{Travel Log} For the adrenaline junky who also happens to have young kids

The MJ family is mountain crazy! - we LOVE the mountains, especially the snow covered peaks. Being in the midwest we don't get to see any, so we jump at the chance to go to the mountains anytime we can. In this case, we drove 1500 miles to get a glimpse of white peak and thundering chunks of stone!

We loved crossing state lines and seeing the open road ahead of us.

The miles seem to melt away as we got our first glimpse of the mountains. Suffice to say, there was absolute silence in the car as we soaked in the fresh crisp air and looked at the road ahead of us - it almost seemed like we were driving into the mountains.

 Our home away from home was a house by the lake filled with antiques and cute western knick knacks! But the best part of the house was the huge patio that overlooked a lagoon and Lake Deweese.

The sunsets were spectacular and we enjoyed every one of them - some from the patio and others from the pier.

 Can you imagine this cute little town in the middle of these towering mountains? Everyone was so friendly and life seemed to come to a stand still here. People chatted as you passed - saying "hello" and "hope you are enjoying your stay". I guess the car license plates does give you away as a tourist :) - especially one from three states away!

How can you not fall in love with a place that has street names representing the local wildlife!

Of course, no trip like this would be complete without the hiking and off-roading that the area is famous for. It was an adrenaline pumping ride.  Thank god for the 4X4 option in the car. There were some hairy stretches...especially when the car had to "climb" up the mountain and the sign warning us about "possible engine flooding" right before a stream crossing!. But every car that passed us encouraged us on and gave us a "thumbs up"!

And yes, we did drive through these roads!

We had a great time at Great Sand Dunes National Park. It really is something else - a strange sight among these tall snow capped peaks - beautiful golden sand dunes, some as tall as 750 ft tall. We LOVED splish-splashing in the stream.

We spent a couple of days away from the car relying on our own two feet and hiked to a couple of alpine lakes. There was still snow on the trail but the silence, the solitude and the crisp fresh air was an experience in itself.

Being with your family for a week with complete 1:1 time certainly forges strong bonds!

Of course - what MJ Adventure would be complete without experiencing wild life...and there are certainly plenty of those in Colorado. We saw domesticated as well as wild - include a bear that we surprised on one of our 4x4 excursions, coyotes by the side of the road and several types of deer. We loved all the horses and cows and buffaloes too...these are by far my favorite snapshots of the animals.

How cute is this! Talk about "standing room only"!!!!

This guy was awesome - so majestic - typical "black stallion"

This mare was so cute. She waited till I crossed the road and got my camera setting correct and then she bolted with the sideways glance at what I was doing. Perfect motion shot!

All I can say for this is "awwwwww"!

Can you spot the bear? and these two deer just jumped over the fence...talk about "flying deer"!

All of us were sad to say goodbye to the mountains - instead we said "Until next time"!

Feel free to contact us if these pictures motivate you to want to pack the car, load up the family and just hit the road :). We will be happy to put together a custom travel package to this part of Colorado for an unforgettable adventure!