USA Pro Cycling Challenge

We went downtown this weekend to see the end of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.  The hubby biked up to the reservoir to see some of the race and then met us down there.  It was a pretty exciting atmosphere.  All the support cars, advertisers, and police sped by us before the bikes passed.  

Coming down from Horsetooth Reservoir

Nearing the finish in old town

 After the race we had a tour on the trains that were parked in the middle of downtown.  We've never known the city to shut down the train tracks for any event!  It was pretty cool seeing the inside.

We promised the kids if they made the bike ride and were patient with us they could have their first ever Slurpee.  

Bike: Old Town

Trails Used: Power Line to Spring Creek to Remington to Old Town, to CSU, to Mason Trail, to Boardwalk and home 

Distance: 14.42 miles

Difficulty: Easy (for the adults, not so bad for the kids-this was their longest bike ride ever)
Overall average: 5.4 mph
Overall Time: 2 hr, 41 min
Total Ascent: 111 ft.

Flowers Trail Hike (Pingree Park)

Took a short hike this weekend.  Next time we won't have anything we need to be back home for because we didn't tire the kids out.  They were still picking at each other later in the day.  They definitely needed to work harder.  

View of one of the beaver ponds.   We didn't get to see any beavers though.

Lunch spot:

We passed some raspberry bushes right in the middle of the trail on the way out that had luscious looking berries.  I only had one...thought the animals in the woods might appreciate them more than I.

The flowers were out in abundance but beginning the decline to fall.  

Aster

Campanula or 'Bells' as my daughter likes to call them

Aster/Yarrow

Leather Flower

 Aster

Yarrow

Potentilla

Geranium

Rose Hips

 Waiting for 'the girls':

Hike: Flowers Trail

Trails Used:  Flowers Trail to Beaver Park (up Old Flowers Road from Pingree Park exit)

Distance: 4.00 miles

Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 1.8 mph
Overall Time: 2 hrs, 10 min
Total Ascent: 893 ft.

My daughter ran over a bull snake!

I'm only adding this because my daughter ran over a three foot long bull snake sunning itself in the middle of the trail.  I was riding along behind her and was looking elsewhere until about 5 seconds before she ran over it.  I saw it, debated what to do, decided it was better not to say anything since she hadn't noticed it yet (I didn't want her to stop right on it or fall off her bike trying to avoid it), she noticed it with about one second to react, ran over it, and then got kind of scared.  Her brother was behind me screaming like a ninny!  It was all very entertaining.  The snake seemed fine...I hope it really was...we really didn't want to hurt it.  The rest of our bike ride was spent looking for any stray snakes on the sides of the trail.  Luckily, we didn't see anymore!

Bike: Poudre Trail 

Trails Used:  Lee Martinez Park west to LaPorte

Distance: 9.13 miles

Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 8.2 mph
Overall Time: 1 hr, 06 min
Total Ascent: 123 ft.

It's been a long time since I've had a beach vacation!

This is the week of the big trip!  The family is flying to North Carolina to meet with more family to stay at a beach house in Emerald Isle.   It's about 5:30 a.m. and the kids are EXCITED!  We parked the car and are waiting to take the shuttle to DIA.

 We met up with the cousins inside and they seem just as excited as my kids.  How often can you get all four children smiling in a photo?

 We were lucky to get window seats for both kids since this was their first time on a commercial flight and they wanted to take everything in.

 Making our connection in Atlanta, GA.

 Beach at last!

 There was a lot of goofing around,

digging in the sand,

and building of sand castles!

The waves were enjoyed by all.

We even had some night time sand castle building/protecting.

The kids even found time to 'nap' with Grandpa unbeknownst to him.

There was tons of great light and photo opportunities...

We tried not to make them pose for too many shots since they can get pretty restless.  Too bad Grandma's not a hair taller or her grandson shorter!  :)

The kids got restless after a couple of days so we decided to explore.  Local attractions included the aquarium (North Carolina Aquarium @ Pine Knoll Shores).  The kids had a great time between the huge fish tank (with sharks), touching the rays, doing a craft, and exploring on the boardwalks.  It is very affordable and worth the visit.

Our earlier stop that day was at Fort Macon.  The adults really enjoyed the visit while the kids were so/so.  Their reaction might have been better if it hadn't been so hot but overall it was worth the visit and even free. 

You are able to look out at the ocean on some boardwalks around the fort so we saw this large ship coming in and being helped by some tugboats.

We did putt putt in town (Emerald Forest Putt-Putt, 8720 Reed Drive).  We picked the middle priced venue to go to.  The kids had a great time but the price did seem a bit steep...$9 a game for everyone regardless of age.  We had at least two kids who didn't play every hole so it wasn't the greatest value.

After putt-putt we stopped at the Bogue Inlet Pier.  It was a busy place at night with many fisherman.  They were throwing the guts of fish they had cleaned in the water and we were able to see some sharks eating it.  

We did eat out a couple of times.  We had a 'girl's' luncheon at the Crab Shack.  We ordered two big plates with scallops, shrimp, and fish.  Tasty food and they even had beer.  The view out to the 'sound' side was pleasant.

 After the week ended we headed back to Chapel Hill for the night and stopped at Thig's BBQ.  It was a low key setting with decent barbeque.  The ribs were tasty but not of the falling off the bone quality.

Suffice it to say, everyone had a great time and the kids will need to recover for the next week!

We didn't even make it on the airplane before the napping started.

Looking forward to the next big 'reunion' in.....

The hubby and I did manage to run everyday we were there.  It's definitely different running on the beach.

Run: Emerald Isle East

Trails Used:  East Main Highway and Beach

Distance: 6.18 miles

Difficulty: Moderate (I had heat issues...my ideal temperature to run in is 45 degrees not 80!)
Overall average: 7.0 mph
Overall Time: 52 min
Total Ascent: 5 ft.  (holy cow!  I'm not used to this little elevation change!)

Run: Emerald Isle West

Trails Used:  West Main Highway and Beach

Distance: 5.99 miles

Difficulty: Moderate
Overall average: 6.6 mph (I got slower and slower as the week went on but I was on vacation, right?)
Overall Time: 54 min
Total Ascent: 24 ft.