Sunday: Eastern Colorado to Grand Junction, CO

What a blessing to stay with Carl and Esther another night!  We are always so encouraged by them!  But we were sad to say good-bye, and to leave without Annina and her wonderful smile and help.  Natalie cried in the van as she realized we were telling the truth when we said we would be saying good-bye to Annina:  she finally realized Annina wasn't getting in the van and sitting next to her.

We had planned to attend church and/or ride the Georgetown Railroad in Georgetown, CO...but decided instead to do neither and have an easy 4.5 hour (which stretches into 6 hours) drive to Grand Junction, which would ease our travels the next two days.  We are taking three days to travel the 1000 miles we traveled in two days at the beginning of our trip.  I would love to drive straight through and just SLEEP IN MY OWN BED, but it's a much better idea to take it slow and steady and keep everyone sane and happy.

We stopped in Vail again to play at the playground (we saw a different one from the highway that we visited this time...Lukas announced that he liked the playground on the west side of Vail better than the one on the east side).  Then we had dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ in Grand Juntion (some of the best food all trip!) and hit the swimming pool before the kids collapsed into bed. We're all looking forward to being in the same time zone for an extended period, having regular naps, and just having an overall normal schedule again.

Two more days!