A Colorado Adventure - Mt. Bailey Hike

The week before school started, my super awesome friend Annika and I piled the kids into the van and took a day trip to explore Bailey, CO.  We went through Georgetown and then took the scenic bypass Guanella Pass to Grant and then Bailey.  It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  I am so lucky that Annika is so adventurous and got me to explore with her.  I really did not appreciate Colorado until this trip!  

At the halfway point we stopped for a picnic at the trailhead to Mt. Bierstadt.  Once again, GORGEOUS!  

It would have been nice to hike, had it not been a 14 miler!  

While posing for this shot, I accidentally knocked Harrison (Annika's boy) off the edge of that rock.  woops.

For the downhill ride, Annika drove so I could enjoy the view. Such a safe driver, that one!

After leaving Guanella Pass and entering Bailey, we saw a giant Coney.  Yep.  We had to stop and take a few pictures.  In the back it had a really pretty watermill and lots of chipmunks and birds for the kids to terrorize. 

 We couldn't pass up an opportunity to get ice cream and reward the kids for being so good for the whole car ride.

This is the inside of the Coney.  Not spectacular by any means, but when you can get away with owning a diner that looks like a giant hot dog, you can get away with anything.

We "hung out" for a bit. Hardy-har-har-har.

We drove around for quite a bit trying to find where the trailhead to hike Mt. Bailey was.  Finally was saw this cute neighborhood park and decided to just let the kids out, run around, and call it a day.  (In this teeter-totter picture, Maya who is 3 and Cade - who is half her age - balanced each other out perfectly!)  The teeter-totters were a big hit - so big in fact that open war soon broke out amongst the little darlings and we had to ban them.

 There were some teenagers in the park and I finally worked up the nerve to ask them where to hike Mt. Bailey.  The girl looked at us kinda weird and then pointed right behind us.  Turns out the park was the trailhead.  hahahaha.  So we packed up and hoped for the best.

Aiden whined and moped and trudged along quite slowly at the beginning.  It felt a lot like owning a stubborn mule for a bit.  After he warmed up, he was leading the trail and was having a better time.

And we finally reached the top!  It was breathtaking - and really scary too!  That was a sheer drop-off  behind us!

The boys wanted to eat the rest of their snacks at the top. Talk about the most beautiful snacking spot!

Aiden and Sam helped water the trees on the way back. ;-)  We made it back in one piece and were all the more exhausted - I mean BETTER!- for it.  Thanks for an awesome adventure, Annika!!

That night it was Sam's turn to say the prayer.  Of all the things he said he was thankful for, he said he was thankful that they could watch movies in the car all day....