My Family's Visit

I am so darn tired tonight...I blame it all on marching band. But the things I learn and the fun I receive from the band make it all worth while for me, even through the pain. =)

Anywho....

Everyone in my family wanted me to write about my trip to Yellowstone that took place about a month ago...but I never really got into the writing, heh. It was a great trip though; Oliver wasn't able to go due to work, so it was just me and my parents, and of course everyone in my uncle's family as well ('cept for my cousin Stephen and his wife, Jessica =( ). I mainly hung out with my cousin Marian, and we had fun goofing off. On one of the days, me and all my cousins went rafting down a raging river, nearly flooded because of all the moisture up there (I'm telling you, even Wyoming was green!). We saw six bears and four moose on our trip, and four of those bears were grizzlies. Even further, two of those grizzlies were cubs! Overall it was a fun trip, and I'm looking forward to seeing my uncle's family again, probably next summer.

Speaking of family, my Mom's brothers' family was here last weekend (different family, haha). They came for my Mom's birthday, which is a month from now. There're four kids in my other uncle's family, and their ages are 7, 11, 13, and 16. So a lovely mixture of rambunctious kids, haha. The three older kids are all boys, leaving one girl who's constantly teased by her older brothers. But don't worry, she shows them who's boss! ;) Calvin, the eldest, is a gifted musician, who already has his own CD made! Noah is the logical and quiet one of the family, who enjoys reading more than talking (good boy =) ). Jonah is the sensitive one, I believe, and he's always keen to give hugs. ^_^ And Rebekah's the loud and bold girl, tough enough to force her brother's to stop picking on her! She enjoys being carried around (lucky for her, I enjoy carrying her). =)
They arrived at our house Friday evening around 11:00 P.M., and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. On Saturday we took 'em up to Mt. Evans, which was my second time up there and their first. Their family lives by the eastern coast, so they had some problems with the altitude, but besides that I think we all enjoyed the trip up the mountain. =) Here's some photos.

From left to right, front: Aunt Pattie, Oliver, Mom, Dad, Calvin (16)
From left to right, back: Uncle Danny, Noah (13), Jonah (11), Rebekah (7), Me.

There was a lake at the base of a nearby mountain. =)

In the back: Rebekah, Uncle Danny, Oliver; Front: Dad, Jonah, Noah =)

Dad with his feet in the chilly mountain water!

Jonah, posing for me ^_^

Oliver was not amused :P He stayed on that rock the whole time while us kids played in the water.

:D

Noah, toughening himself up xD

Jonah and I :D

Dad, looking at home in...*gasp* water! :O (He can't swim)

Jonah said this photo could almost be professional if that guy wasn't in the picture. I said the man added character. Who's right?? xD

All of us kids/teens, observing "Oliver's Clouds" (he enjoyed watching them while waiting for us). =)

She may be "a pickle" (according to Noah and Jonah), but she's a cute, pink pickle :P

Bighorn ssshhheeeppp! :D

Cute baby mountain goat, posing for me ^_^

Jonah hidden away in a blanket (it was 'cold'), watching goats.

Three babies! <3

The three boys, Jonah, Calvin, and Noah (left to right). At the top of the mountain!

...and that's all the photos I'll torture you with here! But only of Saturday, hehe :) For supper that night, we ate at Casa Bonita, a 'Mexican' restaurant and a favorite of my cousin's. In fact, me and Noah's birthday party was shared at Casa Bonita when we turned 8 and 6. Jonah and Rebekah especially enjoyed dragging me along with them into Bart's cave, a little walk-through cave for kids (and me) :) .
The next day was Sunday, and so all we did that day was head off to church (I had nursery duty! :D), and then hang out at home. We had a barbecue, and the adults talked for three hours afterward while us kids played on the computer, watched TV, read, and played with one another.

On Monday, my parents and Oliver were at work, so my uncle's family took me with them to my uncle's hometown, in Colorado Springs. He showed us where he grew up, including his elementary, middle, and high schools and were his first job was. We also stopped by his old friends' house from elementary, and we stayed and chatted with her and her husband for maybe an hour and a half.
While in Colorado Springs, Uncle Danny also took us to Garden of the Gods, where we enjoyed climbing around. =) My uncle used to work as a teen at this candy store called Pasty's (as did my Mom), so we went there as well and said hello to his old boss before getting a tour of the factory itself. As we left to head home, we stopped at my family's old friends' home, at Monument. Here's some photos of the day, which was pretty awesome!

