Winter Park

We spent a long weekend in Winter Park enjoying the mountains and the snow. We went skiing/boarding at Sol Vista, we went sledding, and we visited Rocky Mountain National Park where we saw three moose. We had a great family weekend, and also spent some time with good friends.

Cancun

We went to Cancun last week to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. I can hardly believe that it has been that long! We had a very nice relaxing trip just the two of us. We ate some fabulous food, sat by the pool, played beach volleyball, and went for long walks on the beach. Even though we missed the girls, it was nice to know that they were being well cared for by a family in our church.

Things Not to Do While Driving 75 mph on the Expressway...

1.  Don't fall asleep even though your husband has.

2.  Don't fall asleep even though the road is dead straight, and there is nothing along side the road, not even a solitary tree.

3.  Don't try to watch a movie, even though your little girls are watching one in the backseat.

4.  Don't talk on your cell phone.

5.  Don't hit a deer, even a small female mule deer, or your car might look like this!

Sadness!  By the way, I was not doing any of the other things listed above, and no person was injured.  I'm sure the deer was a different story.

We were on our way home from our visit to Yellowstone.  We had eaten dinner about one hour before this happened, but I was not sleepy.  It was nine o'clock and had just gotten dark.  Hubby was sleeping because he was sick, so I had the privilege of driving this boring stretch of Wyoming interstate.  I did see the deer perched along side of the road looking like she might just wait for me to pass.  Unfortunately, she decided to spring forward.  I did have enough time to hit my brakes and slow down, but it didn't really seem to help much.

After the collision, I wasn't really sure what to do.  I kept driving, but at a slower speed.  I asked Hubby what to do, and he said just to keep an eye on my gauges and drive to the next exit.  It was completely dark and we wouldn't be able to see much if we did stop, plus, what if we couldn't get the car running again?!  Thankfully the next exit was only a few miles away.  I think a piece or two of the car (or deer? uggh) may have fallen off on those few miles, and there was a lot of noise and whistling.

Once we got to the exit, we realized that the passenger side door would not open.  We got out to survey the damage and I was quite shocked.  The gas station attendant called state patrol and gave us some garbage bags and duct tape.  Since the nearest state trooper was about an hour's drive away, we asked if we could just meet him there rather than wait.  He agreed, so Hubby cut a few pieces off the car, taped up a few other bits, and we were back on the road.  We were not sure that the state trooper was going to allow us to drive the remaining four or five hours home considering the state of our vehicle, but we thought that we really might need the accident report for our insurance to cover the damage.  The trooper did let us go, and he assured me that I had done the right thing in just hitting my brakes, worse accidents happen when people try to swerve and avoid hitting a deer.

So, praise the Lord that we were all safe!  Thanks to our insurance, my car looks good again.  I still don't recommend hitting a deer though.  The insurance deductible took a good chunk of our summer budget, and going without a car while it is in the shop can be challenging too.

Moose Country

We arrived in Jackson, Wyoming for a family vacation with my husband's family around four o'clock yesterday, and before we made it to our destination we had spotted two moose! I was so excited that I took some photos even though they were far away. This is what we saw:

I am pretty sure the one below is a male because he was very large, and the one above looks like a female, but it was hard to tell since they were quite a ways off the road.

We arrived in our condo before five, and while we were still getting settled, my sister-in-law spotted this:

It looked to me like this pair were very young. They were not very big as far as moose go, although they were still quite a bit taller than me! As you can see in the photo, there is a lot of snow here in Jackson! I'm pretty sure the moose on the left is male, and the other is a female. I followed these two down the street, slowly, for a while to snap some photographs. A car came along and split these two and I became trapped between them! Since both sides of the street were piled high with snow, I didn't really have anywhere to go. I decided to just freeze as the male sauntered by me on the other side of the street. Some other guests snapped a photo of me with the moose, and they promised to email it to me.

Here are a few other photos of the moose and the Grand Tetons. This is a beautiful part of the country!

 

 

Chicago

I wanted to post a few photos from our trip to Chicago. We took the girls to Shedd Aquarium right on the lake. It was excellent. The girls enjoyed seeing all the exhibits, but probably liked the penguins, and the dolphin show most of all.

We also enjoyed a free night at the Chicago Art Museum courtesy of Target. Thanks Target!
I especially enjoyed seeing some original impressionist paintings, the girls were thrilled with the miniature room displays.

We took a quick walk through Chicago's Millenium Park to see Cloud Gate aka The Bean. It is an amazing sculpture that reflects the incredible Chicago skyline. We did all of this in one day, plus a trip to the airport to pick up some family!

Thanks to our dear friend in Chicago who provided us with an inviting place to stay and lots of great tourist tips. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with you.