Fair Time

Some how we always wait until the last minute to work on Fair projects, but the kids got it done. They look forward to it each year and are a bundle of nerves until they find out how well they did. They each put in four items in the fair this year. Big M put in cookies, zucchini bread, a diorama and a poster. She got two first place and one second place ribbon. K made peanut butter squares, pumpkin muffins, a diorama and a poster. She got three second place ribbons and one fifth place ribbon. Little M put a picture in the fair and was very proud of his ribbon! On Wednesday night they rode the rides. We went back on Friday morning to have more time to look around without the crowds and get ideas for next years fair.

Horse riding

Friday morning we rode Keith's cousin's horse before we went to the science museum in Denver. We thought the science museum was very interesting. One section had a lady acting like she was on the surface of Mars and then explaining what she was doing and answering questions.

Pizza!

Mt Evan's pictures or "fog" pictures

vacation day 6

Today we took a train ride on the Georgetown loop. It took about forty minutes winding our way through the mountains. The engine that pulled it was a diesel. They were working on the steam engine. After the train ride we took another hike on the Lily Pad trail. We thought we would never get to trails end but we did. The whole hike took about 2 1/2 hours. At the end we saw evidence of beavers and their lodge and dam. We talked to another family and they had just seen a beaver right before we arrived. It was a very pretty hike with lots of wild flowers. There was quite a few people out hiking. We even ran into another family from our state along the trail too. Before dinner we thought we would take a drive up Mt. Evans. It is the highest mountain in Colorado and the highest highway in the US. Everything was going fine until about half way up the mountain and then there was sudden fog. And I mean THICK fog. The road was very narrow so there was no way to turn around. So we just had to just keep going. We soon run into a sign that says "road narrows"! Keith and I said at the same time "ROAD NARROWS!" Then we come to a sign that says "road damage". We took it real slow but finally made it to the top. There was a sign up there that said "Can see for Miles". LOL I had to take a picture of that. There were a few more crazy people that drove up there too. I was very glad when we finally got out of the fog. We stopped about halfway down by a picnic area and a mountain stream to let our breaks cool down. I am just thankful our van was able to handle it. After our "adventure" we went to Beau Jo's to have some famous pizza. What is really cool about this place is that I was able to eat a pizza! They had dairy and wheat free pizza!! I was very excited about that. After dinner we drove to Parker, CO to stay with Keith's cousins.

few more from the hike

more from day 5

Pictures from our hike in the rain. We did see a few left over buildings and mine shaft from the mining camp.

more from day 5

Pictures from Fairplay Library

One funny thing about this library is that there was a sign going into the basement for a Corner's office. Keith asked the librarian if it was still a Corners office and she said yes!