We decided to take Pops on a real MOJO adventure. We booked two nights at the Never Summer Nordic Yurts: Fri night at the Ruby Jewel Yurt and Sat night at the Upper Montgomery Yurt.
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Preparation: none until Thurs night. Then a frenzy Friday morning. Jason finished his last teaching requirements Fri morning by 10am and then we loaded the car and drove off... to the gear store, to find a map.
Friday: drove 3 hours through Fort Collins and then West toward Walden, Colorado and into 'State Forest State Park' (talk about a dumb name). On the way we saw 2 moose and Rachel became very frustrated when we couldn't grant her wishes of "More moose please!"
We planned to hike 1.2 miles into the hut but it turns out that we were allowed to drive our car right up to the yurt, although we were not allowed to leave a car there. This meant that we dropped Pops, Rachel and all our gear off, and then Jason and I returned the car and 'ran' back to the yurt. We didn't have running clothes or proper shoes for running and we were at an altitude of 9500ft... so we jog/walked.
The yurt was good enough, with nothing too exciting right around it and another yurt close by. Close enough that we could hear them fire their shotguns into the evening as we tried to convince Rachel to go to sleep.
Friday's sleep: Rachel fell asleep on my chest, and then I was able to put her down on her own mat with her own blanket. This was the first trip we did not take a travel crib and also did not have a sleeping bag. I was not sure if she would be safe (would she be warm enough? would she wake up and walk over to the wood stove and burn herself?). So we made a barricade of stuff around the wood stove in hopes to alert us to her presence if this happened. She slept on her own there for a few hours, and then woke up crying and wanting to be back with her mamma. She slept on my chest for a while. This means that my sleeping bag is open and she snuggles into my chest while my arms and shoulders freeze around her. At about 1am, she woke up, sat up, and said "All done sleeping!" and "Play!" and "More moose please!". This conversation went on for some time, during which we all decided to get up and start the fire in the wood stove. She was finally convinced to go back to sleep (on mamma's chest) at about 2am. She would not go back on to the cot and slept in fits and starts throughout the morning until about 5am, at which time I could finally get up and run out to the outhouse!
Saturday: We packed up, filled up at the creek with water, and started the hike. Pops carried his own clothes and some water. Jason carried a huge pack with clothes, sleeping bags, and water. Meggan carried Rachel, water, Rachel's diapers, and the food. Rachel carried her Nunu blanket. Rachel frequently got out of the pack and hiked herself, during which time she tried to walk while holding Nunu and the 'ski poles'. We hiked from 8:30am until 1:30pm and covered a total of 4 miles to the other yurt. The best thing about the day was Rachel's interest in finding the next 'blue diamond' trail marker, and entertained herself for several hours looking for the next marker.
We thought Pops did a great job, even at the hill climb at the end when an elk spooked us. We arrived at the yurt and Pops crashed on his bed for a good nap. After a snack and rest, Jason ran to the car and was able to drive all the way back up to the yurt and park overnight nearby. This was another bonus that we had not anticipated, as we had planned to have to backpack out Sunday morning.
Saturday's sleep: Repeat Fri night sleep except that Jason slept on the mat on the floor and Rachel and I slept on the double bed. She did lay by herself for longer until crawling into my sleeping bag.
Sunday: We decided to play on some back roads and explore the area as we made our way South East toward Granby. Our car and driver (Jason) did a great job and we saw some more Moose when we were back on the highway. Rachel loved watching the moose again. We had a wonderful brunch in Grand Lake and stopped to play at the playground for a while before heading into Rocky Mtn National Park. Jason tried to go for a run but was outdone by the soft deep snow. Mostly by this time we were all cold and tired, and made our way home through the park and then Jamestown. We saw handfuls of elk in the park, but Rachel didn't seem nearly as interested in these animals as she did the moose.
Other News
- we gave Rachel a haircut when we got home from this trip because she won't let me do a clip, bow or pony tail anymore so her bangs have been trimmed
- Rachel is starting to have 'time outs' and learn to say 'Sorry Daddy' and such as we learn about good behaviour
- our house has been framed!
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