Leanin' Tree Art Museum

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Art Museum: :-(

BEST: I loved the saddle cuz you could actually climb on it! The mountain lion was cool cuz it's a cat and I love cats. I liked the white tail deer, also.

WORST: Inside the museum are a bunch of pictures. Some are boring; some are fun. They all looked about the same.

If families go there, do like we did and look for pictures by Bill Hughes. They all have special light and a lot have mountains or water. It was kind of like a scavenger hunt!

Arvada Vineyard Church, Arvada, Colorado

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the Arvada Vineyard is a place that everyone should visit,

the Sunday school teachers are friendly, and so is everyone else....



the classes are fairly interactive and extremely fun.



it's located in the arvada middle school....

Arvada Vineyard Church, Arvada, Colorado

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Ways this church is similar to our Vineyard in Brecksville:

• There are classes for different ages.
• We read stories from Bibles.
• We do crafts alot of weeks.

Ways it is different:

• There's too many people to know everybody.
• We sing new songs I haven't heard before.
• The Arvada Vineyard has a big gym to play in.
• The Arvada Vineyard is at a school; the Brecksville Vineyard is at an office place.
• We go have babysitting and play while the parents have class on Thursday night.

Families should come to this Vineyard--because it's fun to learn about Jesus here. The teachers like the kids and they're good at teaching.

Stagecoach Inn -- Manitou Springs, Colorado

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The Stagecoach Inn is a nice place. Out front there is a real stage coach that you can climb into and onto. I never realized that stage coaches were so narrow! The inn had lots of different food choices. The drink cups were HUGE, even the kid cups (which were the same size as the adult cups!)

Stagecoach Inn -- Manitou Springs, Colorado

Since Daddy is out of town for a week or so, after we finished exploring Garden of the Gods (or rather, when we all got tired and decided to come back another time!), we went looking for a restaurant to get some dinner. We ended up in the town of Manitou Springs, the opposite side of the park from Colorado Springs.

It has a wonderful, historic downtown area, filled with all sorts of kitschy shops: tourist traps, music box store, glass blowing studio and store, old-tyme photographer shop, and on and on and on. I would love to go back and just wander around. It looks like it would have interesting things...and best of all, I would bet the prices are high, meaning I wouldn't actually BUY anything!

Although I think the kids would have preferred familiar fast food, I made them choose something nicer. We ended up at The Stagecoach Inn. It was an interesting log and stone building, with a real stagecoach out front.

The service was excellent. The waitress interacted well with both kids (mine) and grumpy senior citizens (at a nearby table). The menu was fun to read (with many dishes described from the perspective of stage coach passengers or the honored stage driver). The food was good, although the meat of the stuffed steak I ordered was a little tough (and, no, I didn't order it well-done like usual. I actually ordered it medium well, figuring the stuffing and the sauce would hide any pinkness!) The atmosphere was fun---over-the-top "historic" western themed.

It was fascinating to look more closely at the Stagecoach out front after we finished. It was MUCH smaller than I had imagined a stage to be. It would indeed feel quite crowded with 3 people on each facing seat, especially if any ladies with full, long skirts were aboard. It moved quite alot when Jakob and Anna climbed in---which I imagine would help cut down on the jolts of a rough road. I would guess, however, that the stage would rock quite a bit, maybe causing motion sickness for some riders.

Here's the website:
http://www.stagecoachinn.com/

Stagecoach Inn -- Manitou Springs, Colorado

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I wanted to eat some place like McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King--those sort of places. But Mom said we could do that anywhere. So we drove past lots of restaurants and this was the best sounding. I liked the way it looked also. And when we were walking to it, I saw a barn chicken in a window! We even got to sit by the chickens inside, but they weren't real.

First we had dessert--a big, gooey chocolate cake with chocolate syrup all over it. (Thanks, Uncle Vaught, for teaching Mommy to get dessert first!) I liked my food. I got chicken fingers and fries.

After we were done, we got to sit in the stagecoach [sitting out front] and have pictures taken. If everybody in our family came, one would have to drive and one kid be up front. They might get cold or wet but they would have enough space. The ones inside would be warmer but squished! I'd rather take a long trip in our truck!

Garden of the Gods -- Colorado Springs, Colorado

This is a favorite place of mine. I first spent time here 6 years ago when I was out here in Denver with then 15 mos old Anna. It is a little surreal to be driving through suburbs among foothills, and all of a sudden see giant red rock twisted into a variety of pillars, skinny side-by-side walls, and huge office-building-sized mounds.

I was a little disappointed this time to find that a number of areas we could freely walk on 6 years ago are now off-limits as the park attempts to revegetate the areas. This also means that it is not as easy to get close to the formations now.

However, we followed a few red sand pathways (already marked with plenty of shoe and boot treads) right up to the base of formations where registered climbers were working (having fun?!) We sat for awhile watching two fellows who were working their way to the top of one of the skinny walls. One climbed higher, hooking in rope as he went, belayed from below. Then they clipped in to safety hooks, the top fellow pulled up the extra rope and proceeded to belay the lower climber from above. I hadn't seen this type of leap-frog rope climbing before.

