A Mountain Without Snow

With the race over, we decided to spend our last full day here in Colorado on a day trip to Vail. I hadn't thought of Vail as anything but a ski destination, but it turns out that it has a lot to offer in the summer too.

From the moment we got there, it didn't disappoint. From the parking lot at the base of the mountain, we looked up and spotted a mama and baby moose crossing into the woods. It would have been cool to see them even closer, but not too close. Even from far away, that mama looks huge!

We started our day in Vail Village which gets taken over every Sunday during the summer with a giant farmers' market and art show. The town is so charming and quaint and bustling on this sunny, summer afternoon.

Of course the girls aren't so interested in how cute the town is; they want some entertainment! Fortunately the farmers' market included a bounce castle to keep them occupied for, oh, 15 minutes or so.

Before our trip, I had read that Vail had a children's fountain, so when we made our way farther into town and stumbled upon a rocky pool with other young kids splashing around in it, I assumed we had found the fountain and let the girls climb in and cool off, because, far from snow, it was HOT today!

Well, after splashing around in the rocky pool a bit, we walked a little farther and came upon the actual children's fountain, you know, the one with a big shallow pool and spraying fountains and statues of children at play, all of which would have clued us in if only we had found this one first. I think I was thrown off by the fact that there were other kids playing in the rocky pool (which makes me feel a little better about doing something we maybe weren't supposed to be doing), and by the time we found the fountain (which was filled with kids when we passed it), the girls had already had their fill of water play and were anxious to move onto our next adventure.

So we left Vail Village and took the scenic walk along the creek to Lionshead Village.

The highlight of Lionshead Village is the gondola to the top of the mountain, which is what Emily had been looking forward to ever since we pointed it out to her and Kate when we first arrived the morning. Look at their faces; they loved it!

The gondola leads to the top of the mountain which during the summer is home to Adventure Ridge, which offers various summer mountain activities including hiking and horseback riding. We opted to take it easy, but the girls still were able to get a little taste of mountain horseback riding with their very first pony rides.

Emily went first on the bigger pony and mastered it right away. (Remember I said she now wants to be an Olympic equestrian?) Kate took the little pony and wobbled a little at first but quickly settled into a groove. They both had such big smiles that I don't want to be the one to break it to them that horses are an expensive hobby!

After the pony rides, we found the Dino Dig, where the girls dug up dinosaur bones buried in the sand. Well, mostly they just played in the sand and occasionally brushed off some bones.

We then checked out the Discovery Center, a little yurt on the side of the mountain with nature puzzles and animal puppets. The girls especially liked the board where they had to figure out where all of the animals belonged. It was cute hearing Emily's reasoning for putting which animal in which spot.

Our last adventure stop was the bungee trampoline for Emily, which she had first tried at Timberman last year. This year, though, she got to jump even higher. The attendant would ask her if she wanted to go higher, and each time she shouted, "Yes!" with a giant smile on her face, and he would relax the bungee cords a bit and send her flying. The girl got some serious air and loved every minute of it.

What she did not love was when we decided it was time to leave Adventure Ridge so we could go get dinner, and she liked it even less when we insisted on getting a family picture. I mean, with this view, how could we not? I know someday she'll understand.

Both girls' excitement perked up when they realized going down the mountain meant another ride in the gondola.

Once back down the mountain, we had a nice dinner at Billy's and finished our day with a stop at Haagen Dazs. We took one last look at the sun setting over the mountain before we made our trek back to Leadville for one last night way up in the Rocky Mountains.

Good night to you, Colorado. It was an adventure, for sure.