Maximum Clearances, New Discoveries

DAKOTA RIDGE RV PARK -- Golden, Colorado -- If Kansas was largely a fun sucker, yesterday certainly made up for lost time.

Marley made it to her tour of CCU on time, with only one slight hiccup. As we were driving into Denver, we stopped at the airport to pick up a rental car for more mobile transportation while we're here. Navigating our way through the usual twists and turns of a major international airport we figured we'd drop her off at Arrivals, she'd pick up the car and go to her appointment while the kids and I set up camp.

I should say here one of the very last things I did before leaving on this trip was climb up on top of the Heart of Gold with a tape measure and see exactly how tall this thing is. 10 feet, 4 inches. 10-4, good buddy.

So, after turning down a long single-lane ramp, we were at least prepared when we saw this sign as we pulled into the arrivals entrance. Hmmm....okay. I guess we've got to back up. A bit daunting considering the flow of traffic, but luckily there was enough of a shoulder to make it happen without too much disruption.

Could have been worse.

Beyond that we made it here without any more fuss or muss, launching into fun-packed day. The kids played in the pool, we went for hike into the surrounding hills. We did some bouldering....





























...and admired some funky wildflowers.

(Anyone know what these are?)


Making our way higher we crested a ridge only to see off in the valley below a small amusement park, complete with ribbons of alpine slide tracks running down the side of a mountain. Back down in camp, we hopped into the pool to cool off and then hopped into our car to go check out our "discovery."

I wasn't sure if the kids would feel comfortable enough to brave the tall ski lift ride up to the top of the alpine slide, but they were undaunted. Amelia drove her own sled down and Noah rode with Marley. Ameila's first words at the bottom of the run... "Can we do that again!?!"

Maybe later, but this morning we're driving up into the high country for little mountain climbing.