Our first real vacation of the summer!
And it was glorious!
4 nights and 3 days in Steamboat Springs, with our good friends Andy, Lainey, and Sam. The days leading up to the vacay were hectic. I think I tried to squeeze in too much. Vacations tend to motivate me to do all the things I had long been procrastinating. And this was a perfect example... On Tuesday I got my oil changed, during which they discovered that my transmission fluid needed servicing. On Tuesday I also took Nico to the vet (and by the way - his kidney levels are even better than they were before!!!) On Wednesday I took myself to the doc for a standard prenatal glucose test. (I had to drink an overly sweet drink and then sit in the office for an hour waiting for a blood draw. Fun.) And then Thursday morning, I took my car in for the transmission work. After all those appointments, it was finally time to hit the road! We departed Thursday evening after work. Arriving in Steamboat around 9pm.
The drive there was quite eventful. It was dusk as we drove, and so all the wildlife was out on the road. It was nerve-wracking to have so many "close calls" with the animals, but it was really neat to see them so up close. Our fist sighting was a moose! We saw a mama moose with her baby moose. I snapped a photo with my iphone - but you can barely see the pair. They are on the left side of the highway. You can see their legs touching the pavement if you look closely... We also saw antelope. And many many deer. I also told Matt I saw an ostrich. But for some reason he doesn't believe me... Do you?
We rented a 2 bedroom condo in the heart of downtown. Everything was easily accessible on foot. I loved not depending on the car all weekend long.
We started out Friday with a walk to breakfast.
The Creekside Cafe and Grill was....crekkside. Just as they promised!
As we waited for our food, the boys easily entertained themselves by exploring the grounds. That's a nice perk about eating outside.
Cars were the toy of choice for both boys. All weekend long, all they ever talked about was cars and trucks. We presented a new Hotwheel to Sage at nearly every meal. It was a great way to keep him entertained. And at $1 a piece. Why not?
The river ran right along Yampa Street - which is the same street our condo was on. How convenient. Every time we went anywhere, it started and ended with the river.
After breakfast we went to a beautiful botanical garden. Just gorgeous!! With lots of secret trails, water features, and artwork. This garden blew Fort Collins' garden out of the water!
I was very impressed!
Then it was back home for a long overdue nap. Most of us adults napped too. That's the beauty of vacation!
After nap we took a stroll down to a park. The playground equipment appeared to have been from the 70s. It reminded me of what I used to play on when I was a small child. Everything was made of metal. No plastic.
Hydration time!
It didn't take long for Sam and Sage to become best friends! Every morning we woke, Sage's first words were, "Sam?" And then would have to tell him, "Baby, it's 5am. Sam is still sleeping. Now go back to bed!" And he would....
We ended the evening with a trip to the gelato shop. We had four flavors packed into two giant bowls. Sage insisted both were his.
Then it was books and bed for the babies.
On Saturday, we woke to a farmers market - practically right outside our door. It was literally one block down from our condo entrance. How fun! Matt acquired a piece of pottery. Sage got himself a set of 10 finger puppets. And I scored a sugar pretzel.
Then it was time for a hike.
We took a short stroll to Fish Creek Falls - a massive waterfall.
The boys found a caterpillar! Sage loves bugs.
What a snuggle monster!
After nap it was time to try out the hot springs. Steamboat has a multi-pool rec center - all fed with natural hot spring water. They had different temperature options to suit everyone's needs.
For dinner - we went to Carl's. This place was basically our next door neighbor. Such a huge advantage of staying downtown! Everything was so accessible!
I had the "vegetarian sampling." I was quite delighted to see my plate when it arrived.
And then it was Sunday.
Time for another big breakfast downtown. This time we went to Winona's. And the three of us shared a giant cinnamon roll about the size of a volleyball.
(I must admit, between the sweet breakfast entrees, gelato, and constant visits to Fuzziwigs candy shop for lollipops and fudge, we were all on quite the sugar high for the majority of the trip.)
Sage and I passed out after breakfast. So we didn't do much sightseeing until after nap. But our post-nap walk was really quite adventurous!
We discovered local art.
And stumbled across several natural sulfur springs!
It looks pretty....but it smells bad. It was very intense. I made poor Matt and Sage stand downwind from the spring, just so I could get a good photo!
This is an old ferry wheel. What a neat photo op!
Teeter-totter time!
And then we hit the goldmine - a real choo choo train!
On Monday morning it was all over.
We really enjoyed hanging with Sage for so many days in a row. He was so fun on the trip. I think he enjoyed having his mom and dad all to himself for such an extended time. We had no errands to run and nothing to clean. So we could really focus our attention on him. And boy did his language expand too! He picked up phrases like "candy shop" and "stroller walk" among many others.
On the drive home we stopped to go potty and took a moment to check out the piles of snow scattered across the landscape. Can you believe there is still snow on the ground in late June?!?!
We will definitely go back to Steamboat. It's a relaxing little mountain town with a lot of good food and fun attractions. Until next time!