Calvin, Noah, Jonah, Rebekah, Me, at the entrance of the Garden of the Gods!

"The Kissing Camels" XD

Garden of the Gods in all their glory!

Back: Jonah, Rebekah, Me; Front: Noah, Calvin

Calvin be strong! xD

Noah under the rock! :D

Jonah climbing through a hole! :D

We also stopped by my grandparent's gravesite before leaving Colorado Springs.

<3 <3

It was rainy, and my camera was in black/white mode. I saw this, and I thought of how Christianity's not important anymore in America. =( Calvin told me to write an essay about it xD Maybe I shall, if I get too bored, haha.

Rebekah, being...a pickle :P Love you Rebekah! :D

On Tuesday morning, the family woke up, got dressed/took showers, ate breakfast, and than left me alone at home at about 11:30 that morning...it was a very lonely afternoon, because each time I heard a scream outside, I thought, "It's Rebekah outside playing with Jonah." And so then I'd get up and look out the window, and...not see 'em, for they were long gone. =( Our house is so darn quiet without them, it took me all day to adjust to our home's usual stillness.

And so, I had a lot of fun with them while they were here!! I miss them like crazy, though. Hope this entry made up for the lost Yelloswtone one :P Those photos are on Facebook, at least, so not all is lost. Thanks for reading! :D

~Kathy

Weekly Update

This last week has been so darn busy...
First off, you need to know that I got my drivers permit yesterday! =D I took a three day driving class Monday through Wednesday, which basically taught me that motorcycles are evil and that I'm going to end up killing someone (probably a motorcyclist). 
Okay, so that's me being pessimistic. But that's honestly how I felt on day two of driver's ED. After seeing blood all over the highway, learning that 16 year old's die 10X more often than a middle-aged person behind the wheel...I would freak.'Cause this is me we're talking about, not someone who believes the glass is half-full.
Anyway, Tuesday night my brother managed to calm me down about the whole matter, and I went into my last day of driver's ED no longer scared to death. I passed the tests with flying colors, and I could've gotten my permit that very afternoon, but the place closed half an hour early -_-. So I had to wait to get my permit until yesterday.
Meanwhile, two days ago was my second day of marching band. As a band, we're doing so well already! If I remember correctly, last year, we didn't start backwards marching as early as the second week. We are this year, however, and the new rookies are doing amazing. In the low brass section, there's been a few changes, in that Trevor plays the tuba now and Johnathan (a once-upon-a-time tuba player) plays the baritone with Jared and I. Hector and Ryan are keeping their roles as trombone players, and the second tuba player, Patrick (I think that's his name, heh), is still playing tuba with Trevor. Also, we got our music for the show yesterday as well! It looks harder than last year's show, so we'll have to work a lot harder this year as a section. I know I'll be.

