Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch, Pilot Point

Finally, the weather was nice enough to visit Sharkarosa Ranch, featured on Dirty Jobs. From what we understand, the ranch rescues injured endangered animals, breeds them, raises them, and sells them to zoos. They open to the public on the weekend to help raise funds. We saw black bears, z-donks, zorses, horses, zebras, camels, lemurs, monkeys, parrots, antelope, and kangaroo! Evie was scared of the large animals that were roaming in fields. She was ok with the ones in cages.

First Day of Preschool

Evie started school at my school district's children of employees preschool! She absolutely loves it! In the morning she immediately runs away to go play, AND when I pick her up, I have to CHASE her to go home! What a blessing it is to know that she is having a blast at school!!!

Fair Ladies and Tough Mateys

We celebrated Evie's birthday with a princess and pirate pool party! In the middle of Texas summer, a pool party is a great option. We were so happy that Evie's cousin Luca, Aunt Charlie, and Grandma Deb could join the fun! It was great to have lots of family there this year!

cute cousins

Princess Evie and Captain Daddy!

 Decorating treasure bags

 Grandma Deb got a check up at the doctor 

 Everything is better with goggles!

 treasure hunt

 Aaarrrgh!

 awkward "Cheese" smiles

 pirate and princess!

 

 trying to pose

 Cinderella Lego castle! 

Happy Birthday Evie!

We love your more than anything!

Colorado Day 3 and 4

We finished up Estes Park by driving Trail Ridge early in the morning, when it would be clear. All the thunderstorms start forming mid afternoon. The weather on that road can be very turbulent, because it is at alpine elevation of 12,000 feet! It could rain, hail, sleet, snow... It was a beautiful drive and much less scary than the first time we went! We took Trail Ridge over the continental divide and drove through the mining town of Grand Lake, many other small towns, and through the Arapaho National Forest on our way to Breckenridge. We took the scenic route to really enjoy the mountains. We drove through a mountain tunnel and down an interstate that was so sloped that there were warning signs everywhere about what to do if your breaks burn up! There were also truck ramps that went straight up the side of a mountain for runaway trucks! I am glad we were there in the summer. That road would have been even more scary in the winter!

 All over the place we saw cyclists riding on the edge of mountains without guard rails!!

 glaciers!

 A really nice senior citizen ranger (about 70+ years old) took our picture. He had lots of great stories about the Rockies in the old days.

Getting ready to enter the tunnel!

We could walk to Main Street from our hotel in Breckenridge. Nothing in Breckenridge had AC. All stores and restaurants kept their windows and doors open at night. Even our hotel did not have AC. We had to put a box fan in the window to circulate air. It was a little stuffy. The weather there got to the high 70's in the day and down to the 50's at night. It was pleasant. Our first night in Breck, we saw a gypsy-grass band. They were pretty good. We tried to make their free show later that night but ended up walking in as it was over. Also that evening, we saw about 100 hippie people riding bicycles in togas. It was some kind of local thing, I guess.

 Gypsy Moon

Besides exploring Main Street in Breckenridge, we also did a more adventurous hike. The McCullough Gulch Trail took us up to alpine level to see a glacial lake. This hike was difficult, although the hiking map labeled it intermediate. We went up hill the entire time. The air was very thin too. At the top, the elevation was about 12,000 ft. We definitely felt tired at the top and quickly started to descend once we ate a snack.

At the bottom of the trail we met a miner who set up a small camp. He also made the beginning of the path for the trail we took. He told us stories about calling search and rescue for "stupid hikers" exploring off the trail. He also said that his mining pit gets sabotaged all the time by environmentalists. He truly was a mountain man with many stories and a very strong opinion about things!

After our hike, we felt pretty whipped. We suspected we had a touch of elevation sickness. After all, Breckenridge is at 9,000 feet, which can cause sickness alone. It's not uncommon for tourists to visit oxygen bars to get more air, literally! That's what we did! I'm not sure it worked, but at least we were being preventative! We enjoyed a magazine and a soda while we got air.

Our last day in Breckenridge, we slept in, and ate crepes for breakfast. Then we headed back to Denver to catch our flight. We really had a great time! It felt like a second honeymoon, thanks to my parents staying with Evie when we were gone!

Here's to another TEN years!