Stillwater National Recreational Area Campground in Granby, CO

This morning Auggie and I were left to finish up our Breckenridge touring while Chris started early for another long mileage day. Not too long after we woke up, the little guy pulled one of his new tricks and managed to find a chocolate croissant one of his parents had stashed on top of a dresser. Busted!

At first I felt like staying at a hotel on this trip was indulgent (and it is), but now I'm seeing that it really helps all of us a lot. I like getting a break from the RV life, August likes having more space and new things to roam and get into, and Chris likes not having to do work on the RV. One example of something that bugs me about the RV lifestyle that probably wouldn't occur to non-campers is the refrigerator issue. The fridge has a latch which keeps it shut as you're driving to keep things there even when you are at an incline or pitching back and forth a bit. Well, the latch on our fridge works most of the time but is not quite as strong as it should be. Occasionally, for unexplained reasons, it will not hold and the door will fly open while I'm driving down the road. The door will swing back and forth with the RV until I am able to make a stop to correct it.

Saturday morning I had cleaned up the RV before leaving Cripple Creek, knowing we would be staying at a hotel and that it would be nice to have everything in place and clean when we returned to it. As we were heading into Breckenridge, the mysterious fridge trick happened again, and half of its contents wound up tossed into our kitchen/living room/August's bedroom. The yogurt and sour cream were splattered all over the floor and the still sealed food that had fallen out. This has only happened 3 times and that time was the worst, but it's a pretty frustrating thing to deal with! A hotel stay provides a great mental break for all of us.

A neat thing about Breckenridge is that it has a gondola that takes people from town to the base camp of the slopes, and is completely free. We had tried to go on it yesterday afternoon, but scattered thunderstorms had caused it to close down early. This morning August and I happened to go by it and decided we better take advantage. It was a nice, quiet ride and interesting to see the town and mountains from a different perspective. If you are ever in Breckenridge, it's a must-do.







August, choosing to use his time in the gondola to meditate.

Afterwards we stocked up at a City Market (Kroger to you Indiana folks), shared a delicious bowl of honey, roasted beet and squash soup from an amazing little soup shop next to the grocery store, and headed out of town. The drive today was interesting, going from a very touristy area of Colorado to a much more remote one. Randomly, we had stayed in this remote area on a trip to Colorado four years ago. So, for the very first time on this trip, many of the roads seemed familiar.

Also, both the bicyclist and the RV crew encountered the longest, most extensive road construction we've probably ever seen. It was approximately 10 miles of a highway that was now purely dirt and large rocks, one lane only, with several detours and off road spots. I have no idea what they were doing to it, but it's an ambitious project!

Tonight we are staying at the Stillwater National Recreational Area Campground, which is on Lake Granby. This is in the Top 3 most beautiful campground settings we've been to.

Chris and August borrowed my bike to go for a leisurely spin after we got here so I could catch up on some correspondence. Yes, I think it's hilarious that Chris will ride 90 miles for most of the day and then still be up for a casual ride after he's done. (Shout-out to my friend Kevin Rollins who knows exactly the swerving, whistling, waving style I'm talking about, not exactly a cyclist's norm!). We do appreciate it though as we'd definitely miss out on some fun if he wasn't up for it.

The view from our campsite.

What is it about seeing an island from shore that makes you want to do nothing but go stand on it?!

Tomorrow we are heading into Wyoming already. It doesn't seem possible that we are to this point already, but as we've realized, Colorado isn't nearly as far west as we Midwesterners think it is. The halfway point of the journey was east of Pueblo, and we are only on state 6 of 10. Also, since the route jogs north and west, it's not as straight a shot as it has been in the eastern part of the country. I am looking forward to seeing Wyoming for the first time.