I'll take the mountains over the beach any day

We're back! We had a fantastic vacation at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. We stay at the YMCA of the Rockies. We highly recommend the Y-camp because of the terrific rates, facilities, children's and family activities, and the location surrounded on 3 sides by National Park. This is an old photo I took during our last visit 3 years ago from above the YMCA camp, looking down at their grounds. It doesn't show the spectacular snow capped mountain views, because those shots are all still trapped in my camera.

We dream of taking this vacation every year, but are only able to do it every 3 years or so. I even had the good fortune of being a staff member at the Estes Park YMCA during a college summer break in 1987. I was a preschooler day camp counselor and I only earned a little over a dollar an hour, but it was one of my most memorable summers. This trip we took a couple extra days to acclimate to the altitude in Denver and Boulder. This helped a lot and although we all had strange dreams and disrupted sleeps, we adjusted pretty well. My husband and I hike slow and steady while I label rock formations (pegmatite! biotite schist! silver plume granite exfoliation dome!), and look up birds and wildflowers in the field guides I carry along.

Now I'm faced with an empty refrigerator, laundry, children with no more planned summer activities and steamy midwestern weather. On the other hand, it is good to be back in my own bed with my own pillows!