Swemb Birt Day 3

 

Today was epic for me!  We hiked the Manitou Incline that heads up to Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs.  It is nearly 1 miles straight up on rail road ties.  It was painful, hard, and brutal for everyone.  I had no idea it was going to be as hard as it was; however, once we got to the top, it was worth every single 2,768 steps we had to take to get to the top.  Just incredible!  We had to hike down the 3 mile trail around the back of the mountain and that seemed to be harder than the actual climb.  In the end, every one was proud of themselves for making it to the top.

After we got down for the incline, we headed back to the hotel to take a shower and have lunch.  Then we headed over to visit Garden of the Gods, Edward's favorite location of the day, and then on to the top of Pikes Peak.  Driving up to Pikes Peak was unnerving because there weren't any guardrails and it felt as if we could drive off the side of the mountain at any point.  When driving down there was a break check to make sure our breaks weren't too hot halfway down. 

SWEMB BIRT 2023

 We had an incredible time in Colorado! We spent a week with the Iverson's on our annual SWEMB BIRT trip.  We visited so many amazing places and I am so glad I got to spend time just gabbing away with Melanie while we drove through the entire state of Colorado.

 

The first day we flew to Colorado and spent the night with Leigh Anne Hunnicutt.  I went to high school with Leigh and she saved the day when Melanie was trapped in a bus coming back from Trek in Wyoming.  Leigh picked us up from the airport and let us stay in her house.  She also fed us a delicious breakfast.  Nolen has been struggling with a stomach ache for the last two weeks so he hasn't been up to eating.  Joan, Leigh's mom, made Nolen a hard boiled egg that exploded in the microwave.  She then cleaned out the microwave and tried reheating another egg.  Nolen promptly took one bite and said it was "gross".  Oh boy, I felt a little embarrassed, but Nolen is Nolen so there isn't much I can say or do.

Sunday, day two, we were picked up by Melanie and her boys, then we headed to church.  We went to sacrament, and then drove over to Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove to the park store and got our magnet then went on an epic hike.  Melanie walked back to the car half way through the hike, so I hiked with two of her boys and my boys.  We made it to the lake, and then started to head back over some boulders.  Somehow, we ended up on the wrong side of the boulders so we had a nerve wracking time finding our way back to the trail.  I yelled, "stop!" when everyone started to separate.   Edward found us the trail after a tricky 10 minutes, then we headed back to the car.  The lake was worth the hike!

After the hike, we drove back to Melanie's house for dinner, and then on to Colorado Springs.  We arrived quite late so we went right to bed as we had a very early morning planned for day three!