Day 26-28: Driving, Denham Springs, LA, Driving, and Home!

The last days of this trip were spent driving from Texas to Florida, with a nice and restful break for a day with friends in Louisiana. Our friends own a yoga studio in Denham Springs and the morning after we arrived Edon and I went with our friend, Carl, to his morning yoga class at the studio. The class was just perfect after spending so many days in the car and hiking!
It was pouring rain during the class and several of the roads of the town were flooded by the time we left. The rain let up shortly afterwards and by the afternoon things had turned muggy and hot. We were surely back in the South. The boys and I enjoyed having the time to catch up with our friends and playing with their super cute son. We all had wonderful day.
We drove from Denham Springs back to our house the next day. It was a mostly uneventful drive, although we did hit a tremendous downpour that lasted way longer than I would have like. A short stop was made at my sister's house in Gainesville for dinner. It was about 10pm when we arrived home. John was standing outside to meet us and had a second dinner waiting for the boys.

According to the odometer we had driven over 8,050 miles on this trip!!

Day 24 and 25: Driving and McKinney, Texas

The boys and I packed up and left Colorado Springs around 8:45am. We set out on an 11-hour drive to Texas. My aunt and uncle live near Dallas and were expecting us to arrive sometime in the evening. There was very little traffic on the roads and we made great time. Both boys had a turn driving on the empty roads of varying quality with high speed limits that took us through Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. There were tons of bright, colorful wildflowers along the highway, which made the trip more enjoyable.
My aunt had warm soup and bread waiting for us when we arrived. It was nice to catch up with my aunt and uncle while eating a delicious meal. Since this was our first time visiting their beautiful new home, we were given a house and yard tour. 
In the morning, the boys and I slept in. After breakfast we did laundry and sat by the pool and took another tour of the really well-landscaped yard (this time in daylight). My aunt had been reading the travel blog and had seen how busy we have been, so she planned a low-key and relaxing day for us. For lunch we went to downtown McKinney. It is a busy, revitalized old downtown built around a central square. The new stores kept the old building facades, so that was fun to see. We had really excellent sandwiches at Patina Green, which was fabulously decorated. Randomly, they had the best-decorated bathroom I have ever seen (yes, there is a picture). Then, we walked around the historic buildings in Chestnut Square. It was like a smaller version of Heritage Village in Largo, FL. After getting popsicles, we headed back to my aunt's house. The boys washed our very, very, very dirty car and then hopped in the pool.
For dinner we headed back to downtown McKinney to eat at Harvest. Both Harvest and Patina Green work directly with local farmers, so that is super neat. The food was again really delicious. Back at home we played Farkle. Then, my aunt asked about the Jackbox Games we had played with my sister in Omaha. Edon set everything up so we could show her what they games were like. Fibbage and Drawful were the games that we played. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Our drawings really were awful.

Day 23: Colorado Springs

After breakfast we rode the bikes over to Red Rocks Canyon Open Space. The weather was great for riding. We decided to keep riding up toward the top of the park whenever we found a new trail because I thought there was another park adjacent at the top that was supposed to have challenging and fun trails. It was so exhausting riding uphill. My legs hurt in so many places. Sometimes the trails had downhill parts, so that was always a relief to arrive at those sections. The views from the trails were amazing. There were also tons of colorful wildflowers blooming everywhere. Since I was on the bike I didn't get any pictures, though.
During one of the long drives of this trip we had listened to an interview with Colin O'Brady. In the interview he describes the burnout he experienced a month after jumping overnight into training as a professional triathlete with the top athletes in the field. As I tried to keep up with Edon and Ezi on the trails, I reflected on the past few weeks of activities I had been doing and felt like I, too, was experiencing burnout from trying to keep up with people at a physical fitness level so high above my own.
When we reached the top of the park we rode south to the Section 16 Trailhead. We never found the second park, but were content by this time to start the ride down. The boys were looking forward to returning to the jump line and trials area they had ridden the night before. The ride down was super fun, of course. We did a few different trails to get down. The boys went down one with lots of rocks, but their favorite was a long smooth downhill trail.
It was starting to rain and I rode back to the bunkhouse to start lunch, as we were all starving. I had ridden for about 3 hours straight and was sore and tired. The boys stayed for another two hours at the jump line before I went and got them in the car. Edon fell again attempting the same jump he had missed last night, but didn’t get hurt as badly as yesterday. The kids were so tired and worn out when I got them.
After we ate the noodles and veggies I had prepared we returned the bikes to the bike shop. The bike shop was near Costco and Trader Joe’s, so we got gas and food for the long drive to Texas we had planned for tomorrow. We got showers and then I made the kids go with me to check out Garden of the Gods. Since it was already after 7pm, we only had time to see the rocks of the Central Garden. They were so neat and the boys enjoyed looking for the areas that rock climbers use when climbing the rocks.
We had been told there was one area of the park suitable for bouldering... the Snake Pit. So, as the sun set Edon and I grabbed our climbing shoes and set off to find it. Ezi was too tired to join us and rested in the car. Edon and I found the 3 boulders of the Snake Pit and had a challenging and really enjoyable half hour climbing on the boulders. Back at the bunkhouse the boys made more food and then washed dishes.
It was another uniquely busy and memorable day!

Day 22: Rocky Mountain National Park to Colorado Springs

On our way out of Rocky Mountain National Park we stopped at the Wild Basin Trailhead to do a hike to Ouzel Falls. Luckily when we arrived just before 10am there was still parking available at the trailhead. This was a wonderful and beautiful hike past Copeland Falls and Calypso Cascades. We stopped at Ouzel Falls, even though the trail kept going. The trail was a little muddy and a there was still some snow, but for the most part it was clear. We had a snack at the falls and headed back to the car. As we were leaving several people were hiking into the area carrying bouldering mats. The trailhead parking was full by now.
Traffic was backed up in the Denver area and it took longer to get to Colorado Springs than we anticipated. The boys, especially Ezi, really wanted to rent mountain bikes so we drove straight to a bike shop that rented mountain bikes. Unfortunately, they were out of the full suspension bikes we wanted so they sent us to another bike shop across town. We went straight there because they were about to close. We realized we should have called ahead to bike shops earlier in the day and while we drove Ezi called a third bike shop. The third shop was open late and had full suspension bikes in our sizes, plus a hitch rack.
We decided to check into our bunkhouse (a cabin with no running water, but with electricity) at Garden of the Gods RV Resort. The boys thought the RV park was strange because there were RVs basically on top of each other and it was so different from campgrounds at state and national parks. There were clean bathrooms with hot showers, so that part was nice. Next we stopped by the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center to find out where mountain biking and bouldering were allowed. The staff at the Visitor Center recommended the Red Rock Canyon Open Area, a different local park, for biking and climbing. We stopped back by the bunkhouse, emptied the car more, had a quick snack, then headed to the third bike shop.
We successfully rented 3 full-suspension mountain bikes and a rack. We were so excited that we went straight to Red Rock Canyon to see what the trails were like. The boys were super stoked to find a jump trail and trials bike park near the parking lot. We rode around until nearly dark. Edon kept riding despite a pretty bad fall. He was scraped up by the fall, but was most upset that his phone had been fatally smashed.
On the way to the bunkhouse I ran into the grocery store to grab food for tomorrow. Back at the RV park, I started laundry and we all showered. I finally made it to bed around 11:30pm when the laundry finished.