And now, for today! Today has been full all in itself, like a lot of Saturdays around here. I woke up around 9 this morning (earlier than I would've thought, but, okay) and after throwing the cat out and getting dressed, I played around on the computer a bit. It was when Dad woke up that I started in on my Saturday chores, which have been reduced as of late since my guinea pig passed away about a month ago. Since she's gone, her cage no longer has to be cleaned every week, leaving me with an extra thirty minutes, and so I was done with my work fairly quickly. Expecting Dad to take me out on my first drive then, I asked him about his schedule, and I learned he wouldn't be able to take me until this afternoon because he and Mom needed to discuss our Yellowstone trip that we're taking in two days (!!) while going on a short date at the same time.
And so, my plans tempered with, I decided to head outside and mow my neighbor's lawn. It's a job of mine, you could say, and I do it once a week. I'd waited two days longer this week due to the fact that I'd be gone all of next week until next Sunday, and so I didn't want her lawn overgrown by the time I came back. The sun wasn't bearing down yet, so I didn't think the heat would be a problem for me. Getting out the lawn mower and my iPod, I started in.
I was 2/3 of the way through with her lawn, when I spotted a squirrel in the tree. Now, if you were to ask a squirrel if I'm a good person, they'd tell you in a heartbeat that I'm not. When my family and I first toured the campus of the School of Mines for Oliver, I remember how fun it was to chase the poor squirrels back up their trees, laughing at them as they'd chatter back at me angrily. I found it so exciting when I would see squirrels, because they didn't live in Westcliffe, and I loved their fluffy tails.
Today, however, our relationship has turned even more sour. There's this specific squirrel that lives around our yard (or, I like to believe it's the same one) that is always scolding me and my cat for being too close to its tree, or something. I've taunted it, yelled at it, but it never seems to go away. If anything, it just gets defensive until I leave him alone.
And so, seeing the squirrel up there in that tree this morning, I had a good feeling it was him; that nutty ol' scolder that hates me and my cat with a passion. I greeted him sarcastically, complaining about how much I hated him, and he only got angrier and climbed down his tree a few inches. Now, being the photographer I'm turning into, I suddenly saw a picture opportunity. Running back into my house, I grabbed my new camera and ran back out and started taking pictures of the now more than irritable squirrel. Scolding me, the squirrel climbed further down the tree, about five feet from me, the closest a squirrels ever dared come to me. Alarmed at its boldness and beady-eyed stare, I backed up a step, still taunting the thing. Rootbeer, my cat, decided to take an interest then, and he climbed up the fence and swiped a paw at the squirrel. Looking back, I'm surprised the squirrel didn't attack right back, but instead he climbed a few feet up his tree, probably relieved to see Rootbeer loose interest and jump back down the solid ground. Meanwhile, I scolded Rootbeer for having not killed that darn squirrel while he had the chance.
Finally, when the nutty animal didn't appear to be backing down in the slightest, I backed off and continued my mowing, muttering under my breath about dumb squirrels that don't have a life. Looking back into the tree, I suddenly saw something that totally sent my mind on spin-mode. It was a nest. A squirrel's nest, to be precise.
"So that's why he-or her- was being so protective!" I exclaimed, understanding, and I tried to keep my distance from the angry mother from then on. I had been a threat to her babies, I now realized, and now I understood that by me throwing a rock in her general direction earlier (heh...cough), she would react violently. She was only being a protective mother.
And so I now know to stay away from that tree for a while...(here's some pictures of the nut). xD

The Squirrel's Nest

I had just finished mowing the lawn and dealing with the squirrel, when my parents finally came home from their date.
"Ready to go driving?" Dad asked, and we left thirty minutes later after I recuperated from the mowing. 
We started off in my school's driving parking-lot, which was completely empty. First, he had me just drive around slowly and get used to the car. He gave me some pointers on the curves, and told me to always try and have a constant speed, for the benefit of the car's I'd be driving around later.
Eventually, he had me move out to the real streets. Instantly, I became stressed as I tried juggling looking through my mirrors, keeping a constant speed, stopping gently...but at the same time, it was kind of fun. =) Dad says that by the time I master my driving, I'll probably really enjoy it, like himself (considering that we're alike in many, many ways). I think he's right, too. =)
Anyway, that should sum up this week. This next week, I'll be going to Yellowstone to visit family (!!), and I'll be gone all week. Prepare yourself for one huge blog afterwards! :D
~Kathy
P.S. In my spare time, the flowers around my house have been getting a lot of attention...! :D

