Colorado trip

For the Forth of July week we headed to Colorado to do some work on the cabin.  Chad didn't have enough vacation to be able to spent the whole week with the kids and I.  The Sipps came out a couple of days after me and then Chad and Alan came out the following weekend.  On the way there I hauled the horse trailer stuffed full of toilets, sinks and odds and ends needed to work on the cabin.

In route I blew a tire on the trailer.  It held me up for several hours in Dodge City.  I got to try out our insurance's Road Side Assistance.  It worked well, but the phone call took longer than it did to change the tire.

Once on the road again and driving over the mountains a mountain lion bounded across the road in front of me.  The kids were distracted with books and didn't see it.

At the cabin we focused on painting and getting the bathrooms set up.  A friend from church, Jason owns a plumbing business and he had volunteered to come out and help us.  With his help we got 3 bathrooms up and running.  We even got a shower!  After camping there for 3 years and having to use camp toilets or driving to take showers this was a colossal improvement.

Above is a picture of our makeshift kitchen and dining room.  The fridge was an upgrade from the coolers and ice that we have to use in order to keep a week's worth of food fresh.  The fridge also saved us the one hour round trip into town to get ice.  There was a sack of drywall 75 sheets tall that we had to move to the basement to be able to set up the table.  Moving it took all day.

While out driving around on the back roads we came across this cabin.  It had a million dollar view of Mt. Blanca but it was simply a shed with windows.  I thought it looked hilarious.

A rainbow seen from the deck.

There was much discussion as to wether these are bear scratches.  While bears and mountain lions are common, seeing proof so close to the cabin is sobering.

Alan pointing out a deer or elk rub.

Between the Sipps and us there were 7 kids.  It was one big massive sleep over.

My dad had set up a 1000 gallon cistern in the basement to store water in.  It didn't really suit our purposes and so we cut it up in order to throw it out.  Matt wanted to see if he just cut off the top if he could use the bottom for a swimming pool.  Above he and Jason are rolling it out onto the deck.