Ferrell Family Roadtrip: To Mount Evans

Date:  Saturday, June 22, 2013
Georgetown, Colorado

The next morning, we packed up our things and headed out to find something to eat in Georgetown.  We stopped at another local food place to have lunch.

After lunch we set off to drive up to Mount Evans.  Dave had warned us to pack something warm to wear for the day we go up the mountain.  A good thing too because we started up the mountain wearing summer clothes and shorts and half-way up the mountain, we stopped to explore . . . and almost froze!  I dug around in our suitcases and found the boys' winter coats, and they quickly pulled them on.

The view . . .

I noticed Shane looking around as if he were hunting for something.  When I asked what he was doing . . . he said he was looking for a place to pee!  Can you believe this?!?

This is one of the stops along the way up the mountain where you can stop and hike a trail.

There were so many rocks for the boys to climb and play on, but there was no way were going to hike any trails . . . not at this altitude!  Oh my!  Dave and I were breathing heavy and hard the higher up we went, and it was so chilly up there too!

But the view was fantastic!

The higher up we went . . . the more snow we saw!

We stopped along the way up the mountain to take pictures . . . Pardon Dave . . . the altitude was affecting him I think . . .

The road winded up and along the mountains . . . taking us further and further up . . .  Sometimes the view looking down was not distressing . . . like this one . . .

But sometimes the road was right along the edge of the mountain and it looked like we would fall right off the edge.

Can you tell that is a road right there on the edge of the mountain in the picture below?

I spent a good portion of my time leaning over toward Dave trying to get away from the edge!  The boys just laughed at my discomfort.  So sweet.  :D

The view was awesome . . .

Once we got to the top of Mount Evans, the boys started digging into their bags looking for socks and blue jeans to wear.  It was very cold!  Dave's least favorite kind of weather!  Ha!

The boys wanted to play in the snow, and Dave just wanted to get back in the warm car so I stayed outside with the boys.  Alex picked up some snow for a quick taste.

Guess how high up we were?  The road going up to Mount Evans is the highest road in the United States. . . not the highest continuous road, that is the road going through the Rocky Mountains.

My sweetie pie . . . Look at how bundled up he is and this is the middle of June!

And then there was even more snow . . .

While the boys played on the snow, I noticed lots of people were climbing further up the mountain using a path going up through the rocks.  You can see some of the people up at the top behind the boys in the picture above.

Alex climbed and played in the snow longer than any of the other boys.

He's my boy that loves to play.  :)

Zach didn't put on any socks and he got snow in his crocs.  At this point, I told him to go to the car and get some socks.  :)

Shane had fun climbing up the rocks and in the snow, but he kept getting snow down in his boots.

I love my boys so much . . . even when it's soooo cold!  Ha!

Here's a picture Dave took from the warm car as he watched me and the boys play in the snow.

At this point I told the boys that we needed to hike up to the top of Mount Evans like everyone else.

Ha!  We started up the path, and I started struggling to breath and feeling lightheaded, and I decided it would probably not be a good idea to try hiking up the rest of the way.  The high altitude was really making it hard to do any kind of activity . . . even just walking!

On the way up the mountain and again down the mountain, we saw mountain goats.  Actually, we had been looking for mountain goats the whole way up the mountain, but it wasn't until we got almost to the top that we actually saw some goats.  Dave had offered a prize to the first one that spotted the goat.  And the prize goes to Shane!    You can see how hard it is to see the goats against the mountain rocks.

Going down the mountain was much easier for me than going up the mountain!   On the way, it actually started snowing!  Truly bizarre! But so cool too!

We stopped at the gift/souvenir shop on the way down so the boys could get a happy, and while walking to the store, Shane fell and busted his forehead!  Scared us to death.  He had blood running down his face, and he was crying so much.  The people in the gift shop had a first aid kit and let us clean and bandage his head. Such a traumatic moment!  You can believe that Shane got everything he wanted in that shop!  Nothing upsets Dave as much as when one of the boys gets hurt.

Well, this post is pretty long and plenty full of pictures so I think I'll stop here and continue on tomorrow with the rest of our trip down Mount Evans.

So until tomorrow and while still going down Mount Evans with . . .
                            the Ferrell boys and me!