AE513: Colorado...the time is flying!

Here's a little rundown on my trip so far (and a few pictures sprinkled in, plus a few at the bottom as well!) Just click on the pictures to see a larger view:

I arrived in Colorado on Monday evening around 5:30 (after a bit of circling in the air due to bad

weather) and my mom and grandma (Nanny) were at the airport waiting to pick me up! We came back to my mom's and her husband Mike had made spaghetti, salad, and olive bread for dinner. My mom is by no means a night owl (she's usually in bed by 9:00) but we all stayed up until midnight playing cards and laughing. Just for the record, and completely off topic, Southwest Airlines is in my opinion the best U.S. airline out there. They still give you a free snack (Wheat Thins AND honey roasted peanuts!), no fee for checking up to TWO bags, and the employees treat the customers very well. In fact, I don't think Southwest charges ANY of the ridiculous fees that the other airlines are currently charging...so...if you need to fly, make sure you go on Southwest! :)

Back to my trip...on Tuesday morning my mom, grandma, and I went to the outlet mall in Castle Rock and shopped for five hours. That's right, FIVE hours. My poor mom....she hates shopping,

but my grandma and I dragged her from one store to the next. Nanny bought a ton of clothes for her great-grandchildren Myles and Sydney at stores like Osh Kosh B'Gosh and Carters, and I got some of the best deals ever on work clothes from places like Banana Republic and Ann Taylor. (And Karl is going to have a new pair of jeans from the Saks store when I get home!) After all of that my mom, Mike, and I went on a five mile run on a trail near their house. I decided to run a little faster than them and I ended up biting the dust about a half mile before the finish line. I was going up a winding hill and didn't see a big root sticking up out of the ground. Alas, I fell and scraped up my left leg, but it looked a lot worse than it actually was. There was blood and dirt all over my leg so it kind of freaked me out, but once I poured some water on it and wiped the dirt off I could tell it was just a lot of little scratches and no major gashes.

Yesterday (Wednesday), my mom, Nanny, and I took off for Westcliffe, which is about three hours south of here. My mom and Mike own a huge 35 acre plot of land there and plan to build a retirement home there in about 10 years or so. It's a tiny little town in the valley of a mountain range called the Sangre de Cristo mountains, and the drive out there is just gorgeous. I took a lot

of "out the car window" pictures on our drive. :) We walked around Westcliffe, popped our heads into several little shops (Nanny bought gifts for people back home) and ate lunch at a little Mexican restaurant called Edwardo's. Then we went out to the Westcliffe property, where I promptly stuck my foot with a cactus. Ouch! I still haven't gotten the needle out of my foot. After all of that we drove back through Colorado Springs and met up with my mom's cousin (and Nanny's nephew) Kent, who lives and works there. He took us all out to dinner at a place called the Ritz Grill. We were there for about three hours just talking and catching up on what everyone in the family is doing.

Today my aunt Joan and uncle Dennis will be arriving (they've been off on a western vacation this whole time) and tomorrow we'll all pack up and start the drive back to Indiana! I've had a great time so far, although it is going by entirely too fast.

Here are a few photos I've taken...I'll upload everything in a Snapfish album and post the address here when our trip is over.