Days With the Duerksens

Cambry's journal:  "We went to a rock park.  We went to the Garden of the Gods.  We left." This was our last day in Colorado.  We had to say good-bye to the beautiful views and head back to Kansas.  On our way out of RMMC, we had to stop by the beaver dams to take a picture.  I was quite enamored with the dams and the beaver lodge - remarking about them every time we entered or left the camp.  I think I saw a beaver one time, but it dove under the water pretty quickly after we stopped the van.   One of several dams the beavers built. We also stopped by the Donut Mill in Woodland Park on the way out.  Mercy sakes - gigantic doughnuts and cinnamon rolls greeted us!  I'm pretty sure the few bites I had from everyone included enough calories for the entire day!  Then, since we hadn't visited the Garden of the Gods the other day, we decided to stop there on the way home.  I wish we could have spent more time there...

From Cambry's journal:  "We went to Cave of the Winds, played frisbee golf, and we went out to eat" (at Serrano's - a mexican restaurant). We did, indeed, do the touristy things on this trip - including Cave of the Winds.  We took Papa along with us, and had a really good time.  It was definitely something the kids had never done.  In fact, halfway through our tour, Cambry looked at me and said, "This is not what I expected.  It's better!"  One bonus of being in a cave was that it was nice and cool!  And, Chelan and I got a good work-out, since we had to hold Delaney for most of the tour! Some morning fun in the cabin: Views from the cave.  Lots of tight spaces to maneuver through.  Our tour guide said it used to be a 4 hour crawl-through tour!  Thank goodness times have changed! The view from outside the cave - quite a canyon! We headed back to RMMC and before supper, we played frisbee golf.  There i...

From Cambry's journal:  "We were on our way to Garden of the Gods until Delaney threw up and I started an animal book.  We found a shelter out of sticks.  We built onto it." Yes, you read that right.  Delaney got sick in the van on the way to the Garden of the Gods.  We think she had some altitude sickness because she had already been so cranky the day before and complained about her tummy hurting.  So, our plans changed and we had a rather relaxing day back at the cabin! In the evening, we built a campfire in the ring right outside our door and made s'mores.  The kids had spent time whittling branches into roasting sticks with their new pocket knives (thank you, souvenir shops)! Is this the face of a girl who is sick? Thank goodness for Strawberry Shortcake! Whittling away! Cheers!

From Cambry's journal:  "We went up Pike's Peak on a train and got a souvenir." This sums up Day #2 pretty well.  Before we left for Pike's Peak, however, we spent some time down at the RMMC campground.  In fact, Ty and Caiden walked down nearly every day to play some basketball.  The girls enjoyed exploring in the creek.  We even got some canoeing in before it was off to Manitou Springs. It was fun to watch chipmunks play right outside our door every morning! The view of Pike's Peak from the highway It was HOT at the train station - so much so that Papa and I bought a $3 bottle of water.  We were ready to get to the top of the mountain for some cooler air! Yep - this pretty much sums up the train trip - Delaney was cranky all the way up.  She was very tired and she didn't feel well. The view from the top!  It even snowed on us while we were there! I thought it was neat how we seemed t...