A smorgasbord of scenery: CO to UT

I was all excited for my favorite day of driving.  It ended up being a good day, but didn't quite go as I had envisioned.  You see, we've done this enough times now that I have a few of my favorite stops along the way.  One of them is a picturesque lake in Georgetown, CO.  I was so looking forward to stopping there again and snapping pictures of the kids on the shore and throwing rocks in the water.  But Caroline fell asleep about five minutes before we got there.  And I felt too bad to wake her up.  So here's my annual pic of Georgetown Lake:

Don't blink or you'll miss it.

We stopped at my favorite outlet stores in Silverthorne.  They have an Old Navy outlet where I found a replacement for one of Andrew's shirts that I washed with a tube of lip gloss.  Oops.  

Then it started raining.  I don't especially enjoy driving in the rain.  Then it started snowing!  I kid you not.  The van thermometer said it was 52 degrees outside, but there were honest-to-goodness flakes coming out of the sky.  In July.  Remind me never to move to the mountains.  Even if they are breathtakingly beautiful.

We packed a picnic lunch at Scott and Diana's house, so I was looking forward to finding a fun rest area and letting the kids run around while we ate and I relaxed with a good book.  Ha!  The rain changed those plans.  We sat in the van and munched on sandwiches while observing this sign:

Brandon and I decided that whoever was in 

charge of it did not change it regularly.

On Diana's recommendation, we walked around the little train car at Eagle, CO's rest area.  

The girls checked out the bunk area.

B attempted to walk on air.

The rain kept a-coming for a good part of the drive.  The kids watched lots of movies and played several video games.  

Then it stopped.

Caroline cried for 30 minutes straight because we ran out of Teddy Grahams.

Then she proceeded to fall asleep again.

Five minutes before we passed a beautiful reservoir where I wanted to go throw rocks.

Foiled again!

We passed through Rangely, Colorado, 

home of Colorado Northwest Community College,

where Andrew was offered a basketball scholarship back in the day.

But turned it down to go to Ricks.

Also home of a very large fish mailbox.

And we made it to Utah!

  Home of all four of my kids' grandparents,

three great-grandparents,

six aunts and uncles,

and ten cousins.

Most definitely worth the trip.

The kids got to meet their second new cousin of the trip:

Olivia Mae.

The sweetest little bundle of almost-three-month old joy.

With eyelashes that are meant to be coveted.

Here are the views through the windshield for the day:

The absolutely gorgeous Rockies.

A tunnel.

Taken just for Caroline.

Glenwood Canyon.

Awesome.

Love the contrast of the red rocks with the green vegetation.

Cool sunbeams.

And the driving day ended with one of the most 

spectacular sunsets I've ever seen.