Thank your for visiting our adoption blog! Please take a few moments and get to know us by viewing the various posts and pages.

Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Beautiful Colorado

We officially had our first big camping expedition with the pop-up and it was a great success!  I was a little nervous about booking a campsite in a place we'd never seen - didn't want to be sandwiched into a lot with no trees and a hundred big RV's.  We found one online in Manitou Springs with good reviews close to everything we wanted to explore and it was great!

Day One took us to the Commonwheel Arts and Crafts Festival and the lovely Miramont Castle. You went in on street level on the first floor and came out on street level on the fourth floor because it was anchored into the mountain.  Such a beautiful place - they don't build them like that anymore!
Miramont Castle
Next up we visited the Garden of the Gods.  I think this is absolutely one of the most beautiful places.  We spent the whole afternoon and evening hiking and climbing on every big rock that had a toe hold!  I just had so many pictures!  Hard to choose a few!
Can you see the rock climbers sitting on top of the one on the left?
Brandon's version of rock climbing.  Wait!  Is that a jackalope in your backpack?



Now off to Day Two and Pikes Peak!  It wasn't until this day that I realized I was "stupid scared" of driving up the edge of those mountain roads.  Brandon said it was worth the $22 just to watch me freak out.  Strangely enough, going down wasn't a problem! Next time we're going to hike up though!

Geez that was high!  The pictures just don't do it justice!
And a little Air Force Academy visit to round out the day!


I wish we would have had at least one more day, but alas, work and two small dogs beckon us home.

We'll be back - Davis still has more hiking to do!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Ha Ha Tonka

Brandon let me talk him into going on an adventure last weekend to Ha Ha Tonka State Park at the Lake of the Ozarks.  I'd seen pictures of the castle ruins there and been wanting to go hiking for a while and we finally just decided to take a day and go since we were already at the lake house anyway.  It was BEAUTIFUL!

This is the beautiful spring that feeds into the lake.  We were standing at the castle ruins admiring the breathtaking view from the front drive.

Making our way down all 316 stairs to the spring at the bottom!  You can see them drop down behind us!

Brandon next to the crystal-clear water where the spring comes rushing from underground caves.

 Looking back at the castle ruins from the bottom

And introducing the Peterson Family Mascot!
We had been thinking for a while about getting a sidekick that could easily fit into a suitcase and join us on our adventures - taking advantage of fun photo opportunities along the way. When we saw this very unique store we thought that we just might find something silly and fun enough to hold the title and represent us well.  We found success in our little jackalope friend who now has a place in our photos and our hearts.  In honor of the crazy store we found him in, please welcome our new friend, Davis.