The Lee Family: Going for a Hike

On Saturday, after a very fun 4th of July, we finally got our act together after breakfast to go for a hike at Horsetooth Mountain which was a short drive from Aunt Cathy and Uncle Eric's house. Earlier, CK decided to take the Baron to a local airport and fill it up with cheap gas, and took Hays and Jason with him. Unfortunately, we realized we needed to leave for our hike before they returned home if we were going to get back at a reasonable hour. Aunt Cathy made peanut butter and honey sandwiches and we all packed water and sunscreen before we texted Jason with where we planned to start the hike, then we were off! In about 20 minutes we were through Fort Collins and up in the mountains driving along a beautiful lake. We parked, got organized and took a group photo before starting on the 1.5/2 mile hike to the Horsetooth Waterfall.

Sofia and Lincoln immediately took off to the front of the pack and trotted down the path. Of course, Olivia wanted me to carry her, so I threw her up onto my back so I could give her a piggy back ride and still walk relatively well. The view from the trail was really beautiful and the path was easy to navigate. From the parking lot the path took us up and over a little ridge and then it sloped down and back up over a few ridges until we finally made it to the split in the path that took us either to the top of the falls or the bottom. I ended up carrying Olivia on my back for pretty much the entire hike. We continued to the bottom of the falls and Sofia had her shoes off and was in the water in no time. There were actually a lot of people in the water and I was surprised at how cold the water was, especially near the falls. Sofia loved climbing on the rocks and ended up being wet from head to toe, which looked so nice since it was hot out. Just as we were relaxing from the hike, CK, Hays and Jason showed up! CK said he'd run for most of the path to catch up with us!

After sandwiches and a water break, we all got ready to return to our cars when Sofia decided she wanted to go to the top of the falls. Olivia climbed onto CK's back for a trip back to the car. Lincoln also wanted to go to the top, so Chris and Uncle Steve decided to go with us to help steer the kiddos away from the side of the waterfall. It was a really beautiful view from the top and after a few pictures we turned around and headed back.

Lincoln, who was getting over a cold/ear infection was such a trooper as we hiked and hiked in the heat. Sofia, meanwhile, was a whiny mess with about one mile left. We did end up seeing two deer which helped distract her and I tried to show her the cactus, flowers, etc but she wasn't going for it. She did find a few rocks along the way that she wanted to keep and I tried to point out new ones for her to distract her. At one point she even took a swig of water from a woman hiking behind us because she was so thirsty! We finally made it back to the cars and Sofia was renewed now that the hike was over.

After we cooled off with a lot of fresh water from the fountain, we loaded up and drove to the Rio in downtown Fort Collins for some delicious and well-deserved Mexican food. After filling up on ice cream from the shop next door, we returned to Aunt Cathy and Uncle Eric's house and said farewell to Chris, Jackie and Bryson as they started their drive home to Los Angeles after a month-long visit.

On Sunday, we got up and moving around 7am. After coffee and breakfast we said our goodbyes and headed back to Texas on the Baron. It was a fun long weekend with family and we can't wait for our next visit.

Sofia discovered a toad at Aunt Cathy's house!