Day 4 in Denver - 7/6/10

There was a red cow in the lobby of our hotel in down town Denver. Every morning when we left and every night when we came back Samantha had to tell it hi and give it a hug. Super cute!We got up and headed t the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. This was a zoo built into the side of a mountain! We spent about 3 hours there and saw lots of great animals. Our favorite, by far, were the giraffes. We got to feed them giraffe crackers. When we took Marc to the local zoo to feed a giraffe at Samantha's age, he got a little freaked out. We were a little worried about how Samantha would do, but she did great!
Marc thought it was pretty cool too! He is old enough now to appreciate the fact that he can feed them.
We were walking along the sidewalk in the Australia area when we noticed this animal standing right next to us! We aren't sure what kind of animal it was, maybe a marsupial, maybe a kangaroo, we are not quite sure. We stood there watching him while he stood there watching us for a few minutes before we were able to watch him hop away. Super cool!
After we got done with the zoo we headed to the Will Roger Shrine to the Sun. We had to go up, yup, you guess it, another mountain, not as tall this time. This is us in front of the shrine.
Marc took this panoramic picture of the view from the base of the shrine. There were a ton of steps to go to the top of the shrine. Samantha and I stayed at the base while the boys climbed to the top. Marc said the view was spectacular!
After the shrine, we went to fine some waterfalls. We saw a lot of signs for a place called 7 Falls. So we decided to go check it out. We could choose to take LOTS of stairs or take an elevator built into the mountain. Can you guess which one we chose? Yep, you guessed it, the elevator. Here is Marc inside of the mountain while we waited for the elevator.
If you look behind us you will see what are called the 7 Falls. In our opinion it was just one big continuous fall, but they said it was 7 different small falls. It was pretty, but after spending the day before in the Rocky Mountains, the was kinda unimpressive.
After we left the Falls, we headed to Focus on the Family. For those of you that are local, there is a Christian music radio station called WCSG 91.3. They participate in a program called His Kidz Radio. This is a program dedicated to things for kids to listen to. At night they have bed time stories based on the series Adventures in Oddessy. Focus on the Family is a free play area with a lot of fun, interactive, hands-on activities for the kids to do. One of the things that had was a 2 story twisty slide. This is how Marc looked when he reached the bottom.
After leaving Focus on the Family, we continued our fun-filled day at Garden of the Gods. This is a "garden" of beautiful red rocks, trees, and nature. The rock Marc is in front of is called Balance Rock. No one can explain how this huge rock is balancing on the one tiny section and not falling over, but it sure is amazing.
Today was our last day "family vacation" in Denver. We saw many of God's beautiful, wonderful creations while in Denver.
Tomorrow begins my Steve Spangler science conference.

Day 3 in Denver - 7/5/10

We spent our 3rd day in Denver in the Rocky Mountains. We drove about 45 minutes to a pretty little town called Estes Park. We took the hour drive up to the top. This is a picture close to the base of the mountain.It was a long, nerve-racking, beautiful drive to the top. This is a picture about half way up the mountain.
On our way up we saw some elk relaxing in the sun, lots of beautiful mountain tops, patches of snow, and clouds that looked like they were at eye level, we made it to the top!
We asked someone to take our picture at the top.
We were about 12,000 feet above sea level. We were a little concerned about how I would do being up that high. I have sinus issues to begin with, let alone being up that high. As we drive up and I was fine, except for the nerves because there were no guard rails! As soon as we got out of the car and started walking I began ti have some issues breathing well. I was not able to get a full, deep breath and every time I stood up I got dizzy. We went to The Cafe in the Clouds for some lunch. After sitting down and some calming down time, I did much better! The view was breathtaking (almost literally)!
We spent the whole day in the mountains, looking at the beauty that God has made!! :-)