The golden forest

Friday morning we set out for a weekend roadtrip. Our goal: to see Vail and Aspen and the fall foilage in the mountains along the way. It was a beautiful drive and beautiful weather. The mountain temperature felt so nice and cool compared to what we are experiencing down in the springs. We stopped for a little walk at a rest area about two hours into the drive, and then we stopped for lunch in Breckenridge. What a lovely town!! In my excitement to take pictures, we forgot the camera at our picnic spot in Breckenridge and, therefore I have no photos of our weekend getaway. Anyway, we continued on our way passing Vail and cruising down through Glenwood springs to arrive in Aspen around 3:00 pm. I planned for us to see the Maroon Bells, so we parked and took the bus up to Maroon lake. We walked around the lake, surrounded by a forest of golden Aspen trees and then took the bus back down to our car. (borrowed photo from jonsnellphotography.com)
(Sunrise view of the surrounding mtns. borrowed by fineartamerica.com. I saw this hillside at sunset with different lighting, but this is what it looked like:). We learned a lot about the fascinating Aspen trees. All of the trees in one bunch share a common root system. Aspen rarely reproduce by seed, they normally just shoot up more trees from the same root system. Their root system lives for a very long time, so when an avalanche or fire destroys the deciduous forest, Aspen are the first things to grow. They protect little fir seedlings growing up and then end up being outcompeted by the larger fir trees. The roots, remain in the ground, healthy and waiting for the next opportunity to sprout trees. This makes Aspen trees some of the oldest living organisms on the planet. Amazing! And they are so beautiful! This weekend was the perfect time for us to see them in their golden glory. We ate dinner outside at the foot of the ski slope and then drove to our hotel in Glenwood springs. We were all so grateful for bed! Saturday after breakfast, we swam in the hotel pool and then set off for another big day. We attempted to hike to Hanging lake in Glenwood Canyon and made it about 80% of the way before turning around. We were dealing with some very hungry and very tired kids, after a picnic lunch we headed home, hoping the little people would nap in the car. Of course, they didn't! For the next four hours we fought the crankys and the hills on our way out of the moutnains. It was a beautiful trip. We were blessed with very little traffic and we loved the desserted ski towns. The mountains were beautiful. I will remember the mental pictures I took of the golden Aspen cascading down the mountain side and Anastasia just gazing up at the mountains as we drove. Tristan exploring Marroon Lake, Jason beating me at scrabble and the buffalo herd grazing outside of Denver. It was a great weekend to explore God's creation and to Roadtrip!

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