Marching Band

Today marks...the first real day of this year's marching band season!! Whoo-hoo! =D Parts of me are extremely stocked for this new year, and what we're going to cover, and other parts of me...well, nervous, I guess you could say.
I'm a little worried with the set-up this year, for starters. Last year, everyone in low brass (like myself), was either a tuba player or marching baritone (I was the latter). This year, however, we got two new low brass instructors (which, we needed), and the one decided that this year trombones and marching baritones would be used. At first, this excited me, especially when Trevor (my section leader) informed me that trombones are in fact lighter than baritones when marching. But then, the instructor decided to give the trombone parts to Trevor, and two other boys named Hector and Ryan. Me and a new boy named Jared where the designated baritone peepz for the year. When asked if this would suit me, I said it would...looking back, I regret my answer. Sure, I love the idea of being challenged again this year with the baritone...but, really?! I feel ripped off. -_- But you know, it's my own fault, so there's no turning back now. And even if given the chance to do so, I'm afraid I'd be too stubborn to take up the offer, anyway. :-/ (Note to self: Work on stubbornness issues.)
Also, what if things go as they did last year? Our instructors keep telling us we're going to rock, and this year is going to be tens of thousands of times better than last season (which, really, wasn't our best year, especially in the brass section). I mean, they have so much hope in this year, that they've purposefully gotten what sounds like a much harder show for us this year! Sure, we need to be challenged...but humiliated I'd like to avoid, thanks.
Ahg. Well, at least God has a plan and knows what He's doing with this.But, let's move onto the exciting elements, that have got me grinning. To start off, this year's show sounds amazing! Our instructors have told us that there's going to be two groups in this show-the bad group, and the good group. The storyline revolves around the good and bad groups fighting, and in the end, the bad group is killed by the good group. Oh, and I'm on the bad team! Yeah, maybe I shouldn't be so excited for such a role...but hey, at the end I get 'killed' off anyway. :P
Also, this year should be a lot easier on me...or, so I tell myself, anyway. I have a year of experience under my belt now, and I've grown a lot in the past year, I'd say. I now know ahead of time that the only way I'm going to succeed is if I work at home a lot. No, not just working on the music-that was the easy part last year. The worst part of marching band for me last year was holding the horn up at all times. Apparently, I'm weaker than I once imagined. Towards the end of the year, I figured this out, and began doing push-ups and laps by myself at home. It totally did wonders on me. By the end of last year, I could run the laps and not die from exhaustion. And so, I've already started this process for myself here at home for this upcoming year, and when we ran the lap today...let's just say I didn't die. Exactly my goal. =)
Oh, and another contributing factor...I'm not the youngest one anymore! I have other people to help out now. Although I don't want to be the section leader (too big of a title for me...I'd bang myself up at every mistake I made leading!) I think I'll have fun this year guiding the new kids. =)
And so, this concludes my mixed feelings over marching band this year...! Be prepared, my journal entries are probably going to turn into a lot of rambling about marching band and how it's going. I know that's how it went last year, haha. =)
~Kathy

Hard Labor and Clean Music

Today has been spent mainly outside, working. And although I don't generally like work-let alone hard work-I can actually say I had a pretty good day. =)
Cindy, the lady we rent from, was the reason I worked today. She's like my Dad in that she's the kind of person that likes things looking perfect, clean, and overall amazing. This of course means a lot of work on her part (for it does for my Dad). Before she came to work on my family's yard, she told me that she'd hire me to help her today. I decided I might as well, considering I have all summer to play around on the computer.
At about 9:30 this morning, Cindy and I started on our job, where we were laying wood-chips from across the street onto the bare parts of my family's front yard, to help keep the weeds from growing and to make the yard look nicer. While she arranged the wood-chips on the ground, I loaded and re-loaded the wheelbarrow, going back and forth. We took a lunch break, two long breaks, and I know I took a lot of one minute breaks between the loads. The temperature's high today went up above 90 degrees, and 90 degrees is hot where I live. Thankfully, some amazing clouds blocked the sun's harsh rays from after lunch until the end of the day. =) Cindy's still working out there, but she said I could go in...I don't know how she's still alive, to be honest.

As I was working today (totally changing the subject, FYI), I began to ponder all my summers at this house. My family and I have only lived in this house for three years, and this is my fourth summer here. I decided that my summers should be called, "The 'Getting-To-Know-You' Summer", "The Mathematics Summer", and "The Marching Band Summer".
The first one's name came from it being my first summer here, in a totally new landscape. We had just moved from the mountains that first summer, and we now live in the city. It was a hard summer that year, having no friends, but looking back I'm glad we moved. =)
The second summer's name is due to the fact that I did math over the summer. You could say it was summer school, but I wasn't doing math because I'd been behind in school; I was taking pre-algebra so that I could be a year ahead come the next school year. We went through a good chunk of the textbook that summer, which says something, considering schools these days can't get through a textbook too often when they have nine months. I mean, really. That's a fail on their part.
Last summer is now referred to as it is, because it was my first summer of marching band. No one else in my family, nor any friends had ever been in marching band, and so it was a complete new experience for me. It was a hard summer again, but I'm so glad I went though it. I grew so much last summer, not only in my trombone playing, but in my character. I'm taking marching band again this year, mainly because I enjoy being challenged every now and then, and though most people would say marching band can't be qualified as a sport, I'd say it has a way of being tough. Especially on 'wimpy' people like me, haha. =)
Now why I just told you all of this, I've no idea. But I felt like sharing a piece of me. Hmm, somehow I get the feeling that's the whole point of this blog... =D

