Benson Park Sculpture Garden

So I took a couple of days off to just be lazy and do nothing. I didn't write, I hardly left the air conditioning, and I went through an entire box of Special K in 24 hours because it's all I ate for every meal (way too much effort to go to the grocery store). I watched TMZ and Teen Mom, I drank Bud Light, and I wore the same pajama shorts and Clash t-shirt sun up to sun down. It was pretty amazing. The smoke from the High Park Fire had us all cooped up, I guess I just reveled in it instead of being annoyed by it. Honestly, even had the smoke not been an issue, I would have stayed in to avoid the 103 degree temperature anyway.

So after the smoke cleared (literally) I got this burst of energy and ran around like a crazy person. In addition to my first run in weeks (the heat has clearly made for unfavorable jogging conditions) and a handful of trips to our local neighborhood park, we drove a town over to Loveland and checked out the Benson Park Sculpture Garden; 10 acres of the old Benson Family Homestead turned artistic ecosystem by the Loveland High Plains Art Council. The Bensons were farmers turned activists in the Colorado Big Thompson project and were giant influences in the develpment of water resources for all of Northern Colorado during the early 1900's. The land was donated by the Benson family to the city of Loveland in the 1960's to use as a bird refuge and wetlands area. In 1985, a group of Loveland citizens turned the gorgeous piece of homestead into a lush garden graced by over 130 sculptures.

There were a handful of seperate entrances, this one with the panthers was by far my favorite.

I wish this picture of a giant wishbone being pulled by 2 kids turned out better, but I was standing on the wrong side of the Sun.

Someone made a sculpture of my dog.

This was by far my favorite. It seemed very Shel Silverstein to me.

So anyway, Thanks to my friends and family for yelling at me to get my lazy self back in blogging mode. I appreciate you guys! It's pretty cool knowing that you're interested in how we spend our days (although I suspect there are some of you who just need their daily fix of Kalynn's adorableness!)

Hope you're all staying cool!

Save The Ducks!

So Colorado is pretty much on fire. The Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs has burned 2,000 acres. The Woodland Heights Fire in Estes Park (we were just there!) took only 20 acres but totally burned down 21 homes.  The Springer Fire in Denver burned 1,145 acres. The High Park Fire here in Fort Collins has officially become the 2nd biggest wildfire in Colorado history and is still burning a whopping grand total of 82,000 acres.
Not to mention on top of the smoke, it was a dry 104 degrees yesterday. We're doing all we can to stay cool and smoke free. I decided on Friday to try a new technique because you can only stay in the air conditioning for so long before cabin fever sets in.

I took a couple of Kalynn's bath toys and froze them in a tub of water.

 Then we went outside with a couple of squirt guns and watering cans and spent the next hour "saving" her poor trapped duckies.

I've never seen a kid concentrate so hard on a project. For that hour, the heat didn't matter, the smoke didn't exist. All she wanted out of life was for her Spongebob Squarepants to get out of the ice.

When she finally did free a toy, she was so incredibly proud of herself!

We played so long her little toesies turned to prunes!

 I hope everyone is staying cool out there this Summer! If all else fails, just stay inside, soak up the central air and give lessons on Elvis!

Mountains and Ghosties and Cookies... Oh My! (Estes Park, CO)

I sat on my couch a few days ago, drinking my coffee, and reading some of my old posts about traveling. It made me miss the days when I just picked up whenever I wanted and took off. Which I did. A lot. I can't necessarily pack a small bag and take a 10 hour road trip anymore, but who's to say I can't pack up my daughter, some spare diapers, toys, sippies, and snacks and take some day trips?

I was feeling antsy pantsy for an adventure, just on a smaller scale and within an hour or so from home. So... Estes Park was the place to be! The drive up the mountains, with all it's twists and turns along the Big Thompson River, is one of the most beautiful drives I've ever taken in my life. I say that very confidently. There is absolutely nothing like driving up a mountain.

And of course I made a playlist:

Heartless Bastards - The Mountain

Semisonic - Across The Great Divide

The Butthole Surfers - Pepper

Jane's Addiction - Mountain Song

Ozzy Osbourne - Rocky Mountain Way

Led Zeppelin - Misty Mountain Hop

Yonder Mountain String Band - 40 Miles From Denver

John Denver - Rocky Mountain High

Johnny Cash - Your Wild Colorado

Townes Van Zandt - Colorado Girl

Chevy Chase - Colorado

There is a break in the mountain tops right as you pull into the 7,500 foot high valley of Estes Park and the view coming around the corner is enough to knock you off your feet. 

Our first stop was the Aerial Tramway. This was my view stepping off the bottom platform into our little red hanging bucket which was about to send me up Prospect Mountain by these 2 tiny wires. I was a bit nervous and just wanted to be at the top already.

And once you got up there!... The View!!!

The View!!

THE VIEW!!!

You could even see glimpses of the Olympus Dam

If you bribed them with peanuts, the chipmunks would walk up to you and take their lunch right from your hand!

This made Kalynn wild with excitement, "Chip and Dale, Mommy!! I see 'em!!"

Coming back down the mountain was just as shady as going up, honestly. An experience to remember for sure.

This is Kalynn's "Red Rum" finger...

And speaking of red rum... Of course we had to make a stop at the historic Stanley Hotel.

The Stanley was built in 1909 by Freelan Oscar Stanley (of Stanley Steamers) and catered to all the rich and famous Hollywood personalities from way back when. But it's mainly best known for the inspiration behind the fictional Overlook Hotel in Steven King's novel The Shining. The Stanley Hotel is supposedly one of Colorado's most haunted places and has been on multiple television shows promoting it's unexplainable Ballroom phenomenas. I've never taken any of the "ghost tours" nor have I stayed there overnight, but it's on my Colorado Bucket List and I plan on it someday soon!

This is the view of the waterfall and restaurant out the back window.

Of course I had to sneak upstairs and get a picture of room 217!

I packed a picnic lunch for us right before we left the house, so we sat on the front lawns, ate our sandwiches and enjoyed a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains. Our yogurt was mysteriously missing from the cooler, so I'm assuming one of the ghosties must be a fan of Yoplait.

When I was a kid visiting The Stanley, I remember walking off the grounds and down the dirt road a ways to see the fictional pet cemetery which was made after Steven King's novel Pet Cemetery became a movie. I was please to see that it was still there after all these years! It was a bit more run down than I remember, and it's not something most people probably know about, so it was kind of cool to sneak around the side, down the "staff only" driveway and go check it out.

After our time at The Stanley, we headed downtown to the local shops and ran into a playground which sat directly on the ledge of the Big Thompson River!

Clearly, you can't go to Estes without stopping at the homemade fudge shop.

Our last stop before heading home was a little picnic table at the end of Elkhorn Ave perfect for eating cookies.

The red rock mountains with the sunset's orange color beaming off of them was the perfect view for our ride home.

Kalynn and I had such a fun day, I think we have many more mini trips to plan in our future!