Summer 4th of July Adventure -Day 2

We started off this morning by heading up to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It was a really neat feeling to be there on July 4th!  We were greeted by a huge B-52 bomber that Hunter is still talking about.

Then we toured the visitor's center. It was fascinating to read about the different class ranks and their expectations. Next, we took the short walk to the well known chapel. It was beautiful and peaceful inside.  

As we were walking to the chapel, we could hear the Air Force song and tapping. As we walked toward the music, we saw a huge open field with about 1000 cadets walking in.

These young men and women had only been there, 2-3 weeks and were performing their daily marches/drills. They were the new incoming class 2018.  It was REALLY cool and made me really appreciate what the officers go through.

Walking back from the chapel was a pretty hot uphill walk.  Kinley was such a trooper on this trip!

Hunter's airplane, Alton and sweet Kailyn.

 

After this, we drove around the academy for a little bit and then headed to Denver to see the LDS Temple.

The kids got to check off seeing another temple off their list. It was beautiful and in a very nice area!  

Then we headed over to a restaurant called, Casa Bonita. Steven had been here once when he was younger and insisted we try it out. It was quite a treat! They had constant entertainment, from safari shows, to cliff divers, to arcades, to caves and more.  

This ape was part of the show. 

Love this picture of Kailyn and Steven. When Steven came as a young boy he remembers his family ordering one sopapilla tray after another.  So, of course we also had to try them. Yum!

Cliff diver getting ready to jump.

We met her at the bottom after her show.

Steven also told us that we had to adventure into Black Bart's Hideout. I went in with the kids and shortly after we got in a red lit up skeleton started beeping really loud right behind me.  I screamed, almost peed in my pants and ran back out the entrance. And of course the kids followed suit.

Kailyn braved the cave and went back in again with Steven.

Standing behind the waterfall. So fun!

We finally made our way up to Estes Park and I think everybody else in Colorado decided to do the same.

It was still very beautiful and we ended up driving in thru Estes Park by the lake and heading into Rocky Mountain National Park.

We didn't have tons of time because afternoon thunderstorms were heading in, but we were able to do a short hike up to a waterfall.

This rock slide was the result of a dam breaking years ago and a huge flood back in Oct 2013. There was a lot of flood damage on the entire east side of the park.

I just LOVE to be outside and hear the sounds and soak up the pine smell.  The rain put a little hamper on things so we decided to head on up to Laramie, WY. Here we stayed at the KOA. It was actually pretty nice and a great place to rest out heads.  We drove into town around 10pm to watch the fireworks,
which served as a nice finishing touch to the 4th of July Holiday!