So there we were enjoying our last drinks and views of the mountains.
Heath noticed another thing in our view, a Drurry hotel. She loves all the Drurry perks and found us a room and we all decided we wanted to stay. Once there though we found they were full and we had this terrible hour of trying to find a hotel with an open room after we had gotten excited to stay and then faced the possibility of having to drive back anyway.
We did find a room and decided to have a relaxing night watching TV and eating cookies in bed. The breakfast at the hotel was great and we stuffed our faces and then went out for one of the best days of the trip, starting with climbing Mt. Herald.
We left Colorado Springs and went into a small town called Monument. We could see the mountain quite a ways out from the highway and through town and then we got on a gravel road and followed around the front side of it and then up the left side a bit. Then we found the little pull off for parking and the start of the trail.
I’d read up the night before and it sounded like we had a little easy stretch, a fork and then 1 mile with some major elevation change and then 1 more mile with a more steady gradual climb. So we started out letting Bean lead the group, set the pace and we all had to stay behind her.
It didn’t take long for her to be done
We switched and let each kid lead for 5 min or so and Heath and I also took turns. We talked about the trip and played the movie game where 1 person tells a story and at the very end of the story everyone guesses what movie the story was.
We made it a long ways before stopping for a break. I checked the GPS on my phone and it looked like we getting close but I figured the mountain was just deceptive and we still had a long ways to go.
We didn’t go far though before things seemed to thin out and flatten out and it looked like there was not much more up we could go.
So I let Bean out to climb the last bit and explore the big top with the rest of us.
We found the two signature cool things at the top. The flag
and the book everyone signs showing who they were and when they climbed.
Then we headed down. Obviously it went pretty quick, we didn’t really stop for breaks but did get some pictures of the sights along the way.
We got to the car and got drinks and started driving out when we noticed the big rock we believe Monument was named after so we parked and wondered over to it.
It was pretty crazy out on it’s own. We were all ready to get to lunch so just looked and then moved on.
We saw one more landmark we needed a quick picture with.
Then we drove on to the painted mines
We parked, there was no shade but we did find a picnic table and claimed it.
Then once again we got busy cooking some noodle or rice thing with a can of something and a packet of something.
Oh right this meal was a curry rice thing with a can of carrots and a can of chicken.
and pudding for dessert.
Once we finished lunch we packed up and headed down into the mines.
Each kid got to lead down a different path and we each followed.
and we saw a bunch of crazy colors
and crazy shapes
and parts didn’t feel like earth
and we had a good time just looking around
But it was hot and we were worn out and really ready to get on the road. So we left the mines and the real last stop on the vacation.
There is not much else to tell. Heath was really into her ebook “The Name of the Wind” and I was really into my audio book “Maze Runner”. So I drove and listened and she rode and read and the kids played tablets and read and napped and snacked. We stopped for gas and some decent Mexican food from a hotel and drove some more and got some double cheeseburgers and drinks and then some more gas. Eventually all the kids fell asleep and then just before we got to the house I finished my audio book. We unloaded the kids and lot of the gear and I went ahead and hung the wet tent then we went to bed just after 2am. I needed to read for a minute to wind down from the unpacking and in like 5 minutes finished my ebook then went to sleep for a few hours before work.