Six Days in Steamboat: Days 5-6

Thursday we drove up to Steamboat Lake to scout out trails. We did lunch then started our hike over at nearby Pearl Lake. Boys got to skip some stones and we enjoyed the many wildflowers along the way (despite the afternoon rain shower that we encountered).

And then we drove back to Steamboat Springs to stop at Fuzziwig's for ice cream before going back to the unit for swimming and dinner and pinochle while younger boys watched a dvd. End of Day 5.

The Fourth of July started out overcast and drizzly. We had a bit of a bus snafu (the buses we were waiting for were full so we tried a different one that took a different route than it was advertising) but managed to eventually make it downtown to watch the parade:

(The blue and orange shirted ones are mine. We managed to find a way to get them up front but they refused to run out and collect any candy, lol. Also, as you can tell, the clouds passed and the rest of the day was rather hot. We were a bit unprepared, lol.)

After the parade, we checked out the block party but opted to stop for lunch instead. (While at lunch, we ended up watching a national hot dog eating contest...that's, um, disgusting.) Then we walked down to watch some of the ski jumping competition:

We managed a much smoother bus ride back to the unit to cool off and watch the Brazil-Columbia World Cup game before heading back out for an early dinner then over to the rodeo, where we had a great time watching the various events (though disappointed in the lack of dessert offerings for sale). 

We then stayed after the rodeo to watch the fireworks:

The show was pretty impressive (and many thanks to our neighbor and optometrist for giving us the heads up that the rodeo was the best place to watch the fireworks from)...with multiple launching sites over and around the rodeo arena. Awesome.

We managed a surprisingly easy drive back to the unit (having expected to get stuck in traffic) and proceeded to pack up. End of Day 6.

And then on Saturday, we loaded up and headed home, dropping John & Nancy at the airport on the way. Nathan and I fell asleep after unloading the cars, woke to deal with dinner and collect our mail and gossip from our neighbor, and unpacked everything but the laundry, lol. Today, we're slowly getting back on track. 

Whew. :)