Coloradopalooza

Jake's Gma Marlene and all 7 of her siblings stayed really close through the years. They started a tradition way back when with their parents of getting together every year, no exceptions.  Not that this is unusual, many families have reunions like this.  What is striking about this group though, is that the cousins have continued this tradition even when most of the original siblings have passed on.  Every 5 years it's hosted in Colorado and so this year it was held at Harmel's close to Gunnison.  If you ever want to have a Colorado family reunion, this is the place to be.  Each family had their own cabin, with a free breakfast and lots to do during the days.  Because of work, we didn't get up there til the reunion was pretty much over but still really enjoyed our few days with family.  I had only met a couple of these cousins prior so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Every family system is unique.  

Wednesday evening when we arrived, Jake and his uncle played the guitars while the rest of us tried to sing...without books...trying to use phones without service as flashlights and getting lyrics.  It didn't work that well.  Then the volleyball tournament was the next morning, and my team won!  Which, I got leveled by Herb, Marlene's 80 some year old brother, and he got leveled by Dan.  So, it wasn't a very graceful win!

Afterwards Jake and I took a bike ride to Spring Creek Reservoir.  We didn't make it to the reservoir because at 10.3 miles and 1444 ft of uphill climb, we weren't sure how much further it was.  When we got back and looked it up it was 1.3 more miles.  Jake wished we woulda pushed through but I'm glad we stopped, I was worn down.  A road bike is no match for uphill gravel roads. Or downhill for that matter, on the trip home, I thought my arms were going to shake off!

On Saturday we drove north of Crested Butte up Schofield Pass road.  It was lush with wildflowers and wide open valleys.  We drove as far as we could in our car, and walked the last little bit to Emerald Lake.  After getting rained out at the lake and chilled to the bone, we walked along a mountain bike trail and the East River so Jake could fish more.  He didn't catch anything but did fall in once.  All I heard was a "wooo wooo" and looked up and he was crawling out of the river!  The river cut through Slate rock and so everything was really slippery. Apparently the current carried him down about 20 ft.  I really wish I would have seen it! 

The last day of our adventure mostly consisted of driving home. We stopped South of Fairplay along the South Fork Platte River, Jake fishing and me reading.  He caught tons of fish which we cooked up for our supper.  We both got majorly sunburned but it was a relaxing end to a fun couple of days in the mountains!