Anyway, speaking about titles, you're probably wondering about this blog's title of "Hard Labor and Clean Music". I mean, I've talked about hard labor and my past three summers, but not clean music...
 Well, today I came across a clean romance song, teaching a valuable lesson, and I love it so much I felt like sharing about it somewhere ^_^ The song's called, "Just A Kiss", by Lady Antebellum, whom I didn't even know existed until today. When I first heard it, I was skeptical about it staying clean; after all, the lyrics say at one point, 'It's hard to hold back when I'm holding you.'
Immediately, my mind went on red alert, and inside I died like I do every time something that seems good-like a book or song-turns bad. But then, I heard the whole song...it's about not having sex before marriage! Not the other way around! And I was like, "whoa, it's clean!!! A clean romance song teaching a lesson about waiting! EEK!"
Yes. I got overly excited. ^_^ But, I mean, the ending lyrics say, "Let's do this right. Just a kiss goodnight." Meaning, nothing more than a kiss, 'cause anything more right now is wrong.
Oh, geez...I need to take a chill pill =)
 Anyway, that's all for tonight! Laterz!
~Kathy

The First Week

Well...the first week of summer is about to come to a close! And boy, has it been a blast...! Since I've got nothing better to do, I'll go ahead and tell you all about it. =)
Monday was Memorial Day (duh), and so Dad and I decided to do something together that day (Mom had volunteered to work at her job, and Oliver was working on a work/school project). After pondering our choices, we decided to go up the road about an hour and hike in this park/mountain area. We'd heard from some family members that it was a very beautiful hike, and so I eagerly brought along the camera.

The three mountains

When we got there, we were faced with what looked like a field of wild grass, with three large mountains hanging above us. It looked like it was about to rain, and so Dad warned me that we might not be able to stay for very long. With that said, we headed up the trail, with me stopping every few minutes to take pictures of the wild flowers. The only wildlife we saw was a gigantic bee the size of a quarter, a group of caterpillars, and we heard some ravens scolding each other.

The quarter-sized bee! D:

The caterpillars...be disgusted =D

 

 

 

 

Random wildflowers

After a while, Dad and I started heading up into the mountains. It seemed like a rather simple hike at the time, although towards the end of the trail it got a little tough. However, we finally reached the end of the trail, and we stopped to rest on the pile of boulders as we looked out into the city down below us, where we could still hear firetrucks blaring down below, even after getting 'deep' into the forest. We probably rested there for five minutes before we decided it might be a good time for us to try and find our way back down, when we saw a couple and their dog climbing up the trail we had just come from.

The Rocky Rest Stop

"There's another trail higher up that'll lead you safely down," the male told us, "but you'll have to be mountains goats and climb over these boulders for a bit."
"You game, Kathy?" Dad asked, and I nodded. We followed after the couple then, but it wasn't long before we lost them. They were fast, I tell ya! 'Sides, the rocks we had to climb over weren't rocks, they were boulders.
From then on, Dad and I struggled to find this 'supposed' trail for probably a good thirty minutes, getting lost multiple times while we were at it.
Finally, we found what looked like a trail, and when we heard voices heading up the trail and saw faces, we knew we'd found what we'd been looking for. Breathing a sigh of relief, we immediately took to the new-found trail, and I again began taking pictures, now that I could use both hands to take pictures instead of pull myself up boulders.
We got home from our little adventure that day at four, me totally wiped out, but happy. It had been quite the adventure, even though we'd gotten lost, and I wouldn't trade that experience for another. =)

