The Biesterfelts (and Fabi): Colorado Trip

Sorry for being so late on getting these last posts up. There will be 3 posts (this Colorado post, Superior Hiking Trail and Prom/Graduation). Please don't stop after the first post or you'll miss out on some fun.

Our last trip before Fabi returned to Germany was to Colorado. We spent a few days in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) before heading to Boulder. In RMNP we got in a lot of hiking. We camped in the campground in the park. This was nice because it allowed us to do day trips without having our fully loaded backpacks. Since we had just done a backpack trip the week before, it was nice to not have to lug all that weight around -- especially in the more mountainous terrain.

The hiking in RMNP was beautiful. We had a lot of hikes that we weren't able to do because of the snow, however. Evidently the snow stuck around much longer than it has in previous years. We drove up Trail Ridge Road and as you can see from the photos below, the snow was REALLY deep towards the tops of the mountains.

The first night we arrived we stayed at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, which was the inspiration for Stephen King's novel The Shining. We went on a ghost tour in the hotel. It was maybe a little on the lame side, but it was still neat to see all the different parts of the hotel and learn about the history of the area. Estes Park is now a big time tourist town, and the stores lining the main street illustrate this.

On our last night in RMNP we went to a pizza place where I'm pretty sure we consumed more food than is recommended by reasonable standards. It was, however, delicious.

In Boulder we stayed at an Airbnb that was absolutely beautiful. Our hosts were retired and had an architecturally amazing house in the mountains outside of town. They were extremely gracious in sharing their family's art and history with us.

While we did do some hiking in Boulder, the real reason we went there was to climb. We climbed on the famous Flatirons. This was the first time any of us had climbed outside, so needless to say we were a bit apprehensive. The climbing itself was pretty easy, but being exposed on the side of a rock wall all day got to be pretty exhausting. In retrospect, we wish we would have just signed up for a half day. Overall, though, we were happy to have the experience and I'm sure it is something all three of us will look back on with a laugh for years to come (note: when proofreading post Krissy said she would never laugh about this). Our tough day of climbing was topped off by eating what may have been the largest submarine sandwiches I'd ever seen. Fabi took the challenge and had no problems polishing off the entire thing.

Once we got back from Colorado Fabi only had a few days before his time in America was through and he had to get on a plane back to Ahrensburg. We helped him get everything packed up and then said our tearful goodbyes at the Des Moines Airport.

We had a great year with Fabi. Sure, there were times when we all were on each other's last nerve, but that is the case with any family. And that is what we call Fabi after our fun-filled year -- family.