We stayed in California for the 2011 holiday season so this year we had to go big and see all the family! After researching plane tickets for flying to Colorado, in Colorado, and out of Colorado we opted to drive to save some money.
We spent one night in a great Airbnb in Flagstaff, AZ on the way out to see Erin’s family. The first week of vacation was spent catching up with Beau, Jenna, Paul, Krii, Colt(!), Loie & Chris! One night the family took Colt on The Polar Express run by the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad – enjoying hot cocoa, reading of the book, a visit from Santa, and singing carols. The next night we visited Beau and Jenna at Ken & Sue’s restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas Day involved the whole family descending on Chris & Loie’s for a rousing game of Apples to Apples while Colt took a much needed nap then dinner and opening of presents!
All in all it was a great visit but we were just getting started!
The next day we loaded up the car and hit the road again with a drive up to Woodland Park to visit Matt’s family. We arrived just in time for dinner out with Penny, Jeff, Sarah & Chloe. We can’t believe how big Chloe has gotten! Sadly, after dinner Erin finally crashed and spent the rest of the vacation sick with the flu!
Matt was, happily, able to leave Erin in bed and went to Denver with his parents to visit more family and see the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. He didn’t do much in the great outdoors because it was bitterly cold during the visit; however, t was nice to spend some quiet days with his folks, while Erin rested.
Everyone bundled up for New Year’s Eve for a few nights in the Rocky Mountains near Winter Park. We celebrated Jeff’s 70th birthday with sledding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and quality time with Chloe, Sarah, and Sarah’s partner, another Jeff! The last night we were there Sarah & Jeff Lee announced their engagement, which was the icing on the cake of a great family visit!
We had big plans for the road trip home but Erin was still rockin’ a vicious cough so the last half of the vacation was a bit of a Tuna Run* and we just headed home. We did experience some of the coldest weather (-22 degrees) in our lives when we left Colorado and it didn’t get above zero degrees until we reached Salt Lake City, UT! Needless to say, Erin was thrilled when we dropped out of the Sierra Nevada mountains a day later and the temperature was 60 degrees!
Happily home and wishing everyone a joyous New Year!