Oh geez...I'm only to Tuesday! Heh, I'll try an' shorten the days up for ya.
Tuesday for me was basically a work day. No, it wasn't the 'cleaning around the house' work day, nor was it working at a job. For the summer, I'm planning on making a lot of music videos. Music videos are videos and/or pictures being put to a song. In this case, I put family pictures and a few of our videos together with a song called September, by the band, Daughtry. Although I didn't finish this project on Tuesday, a good part of my day was spent scanning photos from the photo albums onto the computer and placing them into my music video.
Also on Tuesday, I made myself breakfast. Usually when I do so, I make pancakes, eggs, and bacon; you know, the usual. But I wanted something different that day, and so I eventually made myself Sunny-D pancakes (we were out of milk, so I put Sunny-D in its place...) and the best omelet ever invented! It consisted of two eggs, a lot of cheese (too much, actually), some tomato, lettuce, and a torn up piece of lunch meat. Very tasty! =)

Wednesday! Like Tuesday, a good part of my day was spent working on my music video, where I was making headway. Sometime in the afternoon (don't know when), the doorbell rang, where there was  a package from Amazon. I totally freaked out, because I knew what was in the package...
My new camera!!!!!! =D I had actually bought myself my very own camera, so that when my trip to Yellowstone came this summer, I wouldn't always have to steal my parents' camera, but I could have my own. My aunt who loves photography had helped me pick it out, so I knew it'd probably suit me well. Quickly, I opened the box to find a very small and delicate looking camera, the color of aqua. After fiddling around with it some, I learned that it didn't take batteries, but had its own battery thing that you could charge in the charger also given to me. Stealing one of my parents' camera's memory card, I turned on the camera and began playing around with it. I totally love it ^_^ .
Also on Wednesday, my youth group meant. Wednesday is usually the day we meet, but I haven't gone for a good month or two due to it having ended for a while (end of school year stuff), and because of lame excuses I've come to forget. Although the kids are nice enough in my youth group, I just don't feel like I belong there. For example, the kind of stuff we talk about is too easy for me, and yet it goes above my small group class's head. And so I often find myself not going on a given Wednesday.
Anyway, the only reason I went this Wednesday, is because the high school was welcoming in the new freshmen of the year, and a few of these freshmen are my friends in church. Wanting to be there because of them, I forced myself to go and not look too shy as I walked into my group. I had a feeling I was bound to be scolded from the kids on having not been there for weeks. They always act that way-it's there way of saying they love me and want me there, but it's also there way of making me feel bad and even less connected to them. However, the moment I walked up to them, one of the girls cried my name and pummeled me in a hug. There wasn't any scolding from any of them, much to my relief, and I was quickly reacquainted into my group of friends. In the end, it was a good night, and I had fun. =)

Thursday (almost done, don't worry)...! Yesterday, I finished my family project (YES!!!! =D) and went to my grandparent's house to bake cookies with my grandma! =D We baked these cookies called Banana Drops. Often when we go to their house, Banana Drops are offered, but until I baked them yesterday with my grandma, I had no idea bananas were in these cookies. But, not like I'm complaining xD. The cookies turned out to be amazing, and we still have some here at home (in fact, I'm going to go get one now!).I had fun. =)

And today has been pretty good too; I went out to eat with my Mom this afternoon before she headed off to work, and I wrote this.
So...not a bad first week. =D The end!
~Kathy

Trip to Salida!

At 9:30 A.M., Saturday, I awoke to my Dad gently shoving me awake.
"Wanna go to the Endres house with me?" he asked. "Oliver's probably going with us as well." (For those of you who don't know, the Endres are some family friends from church).
Having just woken up, I had no idea what he was talking about, but I agreed, none-the-less. After a few more minutes of being awake, I learned that we needed to go to their house to drop off something for them having to do with church, because we weren't going to be able to attend church this week.
"We're going to Salida this weekend," Dad informed me, and I instantly became excited. We were heading back to our mountains, the Sangre de Cristos!
For those of you who don't know, Salida is a small little town about 60-75 minutes away from the town of Westcliffe, where I grew up. Both towns are fairly similar to each other, I'd say, although after this trip I think Salida's bigger than 4,000 people, whereas Westcliffe is not. 
We left for Salida at about 1:30 P.M. that same day, where we arrived about three or four hours later. During that drive, we talked about random things, practically none-stop, and I took so many pictures of the snow infested mountains it's not even funny! We saw some deer, but that was about all the wildlife we saw, sadly. Once we got into Salida and were checked into our hotel room, Dad treated the three of us to a restaurant that overlooked Salida's river. We were entertained as we watched kayak-ers try and 'surf', so to speak, on the rapids. After supper we headed back to the hotel room, where Mom and Dad promptly went to sleep. I followed their example about an hour later or so, and I'm guessing Oliver went to bed an hour or two later.

