so I’m not sure of her level of disappointment.

(One of Ryan’s creations with his phone’s panoramic app):

But she seemed to really get into it, and since we had let her use her own camera all morning to take pictures of the balloons too, she really got into that!

God’s beautiful creation!!!

It was a great little day-trip, and get this: we were home and back in bed by 11 a.m. for a much-needed nap!

The rest of the weekend was spent resting and recovering/prepping our house for yet another busy week. Oh, and we taught Ryley “The Game of Life.”

That was a huge hit!!

Thank you, my friends, for reading about our exciting weekend. :-) Sometimes the best fun to be had is when exploring your own state, and we know we are blessed to live in Colorado. Other than our coupon-assisted admission to the Royal Gorge Bridge, as well as the expense of a tank of gas, all of the things we enjoyed this weekend were free. That might be the best part of all!

Stay tuned, as I have been collecting Ryley Stories and more inconclusive thoughts about parenting. ;-)

Bridge over Lovely Waters

The grand finale weekend of our “summer of fun events” dawned early Saturday morning at 4 a.m. We had penciled the Colorado Balloon Classic on our calendar back in June, unsure of what the summer would bring and whether we would actually be able to make it happen this year. In fact, up until Wednesday, we had toyed with the idea of a last-minute quick trip to Texas to help celebrate our twin nephews’ first birthday. But when it came down to it, the Texas trip didn’t really seem do-able for many different reasons, and we decided to stick with a less stressful route for our three-day weekend together.

So at 4 a.m. on a Saturday, we bounced out of bed, too rushed to make coffee and too early for Starbucks. It’s mornings like that that I realize I don’t really need coffee, as much as I enjoy it. :-) By 6:15, we were in downtown Colorado Springs in search of a parking spot, and it was quite cold and windy. But as we fought traffic, we realized that cars were driving away from the park, and people were walking away from the park. We asked a police officer, and sure enough, the event had been canceled due to 40 mph gusty winds! Apparently you can only fly hot air balloons in winds less than 10 mph (or 11.5 “knots,” said in a hoity-toity voice). :-)

We were so disappointed! So…what to do, an hour away from home, at 6:30 on a Saturday morning?? We decided to go out for breakfast, but everyone else had the same idea. We tried three different Denny’s/Village Inns before we found a wait time we could live with.

After breakfast, we headed southwest for the next part of our plans…The Royal Gorge!

But first we had to had to take a detour at Skyline Drive, which Ryan and I both had childhood memories of driving with our families. It’s a very high, narrow road with scary drop-offs on both sides at times…

View from the top…

Ryley was not too pleased with the situation!

The next stop was the Royal Gorge Bridge. Neither of us had been since we were teenagers, so we were really excited to show Ryley!

Look at that! Doesn’t it make you feel so small and vulnerable??

We decided to walk across, and Ryley was very leery of being out  of arm’s reach of one of us at all times. (Like we could have helped if the bridge collapsed!)

Ryan shows Ryley how you can see the river between the slats. And of course, the bridge is swaying the whole time!

The Arkansas River…

I love the shadow of the bridge on the canyon below.

Look how casually I’m leaning against the ledge! At the time, it felt pretty safe, but when I look back on it, what if the railing had failed??? Interesting factoid: They replace 250 wooden floor boards on the bridge each year. Ryan noticed some were missing bolts.

Whoa, Ryley….Don’t fall over the wall!

Of course we took the cable car across….

Then we took the incline railroad to the bottom…

Sidenote: While we were in line for this incline railroad, we were right behind this mushy sugary-sweet family with four little kids. They all had matching shoes (even the parents), and they were constantly hugging, kissing, and dancing around to the music playing nearby. I mean, we are the mushy, huggy, kissy, dancy type as well, but this was over the top. The dad was even keeping a dance beat at the bottom of the gorge, where there was no music. Then his wife would join him and dance to his beat while swinging their baby around. Oh wow. Ryan and I were having trouble keeping ourselves from dancing to their beat!

So I noticed their son was wearing a shirt advertising a chiropractic practice. Well, seriously, who buys a chiropractic shirt for their kindergartener? Unless you are a chiropractor! I took note of the name, and get this: when we got home, I googled it, and I found them! Both the husband and the wife are chiropractors for this practice in another state. I found out their names, and I found Facebook pages and kids’ names, etc. I know I’m crazy, but these people just fascinated me! It is amazing what you can find on the Internet. And kind of scary, too.

And now, whenever Ryan or I start tapping a beat, the other of us starts dancing. And Ryley joins in. ;-) It. Is. Awesome.

Ryan had some fun with a new panoramic app on his phone! More on that later!

It was a perfect day in so many ways. Even though our balloon plans fell through the cracks (pun intended), the trip to the Royal Gorge was really nice. We had perfect weather, and we were all in good moods. Haha!

But the weekend wasn’t over just yet! More fun was in store for Sunday as well. Stay tuned for Part 2…