I'm looking forward to returning to this park before we leave the Colorado area. I want Randy to experience this place...plus it would be fascinating to see it near sunset. I'll bet the rock REALLY glows then!

A few "warnings" -- If you are a "flatlander," remember to carry plenty of water and drink, drink, drink. This park is at a higher altitude than you are used to and with the extra exertion of walking around, you need plenty of water to avoid dehydration.

If you are a photographer, this is a difficult place to visit because every few steps there is another "must take" photo opportunity! This may drive your family completely CRAZY! (Try to take at least a few with them in the picture--maybe that will help?!)

Another tip that might help---in addition to looking for the already named formations, have your kids look for other formations to name. (Kind of like looking for shapes in clouds---everyone will likely have different opinions.) Here are two we found:

This is a different view of "Kissing Camels" (one of them minus its hump) that we decided looks like a mama guinea pig nuzzling its baby. The other one we called "Grumpy Guy."

Garden of the Gods -- Colorado Springs, Colorado

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No Best...sorry!

WORST: not being allowed to get close to the formations (:-(

Believe it or not, Garden of the Gods is cool but not very fun (example: like a boring fact filled museum), so don't take the drive, if avoidable.

Garden of the Gods -- Colorado Springs, Colorado

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The BEST Thing: Seeing people climbing the red rocks. They were climbing big areas and skinny tall places. They were using ropes that were in hooks on the rocks. The ropes made them more sure. They also used harnesses to make them attached to the rope. They also wore helmets to keep their heads safe.

Something I Wish Was DIFFERENT: I wish I could climb on some of the rocks!

I want to go back again. I want to see "Siamese Twins." I also want to go to "Balanced Rock" so I can climb around like the other kids we saw.

Thunder Valley (Motocross Track) -- Denver Colorado

We have driven past this place a million times as we travel up and down 470 along the west side of Denver. It looked intriguing with a dirt track twisting and turning up and down the side of a hill, big jumps and little jumps along the path. But it never seemed worth the time to figure out how to get to it.

Then as we were headed out to enjoy the sunshine by taking some "field trips," we noticed a number of riders on the track as we drove past. So...we got off at the next exit (Alameda) and worked our way back to the track. The gates were open, no admission was being charged, and we parked among the other pickups and SUVs. We watched guys unload their dirt bikes, get suited up, warm up/check out their bikes, and head for the track.

It was fun to watch the couple of riders already on the track, but it was even more exciting when 5-6 riders zoomed around. Often you could see one rider just landing as another took off on some of the biggest jumps!

I talked for awhile with one of the riders getting ready to go out. Apparently this is a professional track, used for a televised race one week during the summer. Other times, anyone who wants to pay $12 can use it to practice and hone their skills. Riders range from younger ones who are professional wanna-bes to local competitors to guys out riding for the fun of it.

I don't know that I would want to be here during a competition---too much money, noise, crowds, commotion---but it's a great place to have a tail-gate picnic and watch the fun for awhile on a sunny day!

Here is the website for Thunder Valley (photos, directions, race schedule and more):
http://www.mxthundervalley.com/

Thunder Valley (Motocross Track) -- Denver Colorado

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BEST: Watching those amazing jumps. WAHOO!!!

WORST: When bikers leave the course :-(

Thunder Valley is fun because you see big jumps, turns, and 'speed.' When you get 5-6 bikes on the course at once, listen to the sound (obbrrrptbrrtbobbrrr for each bike) d:-)

Thunder Valley (Motocross Track) -- Denver Colorado

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The BEST Thing: Seeing them jump!

The MOST BORING Thing: Just seeing them drive on flat

The WORST Thing: HEARING them! Hearing their rumbles. It hurt my ears.

We were seeing dirt bikes go, riding on a course. There were hils that you were supposed to jump. It was curves between the jumps, going up and down the hill. Somebody even went through a tunnel.

Hang Gliding, Golden Colorado

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We can see hang gliders from down in the RV Park or at the Community Center in Golden. But one day we drove up Mt. Zion and parked up high and climbed up a little trail to find them. I was pretty scared cause the trail was pretty steep and my feet kept wanting to slip.

Families should climb up if they can cause that's more fun. But if there are any little kids or anyone gets scared, you should just watch from down in Golden.

(For a more describing blog about Hang Gliding...and a poem I wrote!...see http://imagineanna.blogspot.com/ )

(Also, JAKOB took this photo! Isn't it cool?!)

Hang Gliding, Golden Colorado

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We went up Mount Zion on our way to Buffalo Bill's Museum Gift Shop. We stopped beneath the "M" (we see it on the mountain from the campground) to look for a way up close to it. And, guess what? We found steps, and we got up the path we saw some people waiting to hang glide!

This is fun for everyone to watch...whether you watch from the RV Park or along the walking path by the Clear Creek or whether you choose to climb up to the launching ground on Mt. Zion.

(for a longer post, see my personal blog at http://jakobwonders.blogspot.com )