Mountains, coming down whatever pass we were on...

More mountains!

Abandoned Cabin

Two Deer

Mountain!

 

 

 

 

 

 At about 8:30 this morning, we all woke up and were packed and out of our hotel at about 9:00 or 9:30. Our next destination...The Great Sand Dunes of Colorado!

The Sand Dunes were a blast! I haven't been to them for years, which is odd considering they're located on the other side of the mountains I grew up on and around. Again, I got tons of pictures of these dunes, even though we didn't hike them. Why didn't we hike 'em? Because there was a lot of wind, and the sand stung our bare legs (we were all in shorts) harshly just by being down at the basin of the dunes. But we enjoyed the creek that's at the basin, and Dad and I stayed a bit longer than the other two, where he enjoyed watching people and I enjoyed taking pictures of the dunes and random people on them.

In order from left to right: Oliver, Mom, and Dad!

Poor, lone tree in the middle of all the sand...

Poor, lone branch, in the middle of the dunes :)

This here is one of my favorites of the day! Shoes, dunes, and mountains! :D

The creek at the foot of the dunes!

Once the four of us were all ready to go, we got back into the car, where Dad mysteriously drove up a separate pass, not to the town where we were planning to eat lunch. Rather, Dad was first taking us on a short hike, where a waterfall was at the end!
Now, out of the four of us in my family, I'm basically the only one who enjoys physical activity, such as hiking. My Dad enjoys it sometimes as well, but my brother and Mom...NO. They hate it. And so you can imagine that hiking even short trails is very rare in my family, making me that much more excited. After a short 1/2 mile climb, we reached the creek. It was beautiful, but none of us knew what we had yet to see.
Wanting to see this waterfall, I waded through the creek-shoes and socks on- until my feet couldn't stand the cold anymore, and then I'd find a dry rock nearby and stand on it until my toes were no longer numb. Meanwhile, my parents took the much longer route of trying to 'climb' on the walls surrounding the creek to the waterfall to avoid getting wet shoes. My brother stayed on the sidelines, watching the three of us make our way to the waterfall, thinking the whole time how 'crazy' we were.
After a bit of a struggle, I reached the waterfall, which was hidden within a cave. Peering up at it, my eyes widened at the sight of a huge chunk of ice hanging right by it. A second later I was rushing back to the shore of the creek where Oliver stood with the camera, for fear that if I took it I'd drop it in the water and kill it. But I had to have it for this. I knew this without having seen the whole waterfall in all its majesty yet, and so when I reached him two minutes later, I begged him to give me the camera. Reluctantly, he handed it off to me, and we were all lucky that I didn't drop it. =)
Excited beyond belief, I rushed back through the ice cold water (ice, due to the ice, I now realized) until I reached the waterfall's cave again, where my parents had finally managed to get to. Here's some of the pictures (they're not the best, considering I was so dang excited and the lighting wasn't all that good either, but whatever.)

Left to right: Oliver, Dad, and Mom, as we first arrive at the creek!

The creek in all its glory xD

Mom and I inside the little cave place where the waterfall was. Note how we're standing on the water.

The waterfall and the ice!

The ice hanging down from the cave

We probably waded in the water for a good 45 minutes or so before leaving, the three of us that had gone to see the waterfall at awe, and our feet completely soaked and numb. But the three of us agreed; it was so totally worth it.
Afterward, we headed to town where we ate at a Chinese restaurant, and left quickly after (it was downright creepy being one of the only costumers in the whole building). From there we started heading home the long way, going through Monarch pass, where I got even more pictures (but don't worry, I'll spare ya xD). When we left the Chinese restaurant it was probably around 3:30 in the afternoon, and we didn't get home till about 9:45. Again, like on the way to Salida, we talked a good chunk of the way, and Dad was amazing enough to pull over on the road when I wanted a picture of the mountains or something.
All in all, this trip to Salida was a great way to start the summer off! All four of us were together, I took a lot of photos, and there was some awesome sight-seeing. I can't wait to see what else the summer has in store for me. =D
~Kathy