After a crazy week, we set off on Thursday night for our final round of camping for the season – at Mueller State Park. Of course we got going late, but luckily the camping spot was only a couple of hours away and even with some stops, we made pretty good time. We couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like we’d still get to see most of the pretty fall color. Despite the chilly weather, we were snug and warm in our camper!
The next morning, we made some pancakes and then started driving around to check out the scenery we’d missed in the dark. We drove through town and were immediately sidetracked by a dinosaur museum and spent the next couple of hours there, doing everything dino. The museum is primarily a working dinosaur lab and they have sent dino skeletons all over the world. The kids were enthralled by their specimens and our bizarre tour guide.
After lunch and some naps, our friends arrived and we had a nice time playing and checking out the beautiful scenery around the campground.
We had dinner with our friends and had a wonderful time hanging out around the campfire … first with the kids and then without them.
The next day we had breakfast and headed off on a kid-friendly 2.3 mile hike. Ben walked about half of it and the rest, I carried him on my back. That child is not light, I will tell you.
The trail had gorgeous fall color everywhere and some amazing rock formations.
We also saw a flock of wild turkeys! I’ve never before seen them in the mountains of CO, so that was a cool treat.
After lunch and naps, we headed to Cave of the Winds. It is an odd animal in that it is a tourist trap that’s actually pretty cool. It is a giant underground cave system. It has many rooms and some truly amazing formations with cheesy names like “bacon” and “cave coral” and “romeo and juliet” etc. For all that, it’s pretty worthwhile and amazing. We all really enjoyed it.
After our late tour of the cave and dinner, driving back to the campsite and getting the kids down, we had to pack it in for the night. The next morning it was time to pack up and head back to reality. It was a weird camping trip in that we did more in the way of civilization than we might normally do, but since none of us had been to the area before, it seemed appropriate. And we still got to see tons of beautiful fall color including aspens in shades ranging from light yellow to red-orange. I’ve never really seen them in anything but their usual gold, but the park rangers told us this has been an unusual year for fall color.
Sounds like an amazing trip.